Social Networking: The Great Disruptor

Social media, built to foster communication and exploration, is disrupting world culture. How it both unifies and atomizes our everyday life was explored this morning at a discussion moderated by The New Yorker‘s Ken Aultetta. He was joined by Dennis Crowley, cofounder of Foursquare; David Karp, founder of Tumblr; and author Clay Shirky.

Auletta got some great insights on the impact and potential of social media from three informed perspectives. Here’s what resonated with me.

Shirky’s latest book, Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age, describes the Internet as a huge, supply side ship. Large scale projects, such as Wikipedia and Linux, are the results of coordinated volunteers contributing their surfeit of talent to common goals. (In contrast, both Crowley and Karp felt that the lack of good developers was holding their respective companies.)

When Crowley and Karp were asked how their social media platforms changed the world, Crowly responded that Foursquare has created “no big changes, but it does make my life more interesting.” While Foursquare’s intent is to enhance the experience of joining with physical friends to more fully explore the world, Karp described Tumblr as creating a different flavor of connection. Tumblr is about sharing common interests with strangers — those who are like-minded, inspire or ignite curiosity. Real relationships, projects and friendships, often result.

The death of the Cyberspace of floating video heads was cited by Shirky as a big, unexpected consequence of social media technologies. Citing Six Degrees as the first social network in 1996, he pointed to Meetup.com as the first to acknowledge the use of communications networks to deepen and supplement friendships by joining online and offline relationships. There may be fewer social media platforms than a few years ago, but Crowley noted that data and hooks from Facebook and Twitter, along with Foursquare’s local business database, enable current (and future) social networks to build upon each other.

Shirky noted that, “In the early days of revolution, it’s easy to see the easy stuff.” Right now, the social media “easy stuff” are the prevalent time-wasting activities, to be supplemented down the road by fuller experiences that are difficult to predict.

Crowley talked about how he looks forward to automatic tracking that will provide check-in options to replace manual check-in requirements. Along with more accurate GPS, he looks forward to mobile devices communicating with each other so that he can look at his mobile’s self-generated list of the five people in the audience with whom he must speak.

No exploration of any form of media is complete without addressing advertising. Karp said he does not “love” ads in their current form on the web. Tumblr encourages brands to use its endemic tools and be part of its community. Crowley touted Foursquare’s unique potential for local merchants to learn about their present and prospective customers to create in-app incentives to promote their businesses. He suggested the most successful with be those who contribute to making the Foursquare product more interesting, thereby enhancing user experiences. Shirkey posited that the current advertising-supported media models are likely to be destroyed by the abundance of content generated by amateurs and crowds.

What do these guys worry about? “Markets don’t supply as much accountability as democracy demands,” Shirky observed. He is concerned about Net Neutrality, as the value of openness to citizens may not be appreciated by those who see themselves as “landlords” of the network. Karp sees every change in Facebook leading to rants and threats of class action suits. His observation that “the masses” deal badly with change, especially when a single brand changes quickly, causes me to wonder if we’ll soon be disposing of and upgrading our social media platforms the same way we do our mobile phones.

The photo of Ken Auletta is provided courtesy of The New Yorker, where you will find his Annuls of Communications column — a must read for everyone in media. Auletta’s most recent book is Googled: The End of the World as We Know It. Today’s discussion was sponsored by the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Condé Nast and The New Yorker. This post was originally written for Social Times.