Post a Comment Print Share on Facebook

Social media is not so social

Social media has become an increasingly important platform for social relationships and experiences. The digital technology not only affects the relationship be

- 29 reads.

Social media is not so social

Social media has become an increasingly important platform for social relationships and experiences. The digital technology not only affects the relationship between man and things, but even more so also our relations to others.

the Researcher Christoffel Kuenen think that the different platforms of social media must be designed so that the meeting with the fellows receive a higher quality – and not just about ”likes” and ill-conceived divisions. Then the design of the platforms are changing, " he says.

– When you post a photo on Instagram or are planning an event on Facebook so socialising you really are not with the group you are targeting. Instead, it involves performing a task and then becomes the actual communication is only a by-product, says Christoffel Kuenen.

you will be in the stands during a football game together with 35,000 other spectators. Or you take the subway in the middle of rush hour traffic and feel the other passengers ' bodies tightly pressed against you. Then you think you that you sit and listen to a classical piano sonata in a concert hall.

It is about three social situations which are completely different from each other. From the immersive feeling of being a part of a rolling wave around the football stadium, to push up against the door in the crowded tunnelbanevagnen or to experience the total silence among the audience during the where pianokonserten.

– these three social situations affect each in their own way how we act with others and how we perceive each other. Might social media be able to create the same feelings of being together. But the reality is rather the opposite, says Christoffel Kuenen.

”Aesthetics of being together” he discusses how social media is designed. The work with the thesis has taken place at Umeå university, where Kuenen is attached to the Designhögskolan. Previously, he has studied in the Netherlands and in the united states.

" When I began my own research I realized that there is a white spot when it comes to creating a design that aims to we will be together and socialize on the internet. Today, people with more resources and goods in the digital world. Much is also about efficiency and performance.

Christoffel Kuenen, researchers in Umeå. Photo: Ambra Trotto

the Christoffel Kuenen has for many years been fascinated by what takes place in larger groups and also of how traditional forms of to be together can be translated into the digital world. At the same time he feels the frustration that modern society is too rational.

" I often think of the image of a flock of birds. Each individual follows simple rules, but the joint effect of their actions will be beautiful, beautiful on a scale that is difficult to grasp. Is it possible to create the same experience online?

" I see it as an important task for the designer to create products on the net, which puts more emphasis on the social experience and what it means to be a part of a group.

today, large parts of our human relationships. Fast digital messages sent from the smart phone or the computer have replaced meetings face-to-face and telephone conversations. But is Facebook and the like designed to we really be together?

Services offered by companies such as Linkedin and Facebook is mainly designed to solve specific tasks – not that we should be together. We have goats of various information and offers not really a digital community, " says Christoffel Kuenen .

– During the last two–three years has been increasing recognition of how the big data-driven platforms like Facebook, Google and Apple affect us as individuals and society at large.

We dream of social media is just social, but they evolve more and more to that we shall become targets of various forms of information.

the Christoffel Kuenen talking about the new digital technologies are experiencing a ”honeymoon” and believes that those who design the surf on a ”hippiedröm” of a better world. But we must begin to look at the back, on technology's dark sides.

– We dream of social media is just social, but they evolve more and more to that we shall become targets of various forms of information. Users are seen as products of human social needs get less and less space.

would be able to help us make informed decisions, " says Christoffel Kuenen, however, according to him, it is more and more to spread commercial or political messages.

He thinks that we need to begin to reflect on what is required in order to aware the designer should be able to start designing digital counterparts to all of the social situations we encounter in everyday life. Like walking down a street or be at a concert.

" Yet, there is no digital equivalent to this. In my thesis, I try not to present a ready-made social app for mobile phones or something similar. Rather, I want to start a debate so that social media really be social in the true sense of the word.

– Today's platforms for social media is, as said, primarily created for us to carry out a series of concrete tasks and not primarily to develop social relationships. Moreover, as we all the time beautifies our lives on Facebook and Instagram with delicious pictures and updates on how well we live our lives – yes, then if the social interaction is rarely in the moment.

– It is not genuine encounters and experiences.

the Christoffel Kuenen want to continue to explore how digital products and services are present in our lives, how they affect our relationships with other people and how that design affected when the shaping our digital future.

Read more:

”Social media is stealing our focus.”

Read more about social media

Avatar
Your Name
Post a Comment
Characters Left:
Your comment has been forwarded to the administrator for approval.×
Warning! Will constitute a criminal offense, illegal, threatening, offensive, insulting and swearing, derogatory, defamatory, vulgar, pornographic, indecent, personality rights, damaging or similar nature in the nature of all kinds of financial content, legal, criminal and administrative responsibility for the content of the sender member / members are belong.