A Social Network Comprised Entirely of Conversations?
I’ve been wondering what it would be like to have a social network where the only messages were those as part of conversations with other people and not solely one-to-many, that in essence becomes many-to-many on a social network, broadcasts. In other words, a Twitter/Facebook made up of only @reply/discussion threads/streams and nothing else. You would not be able to post unless you are responding to another user.
Wait. So how would it start? Someone has to say something at some point, unprompted. So, I am envisioning it like this. Either their is the moment of creation…. a message from “god”. No not that God. Ok so god has spoken. Next, everyone else creates accounts and they reply to the god message and reply to others who have replied to the god message. You can quickly see how this would spiral and branch out into some organized chaos. but the point is, everyone is responding to everyone. Their are no blatant messages addressed to nobody specifically. The UI and the system would be designed around this limitation. A Social Network Comprised Entirely of Conversations!
Would this cut down on the mundane status update message, ads, automated feeds and spam? Some of that just would not fit. But of course a response can be considered these things. Though you would look foolish and be voted down to the point where your messages are muted and eventually account is destroyed.
But this is absurd. What do we have here? The worlds longest discussion thread? Those used to popup in message boards over the years just for fun. Is that what this proposes then? An official Worlds Longest Discussion Thread?
Alright maybe then it works like this…. Each day, god posts something new. And that starts it all over again. A daily message from god that unlocks itself to the community for discussion. Then the thread locks up at the end of the day (timezones considered). Yes! Thats the ticket (to heaven)!
Ok taking that concept further. Scratch the idea of the god message. Well, maybe the very first message is by god but then everyday, every user is allowed to post a single message that is not in response to another user. This is their own god message that creates their own daily thread. Maybe nobody responds. Maybe a million people respond inside it (stemmed from your initial message). Either way, you as a user still get to see everyone elses (or just your friends) god messages and can respond in those threads.
So why have I even entertained this concept? Because Twitter kind of sucks. I mean it’s cool. I love it 
and have tweeted over 4,000 times in 2+ years. I’m glad Twitter exists. But the thing is… Most of the 20 BILLION TWEETS are not part of real conversations. It is spam or imported feeds or mundane things that though cute and all… just dont add much to the fundamental ideas of discourse. Facebook is a little better, or different at least, in this regard. But the same problems exist. And always will. but that is why their is room for some ridiculous experimentation like what I have proposed here.
It’s time to end the absurdity that is this blog post.
Carry on.
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Trackbacks 4:38 AM on February 10, 2012 Permalink |
Raymond Kristiansen 6:35 AM on August 9, 2010 Permalink |
I like the “God message” idea, meaning the beginning should be something with weight. Not everyone responding on something like “I just saw Nicholas Cage!” or “I wrote a new blog post, go read it now!”, but something more substantial, more grounded. The discussion would indeed be chaotic, but it could in fact also be very interesting. Have you seen this by Clay Shirky? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2GyPniW2eM#t=10m51s – the Cost of communication – if heightened – could change things. What if there was some screening, or randomness, as to who got to have that God’s message that day/week? Would our message be more considered?
sull 11:08 AM on August 9, 2010 Permalink |
Hey Raymond. No I have not seen this Clay Shirky video. Will listen now. Thx.
Yeah i’m still *struggling* with the lack of social intimacy on the interwebs these days.
Its an interesting observation and occasionally I will touch on it. It does not effect me personally but since it is a difficult question, i like to ponder the answers.