In Fred Turner's article "Where the Counterculture met the New Economy - The WELL and Virtual Community" the influences and evolution of one of the first online network forums is illustrated. When thinking about social media today and the influence that the WELL has on what we have access to today, one can assume that the WELL laid down the ground work to give people a sense of connectedness regardless of space and time. The idea of a non hierarchal organized social platform through information technology is what many companies today use to keep each other informed and constantly connected with the latest movements within a company. BMO for example uses lync so employees can communicate with each other.
This type of forum gave companies a basis of what to build off of. As seen in the Silicon Valley documentary in class, employees used a bar to meet up and communicate the latest workings in the company and discuss the ongoing competition and achievements each employee had endured in recent memory. Forums today can be seen as a bar or a physical meeting because it allows you to relay messages in real time.
WhatsApp for example uses phone numbers regardless of the type of phone you have to form group chats, share links and media. Other then WhatsApp, what current social media platform do you think is most relatable to the ideals set by WELL?
I think that an important social media platform that relates to WELL is LinkedIn. It is a platform that allows users to connect with industry professionals and grow their network. This definitely does not possess a form hierarchal standpoint because it actually encourages anyone to connect with each other. Furthermore, users being able to freely share information and communicate with other users creates a very rich diverse amount of people using this social media platform. Therefore, I think that due to LinkedIn being able to provide a sense of connectedness which is similar to WELL, makes it a very successful social media platform that we experience today.
ReplyDeleteI believe that in the business world, Blackberry's and BBM have become a popular method of communication that relates to WELL. It can be used by anyone that download the app on any phone. Rather than people having to give out their personal number to co-workers, they can just give out their PIN. It does not possess a hierarchical structure because anyone can download the app and most people who work in an office do have phones. However, if all phones could not download the BBM app, it would be a hierarchical structure because usually managers and above are only provided with work Blackberry's. Additionally, with materialism and hegemony, IPhone has dominated the marketplace which means that most people that are regular employees could not be a part of this WELL structure. I do think that the virtual community is good for reaching out and talking, but do you think that having actual meetings in person would be more beneficial because one cannot always text what they actually mean through an app due to linguistic restrictions. For example, if someone was mad, they could not show their aggression in a message easily.
ReplyDeleteAnother social media app that can stand as a virtual meeting place in which information and messages can be relayed via real time is Slack. Slack is used by many teams as it allows one to hold group meetings, share links, and set goals for the entire team. When I was a part of a school club, having all of the staff members on slack definitely helped in keeping everyone accountable of the tasks they needed to do. This app and many others that are similar are definitely effective ways to be connected to others regardless of space and time - as you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I think that Reddit is a social media platform that is really similar to WELL. Reddit (today) has a lot more popularity over WELL probably due to reason that technology has become such an integrated part of the 21st century. Both WELL and Reddit consist of many very similar concepts such as an online forum where users can communicate. Everyone can come together on the platform and discuss several topics, issues and so on. Ultimately, the main aspect that I believe ties Reddit and WELL together is the concept of a “virtual community”. Beyond the bounds of time and space, users are able to communicate whenever they feel like it. However, Reddit is much more casual than WELL would be as WELL was still used to conduct more professional interactions as well. Reddit is also a platform that functions in a “non hierarchal” manner as well.
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