By Drew Rayman, Founder of Attendi
The proliferation of social networks, specialized search engines and online communities has led to greater collaboration and personal empowerment. The development of these Web 2.0 platforms has created a way to bring together the collective intelligence of people who share similar interests, finally giving everyone a forum to interact and share ideas and insights. The Internet is flexing it muscle as a social tool and the millions of people who “speak-up” are creating a new movement called “Social Activism.”
Social Activism is built on the human element of conversation, allowing everyone to be found and interact in a public forum using a blend of search, social networking and chat. The foundation of online activism is based on the concept of public discourse, where we reach out beyond our private social networks to share our insights and embark upon public conversations with multiple people around the globe who share similar interests. The goal: to build an ongoing, social medium for generating and archiving a data-bank of wisdom, and making it searchable for others online.
There has been a great deal of time and effort spent successfully in managing the enormous amount of content on the Internet. Traditional search vendors are really just engines for managing the wealth of information currently online some 20 billion web pages and growing. There is so much data in fact, that new search companies have surfaced that enlist the help of people “guides” to help navigate these vast oceans of data. These applications add the human element, hoping to make better sense of it all: better suggestions, better links and better bookmarks.
Engage in Conversation
But what search engines lack is the power of conversation. The best way for people to share knowledge is public discourse. Conversation takes us back to one of the basic human traits of communicating talk. If I want to know what you know, ideally I can simply ask you. Discussion is the driver for much of what we, as individuals, know.
Plus, the cadence, the ebb and flow of conversation takes us closer to the single bit of information we are seeking faster and better than searching. For many, conversation is the preferred form of communication because it allows for the free-flow exchange of ideas for people with different perspectives on a subject. By engaging in conversation, you’re raising your hand, joining other passionate, opinionated, knowledgeable people, sharing experience and insight in a live, dynamic and engaging community. What’s even more important is that this valuable information can be indexed and searchable for the benefit of others.
Imagine seeking information about a type of cancer. Of course you could find plenty of information across various sites on the Internet, but wouldn¹t it be more valuable to talk to an actual patient, someone who has lived through the process and the treatment? Discussion will get you more enlightened information, opinion and commentary. Now imagine that commentary being added to a public database of information, making it searchable for the benefit of everyone in that online community. Doesn’t this get us closer to the true ideals of a semantic web application, through a blend of search and social networking?
The democratization of the Internet is resulting in the creation of different forums to share our most valuable commodity human intellect and knowledge. This concept of sharing our experiences through public discourse makes the Internet more conducive to commmunity action and making information more accessible and communal than ever before.
The Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School conducts research each year related to how online technology affects the lives of Internet users. The 2007 Digital Future Project found that Internet use is growing and evolving as an instrument for personal engagement through blogs, personal Web sites, and online communities. According to this study, 43.7 percent of online community members got involved more in social causes since they started participating in online communities.
“More than a decade after the portals of the Worldwide Web opened to the public, we are now witnessing the true emergence of the Internet as the powerful personal and social phenomenon we knew it would become,” said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future.
While Web 2.0 applications facilitate the collaboration that takes place in online communities, what happens to this information when the conversations stop? To truly empower social activism, we need to find a way to capture the insights and knowledge contained in these conversations, for the benefit of other members who can use the information. Then, by making this information searchable, we all become part of a global community of information activists.
Drew Rayman is Founder of Attendi, a blend of search and social networking that empowers its users to share knowledge through open, public discourse. An Internet entrepreneur, Rayman also serves as the Founder and Advisor of i33 communications, an interactive advertising agency based in New York City.
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