Last week on NPR's Marketplace radio program, a guest commentator gave a one minute opinion that Social Networking is going to grow and grow and be the next big technology. I believe he said it'll be the next "email." The specifics of what was said and who it was aren't important. As all the people who missed the fuss over MySpace have now become engrossed in their new Facebook lives, there is a growing sentiment that Social Networking will eventually be significant part of everyone's life.
By the way, your refrigerator will also be smart enough to realize that the RFID milk container in your refrigerator is running low and will either put another gallon on order for you or tell your PDA to remind you to pick some up without you clumsily trying to fat finger it in. So, what else is new? We've heard this before.
No, I'm not pooh poohing the importance and relevance of social networking technologies to the modern world as we know it. It definitely will grow. It certainly will have a significant impact on life as we know it--some of it will be good. Some of it won't. I draw the line on saying that it will be the next big thing--a killer app on the level of email.
By the way, the first time I heard that social networks were the next killer app was in 2003. Each year, it was a different champion that was supposed to lead us to the promised land. Each year, we've moved forward, but I'm not holding my breath for a promised land anytime soon for one reason. I'm not waiting for the right technology. I'm waiting for fatigue.
I've enjoyed online communities since 1986. I still enjoy them, but it's not the thrill it once was. It's gotten old hat. My enthusiasm for these many to many networking technologies have waned and risen again through the years, oftentimes coinciding with a new group of people I liked to "hang with" online, but it's no accident that I don't have a MySpace page and I'm not swept up by Facebook mania (BTW, please stop Super Poking me people. I get too many email notifications as it is).
We will not know the true extent of how pervasive social networking (as we know it) will be in the future until the majority of people out there say the same thing I say to myself whenever I see the latest thing: "I've seen this before somewhere. This one is better looking and has a lot more features, but it reminds me of something I used 10 years ago."
Enthusiasm drives the social networking craze of today. Another word that begins with the same letter will be just as important in driving the social networking industry of tomorrow. The word is "endurance" as in the endurance of the social network user to continue to keep in touch with everyone online when it is no longer the thing he or she is looking forward to every day. Anyone can get to feel small fame in a social network, but there comes a day when you tire of never getting any fan mail or you start to see answering fan mail as a responsibility rather than a thrill.
