ps: my name’s permalink directs you to my twitter account if you have interest to check it.

firstly let me thank you for the sources, I am just beginning so my literature review has still a long way to go.

In regard to my thesis, although it has a very sociological basis it is more concerned how to plan the physical space to allow for the interactions that exist in the web. A new Urbanism if you like based on social networks.

As the mediated/non-mediated discussion, the fact that later in your point you refer that ALL the info is there and that most of us cannot or will not filter it, is, in my opinion, an indicator that indeed there is no selection or mediation on the level of info uploading. Of course there is selection in availability and easiness of acquisition, but that is more a result of backward traditions than the system.

The fact that two nobodies in opposite parts of the globe can exchange anti-system out-of-the-box ideas is what I refer as unmediated interaction.

The platforms certainly limit interaction but not on a content-type kind of way, more of form, that is to say not the WHAT but the HOW and the TO WHOM.

I agree however with your disagreement with the word “erased” censorship is still certainly here, but at the same time they struggle much more since they have become unnecessary while the transactions can still occur in a viable fashion in their absence.

The lazyness and resignation of the masses is more of a cultural stigma than a result of the tools to me. We can clearly see that atrophy wearing off and more and more of an active role by the users.

Basically we have the tech, now we need the education.

ps: loved the pula coliseum!

you can find some interesting material on ‘global consciousness’ by looking up collective intelligence http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_intelligence and reading some of the people on that list, like Pierre Levy, Francis Heylighen, Kevin Kelly. you could also check the wikipedia pages on “global brain” and “noosphere” for more insight.

re: your thesis. what do you mean? it’s vague….. do you mean you’re exploring how to facilitate social change via social media?

i’m going to disagree with your statement that social media is the media without media. that’s not possible. it’s a completely mediated environment, and the degree to which our communications can take place is limited by the structure of the platforms. also, the idea of censored information having been erased…… i think it’s just wearing a different mask. the information is there, but most people don’t have the [mental] tools with with to effectively filter and vet it, and then to decide which of it matters. i think people are being fooled and placated – as if just because now you have ACCESS to information, it somehow means you’re excused from the necessity to THINK about what it means.

i find this interesting on so many levels, and can draw a parallel to our commoditized culture. (can you tell i’ve been reading adorno and benjamin?) there was a time when things had value because they were inaccessible to everyone…. (art, education, etc)….. now everything is mass produced, everyone has access to some kind of “version” of everything, but it’s not good enough anymore. they want the next thing. well there is no next thing. when anyone can have anything, all that’s left is the capacity for understanding…. which takes a degree of mental work…… and too many people are just mentally checking out…… i think social media is great, but it also is being used as an excuse to be lazy and sloppy with thinking, and to me that is a big risk that needs to be taken more seriously.

p.s. i love pula!

a recently formed community that’s trying to answer the question of how corporations can utilize SM is unstructure.org. also google terms like “social business” “enterprise 2.0″ “social CRM” “social enterprise”. Harvard Business Review (http://blogs.hbr.org/) has a lot of articles addressing it as well.

i don’t know if the question of SM is overly complicated, as you say, but it is certainly complex. we’re talking about many-2-many human communication dynamics, and everyone is still learning. you say your challenge is “how to best embrace and leverage”… i don’t think there is a “best” way. i think we’ll establish frameworks, but like in life, each communication exchange is contextual, so it can’t be a determined script. i think there’s going to be a lot more “being human”….. using intuition, judgment, *thinking*……

funny enough I am researching this subject as well and pretty much from the same viewpoints. Hence I did not learn anything new, that is not to say you wrote common sense stuff.

Curiously we both arrived at the same expression “global consciousness” (if you read it somewhere else I would be appreciated if you could provide me with the source) and in that respect it was very interesting to read your post while sharing the same views.

As a M.Arch student I am currently trying to convert to our constructed reality and social structures the dynamics found in social media platforms as the theme for my Thesis.

So I belive this to be one way to ACT upon the new paradigms found through this new medium.

I would also like to leave you with the thought that social media is in fact the media without media as the human intermediaries that have selected and censored information throughout human history have seemingly been erased from the process (although most new network laws trying to be passed are trying to change that).

As a side note I spent last year in Slovenjia (under a student exchange program specializing in Urbanism) and was happy to visit Zagreb and Pula as well.

This blog of yours resonates with me so much. Amazing how we share so many interests in common (internet, technology and design thinking among many others) even as I live halfway around the world (I’m a university student in the Philippines).

And the fact that I’m commenting here on your post when we’ve never met each other (and probably never will) is yet another testament to the power of the web. Looking forward to your future posts! I just discovered your blog today and I already bookmarked it. Great job!