Does social media take us back to pre-industrial times?

Reading Webs of Influence: The Psychology of Internet Persuasion, by Nathalie Nahai.

She tells us:

The very existence of social media has enabled many of us to revert back to a pre-industrial system of reputational capital, in which we rely on trusted, filtered sources of information to help us make informed choices on whom to endow our business and loyalty. Of course, this system is far from perfect and trust can sometimes be misplaced but the fact that this system exists at all has forced many companies out from their PR closets to face up to and engage directly with their customers again. Social Media has made business accountable (p130).

It is an interesting idea that social media usage is somehow 'pre-industrial', which I take to mean as being no longer dependent on the physical technologies of mass communications  (Web 2.0 doesn't need a printing press).

Likewise, she makes a valuable point about PR having to make a dramatic switch from being a defensive cloak to becoming a channel for enagement.

I am looking forward to Nathalie speaking to NEMO researchers at Campus Helsingborg in March... 

Comments

[Simon Collister]

This is interesting, Philip.

I think it was the Cluetrain Manifesto where I first saw this argument presented. They make the point (from memory) that social media is returning us to a more small-scale, niche 'marketplace' where inter-personal communication dominates interaction. Maybe this is a bit idealistic now, (I'd argue it is) but in 2000 it was fairly revolutionary!

Also, I'd challenge Natalie's statement slightly about social media enabling us to rely on trusted and filtered sources of information. Mass media continues to offer this as well. The main difference within networked media environments is that the filtration is now more likely to take place with peer-networks as opposed to (or as well as) within newsrooms or editors' offices, as Yochai Benkler in Wealth of Networks observes.