When Harvard student Mark Zuckerherg launched the facebook.com in Feb. 2004, even he could not imagine the forces it would let loose. His intent was to connect college students. Facebook, which is what this Web site rapidly evolved into, ended up connecting the world.
To the children of this connected era, the world is one giant social network. They are not bound - as were previous generations of humans - by what they were taught. They are only limited by their curiosity and ambition. During my childhood, all knowledge was local. You learned everything you knew from your parents, teachers, preachers, and friends.
With the high-quality and timely information at their fingertips, today’s children are rising above the fears and biases of their parents. Adults are also participating in this revolution. India’s normally tame middle class is speaking up against social ills. Silicon Valley executives are being shamed into adding women to their boards. Political leaders are marshalling the energy of millions for elections and political causes. All of this is being done with social media technologies that Facebook and its competitors set free.
As does every advancing technology, social media has created many new problems. It is commonly addictive and creates risks for younger users. Social media is used by extremists in the Middle East and elsewhere to seek and brainwash recruits. And it exposes us and our friends to disagreeable spying. We may leave our lights on in the house when we are on vacation, but through social media we tell criminals exactly where we are, when we plan to return home, and how to blackmail (敲诈) us.
Governments don’t need informers any more. Social media allows government agencies to spy on their own citizens. We record our thoughts, emotions, likes and dislikes on Facebook; we share our political views, social preferences, and plans. We post intimate photographs of ourselves. No spy agency or criminal organization could actively gather the type of data that we voluntarily post for them.
The marketers are also seeing big opportunities. Amazon is trying to predict what we will order. Google is trying to judge our needs and wants based on our social-media profiles. We need to be aware of the risks and keep working to alleviate the dangers.
Regardless of what social media people use, one thing is certain: we are in a period of accelerating change. The next decade will be even more amazing and unpredictable than the last. Just as no one could predict what would happen with social media in the last decade, no one can accurately predict where this technology will take us. I am optimistic, however, that a connected humanity will find a way to uplift itself.
