Community 2.0
I was at a talk recently where professionals from a variety of fields discussed future trends and the impact they might have on clients and customers. One of the themes that cropped up quite a bit was that of Community. And one of the questions that very much split the group was whether technology was the savior or destroyer of communities.
I’m on the side of savior. If you consider Putnam’s “Bowling Alone”, or numerous other texts, our community spirit (or Social Capital as Putnam called it) has been on the decline since the industrial revolution; caused by the erosion of the traditional systems of creating and building social capital ie close-knit geographic groups that were dependent on each others assistance and good will to survive and prosper. What technology, and the Internet in particular, has allowed us do is to replace these traditional systems with new means of creating and maintaining social connections. Yes, these often involve limited (if any) physical interaction, but I don’t believe this reduces the ‘realness’ or importance of these connections. As well as giving the means to create connections, Community 2.0 also allows us maintain multiple communities and to connect with like minded people without any geographic restrictions, be they Gingerbread Bakers or Red Head Rights Activists.
The importance of Communities and ‘Social Capital’ remains paramount, but how we create our communities and interact with them is evolving. And its been evolving for longer then some may think.
