40 Years On: The History & Evolution of Social Media
by Jenny Ambrozek
This post began as a response (unpublished) to @DesignerDepot ’s popular The History & Evolution of Social Media post.
Discovering I was reflecting on the evolution of social media and projecting forward on October 29, 2009, the 4oth Anniversary of ARPANET and the beginning of the Internet, I was inspired to share more widely and honor the occasion.
I wonder as you look back at the evolution of social media and then forecast forward what do you see?
For me that landscape scan focuses on sociologist Moreno’s sociograms and social network analysis dating from the 1930’s. 7 decades on social network analysis is an evolved discipline, as evidenced in the work of Mark Granovetter, Ron Burt, David Krackhardt, Valdis Krebs, Steve Borgatti, Duncan Watts, Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, Rob Cross, Patti Anklam, FAS Research, Doris Spielthenner, recent books by Christakis and Fowler, Easly & Kleinberg and more.
It’s my experience that the real value for enterprises comes when you apply a social network analysis lens to understanding if, and how, value is created through social network platforms. To me the missing functionality from the platforms we call “social networks” like Facebook and LinkedIn is the ability to make the networks visible, analyze the evolving ties and work them.
In 2008 a group of 10 Facebook owners came together for the Facebook Groups in Business Investigation (FGIBI). Our original plan was to map the relationships that new group members joining had to existing members.
I’d learned from Valdis Krebs, (in analyzing results of the Online Communities in Business Study 2004 with Joe Cothrel), that 1st degree ties are interesting but for understanding influence 2nd degree ties are more important. Hence in our Facebook Groups Investigation we wanted to track the relationships of new people joining. Were they first degree ties to the group owner or potentially more valuable distant ties? Study member Kimberly Samaha, owner of our participating Bordeaux Colloquium Group persevered manually tracking ties but for large groups this is impossible.
I welcome dissenting views but make the case that the real value and potential of online social networking in the next 40 years will come when platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn integrate network analysis. IBM Atlas and Trampoline Systems are working to deliver this knowledge inside enterprises.
November 6 I’ll be in Chicago for a Collective Intelligence Summit. As I investigate the platform providers sponsoring the event I’ll be looking to see if network visualization and analysis is included.
Please take a moment to share what you see will be most impactful in the Internet’s next 40 years.
~ Jenny Ambrozek
