Social media is about finding our voice

Recently listened to this keynote by Euan Semple at the 'State of the Net' conference. I thought it was a very good and insightful talk. It puts social media into perspective and helps you think about the underlying concepts of the internet.

Semple basically starts out with the difference between the old(er) web 2.0 and new web 2.0 world. In other words: it started with blogging and now we have Facebook and Twitter. I like how he tells about how nervous he was when he published his first blogpost. (I can relate to that...) But goes on to stress how important it is for us personally and for organizations to find their voice (- remember the Cluetrain Manifesto?). We have to move away from the industrialization of our worklives.

On the other hand Semple acknowledges that asking people to say what they think, should never be underestimated. It's a big step for many.

Semple wraps his talk with a nice quote from David Weinberger: Love is what makes the internet hang together, the basis human desire to want connect to each other.