The Digital Fishbowl

I overheard today someone discussing not wanting to live their life in a “fishbowl”.   And then I thought about our social world.   We actually do everything in a Digital Fishbowl.   The new generation (we call them generation C – connected and in control!) grew up this way and so it feels natural.

But what really are the benefits and the concerns to this new world?

Benefits:

• Sharing of information.   Social networking enables sharing helpful information. Did you know that 52% of bloggers are parents who are seeking information to help their family in some way.   And there are social support groups for illnesses, and technical support.   I love this aspect about sharing in the fishbowl!

• Think global act Social.   Social networking allows us the ability to communicate globally.   I loved the fact that over 500 friends around the world supported me in my broken leg through Facebook, and twitter.    For businesses, this implies that the global view can be learned.

• Social is the ultimate personality test.   The digital fishbowl allows us to discover through social analytics the intrinsic traits that include what motivates you, what you believe, and your fundamental needs.  Computers can derive people’s traits from linguistic footprints.  That hasn’t been widely applicable before, because where do you get those linguistic footprints? Now, you can do that with social media and digital communications we have the big data we need!

• Efficiency.   The digital fishbowl enables us to be more efficient.   For businesses, they can crowdsource their next product or strategy.   Sales can reach more contacts.  Video makes our visits more social and less time consuming.

Some Cons:

• Lack of personal touch.   The digital fishbowl can be addicting and many I know communicate now mostly through text, tweets, and facebook. You lose something in doing that.

• Anything that you do can leak out.    And maybe before you want it to!   There is a risk to being social !  (I think the risk of not being social is greater however!)

• You cannot keep negativity at bay — and digital amplifies it!   We see this in schools with cyberbullying and even with some companies.  The biggest question that I get asked by small companies is how do I handled untrue remarks.

What do you think?  Do you like living in a digital fishbowl?