The Power of the Small Community
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It used to be, one could make a deal on just a handshake. People could leave their doors unlocked on their homes and their cars without worry of break in. A man’s word was his bond. Everyone knew everyone, by name.
This wasn’t the world I grew up in, but I’m told by my Grandparents, and I’ve seen stories of ancestors where this was, at one time, the way things were done in the world. We just trusted each other back then.
You see, back then, communities were much smaller. In the days when trust was in its prime, everyone did know each other by name, because they could know each other by name. Communities were much smaller back then and accommodated this lifestyle much easier. Crime was much harder to commit because everyone in the town knew you, and you knew them. Think, the Scarlet Letter - the worst punishment of that time was shame. There was no anonymity. There was no privacy.
Sound familiar? We are quickly overcoming the bonds of large society which put us in this untrustworthy time to live. The internet came at a time when society wasn’t ready to be exposed. People enjoyed their anonymity and their sheltered lives. They were used to contracts, and handshakes never meant what they used to. Society fought the internet, and it appears, finally, the internet is fighting back.
Social Media is bringing back an era which we thought we would never see again. People are being held responsible for their actions online, and again, communities are getting much smaller.  Now, circles of friends can virtually know everything about each other, know each other by name, and start to trust each other again.
I argue, the lack of privacy in Social Media is a good thing. When you know who your friends are, you can build trust with them again. Contracts are no longer necessary, and back is the handshake and word as a bond. Small Community has been re-architected through a virtual means which no one saw coming.
Now, imagine the cell phone, when virtual lives become melded with real life. Virtual “small communities” become real, and back again is the small town, weaved into the fabric of a very large Society. Social Media is bringing back the days when man could actually trust one another!
February 9th, 2008 at 6:10 am
I’m a big pervert
I am, of course, not you, Jesse, but my point is that it’s very easy to impersonate people and google taint them for life
February 9th, 2008 at 6:12 am
…meaning… maybe we shouldn’t give online identities as much credence as to say that’s how we know when to trust eachother
February 9th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
(Cool, I have a fake steve jobs!) “NOT REALLY Jesse Stay”, but, see that would be even harder to do in todays world. I have my community of friends on Facebook. They know my Facebook account. They know my blog. They know my Twitter account. Yes, you could try to Google taint my name, but people will put less and less trust in traditional search as a source for online identity.
I agree, we’re not fully there yet, but as true online identity methods get better, it will be easier to trust someone online. Relationships (the community) are a part of identity, and it’s awfully hard to break into an already existing community to impersonate someone, even today.
February 9th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Sure…
I’m pretty sure google is the one and only way employers, or anybody not already your contact, use to search for people. I don’t think that will change either
February 9th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
“NOT REALLY Jesse Stay”, you are clearly not really Jesse Stay, as we completely disagree. More and more employers are turning to Facebook and other sources of Social Media to hire their employees. If you’re not on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Myspace, there will be a day that employers look down on hiring you for not having a social presence. It’s to an employer’s benefit to have you on there, as those networks are the ones they can get real information on you that they can trust. I give bonus points to the job candidates that approach me through LinkedIn, Facebook, and Myspace. In fact, those people are more likely to find a job, because they are more likely to establish a personal relationship with me, the way they used to hire people in the old days.
If you want to keep up your lifestyle of anonymity and mistrust, have at it - anonymity will still exist. But there’s a whole world of “small communities” out there in which trust is getting stronger and stronger, and we are quickly moving into the way business used to be done.
April 19th, 2008 at 12:58 am
[…] written before on the power of community and how Social Networks are bringing back the days of the small community […]