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What is the Next Dimension of Social Networks? Full Network Environments!
 Guillermo Ramon Adames y Suari - PVNN
April 09, 2010
 |  | What's after social networks? The evolution seems to be the potential to switch to a full network environment. What does this mean? Simply: 'Network life.' |  | | |
Nowadays we are facing the evolution of social networks. We passed from email to social networks. In this environment all sorts of people are concerned with problems, interactions, precautions and you name it. But, what's after social networks? The evolution seems to be the potential to switch to a full network environment. What does this mean? Simply: "Network life".
With respect to this context, we have to describe several elements: Let's start with the "job element". The working component to a certain extent already exists: Various companies allow and encourage that some employees work at home in what is known as "distance work". This system operates in such a way that several employees are physically given a company laptop or desktop with a scanner and must be on line for a previously agreed period of time. Also, these employees must be on-line at certain pre-fixed schedules.
This activity, which is monitored computer wise, validates the actual "work" of the corresponding employee. All sorts of facilities are granted to those employees such as high speed Internet at home, communication software: for the time being software such as chat, Messenger and Skype. Also there is the email software and the company's equivalent of the social network software. So an employee operating under this context can be reached through the various applications and/or devices and even have videoconferences anytime. Orders or forms will typically be filled on line through the company's software. Documents will be scanned. Brief: everything is "in" the computer. Companies encourage this practice as the space for office rental and maintenance is more expensive at a corporate office, than what it costs to give some facilities to employees.
Another component is communication outside the computer. Smartphones such as the iPhones, Blackberries, Treos to cite the most popular as of today. They give all of the very same services as computers do but in a more compact device including SMS/Chat. This is an extension of the computer services also absorbed by the companies: Companies are more than willing to pay for this as they have their personnel available almost 24/7. For intensive human contact to PR type of work, the smartphone families will support a great deal of interaction. This is only a very brief summary of two types of work environment. The reader must be well aware that this is a fraction of today's picture.
The number of Internet devices keeps growing with additional functionalities. Smartphones as we know them today, saw the light 10 years ago when they passed from electronic agendas to phones with directories, then cameras were added and afterwards internet was added. Today even GPS functions are included. Music and games also came along. If this happened in a span of only 5/10 years time with one single Internet device, my predictions might not be very accurate. I am just trying to summarize what is available today, which might very well change in the next couple of months.
All that is very well and fine. The question here will be what will be the structure of the interaction between people once their compulsory assistance to work is cut off. Note that as of today there are many people that communicate through SMS. i.e. people send messages to each other in a language that has strictly nothing to do with what we know about English or Spanish's grammar. The contact with "words" is getting lost. I specifically did not want to say "mouth contact" but might very well be so.
We seem to be pushing more and more to enter a mechanized world: Take a look at this example: Imagine that we enter into a living room filled with artifacts (internet artifacts) in which if you want to have a cup of coffee. You have to start by entering a password to be allowed to be in the room you just got in. Once the "permission" (whatever permission might mean in this context) has been granted, you must fill in an electronic request to be permitted the use of a cup or a disposable glass.
After a couple of clicks you are "authorized" a cup… then you need to express your coffee choices via a menu that displays some 50 different possibilities of having your specific coffee type: milk for the crowd after 40's, no sugar, type of sweetener, foam or not foam. Then what: Ethiopian or Arabic coffee? Or you rather have a Colombian-Brazilian mix? Would you rather have the new Mexican-Colombian (the so called "cartel-mix"?). Now which type of cream? Creamy? Light? Medium light? Non-fat? We seem to be fighting to enter this world. You just wanted a cup to zip when you are in front of your computer.
The extreme described in the previous paragraph is not far off current reality and if we are not careful we will end up in a situation that will turn to be unlivable. What appears is that, in the relatively near future there will be a number of electronic formalities that must be filled "before" we do anything, literary anything. This is my guess. A simple spontaneous contact in the future will be something that we will have to forget. Love between two people will come about once a couple of passwords have been approved by an Internet love system….
On the other hand we seem to live in a world in which we have a sophisticated telephone system in which everybody is in a state of "answering a call" and a number of other "friends are listening and sharing comments live (i.e. on-line) and live an eternal "contact" with everybody else. Is this the world we want? We seem to be heading directly into it.
Guillermo Ramón Adames y Suari is a former electoral officer of the United Nations Organization. Contact him at gui.voting(at)gmail.com
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