The negative side-effects of Social Technology

2013

The New York Times has an article on how the web is creating unwanted side effects in small towns – http://tinyurl.com/44q8bzk

As the web becomes increasingly pervasive, interactions even in small towns, that used to take place in diners and cafes are becoming public. While gossip around these tables did indeed happen before the web – after all what is small-town life without gossip; in fact what is any social life without gossip? However, gossip has a different effect in small town setting, where there are different implications to identity, highly personal interactions in daily life, and the meaning of relationships that often span the real and virtual worlds in a smaller space.

So, while transparency and the free flow of information have demonstrated beneficial effects, in this case, gossip, which perhaps serves a beneficial purpose in society, takes on an undesirable avatar on the web.

It goes to the point, that social technologies must be used with more thought. There are appropriateness and readiness issues to be considered. In this case, without appropriate governance mechanisms, and new approaches to verifying information, new identities etc, the negative consequences can far outweigh anything positive.