Social Media, particularly social networks allowed us to take our relationships on line and extend our reach. The technology allowed us to outsource our memory in the sense that conversations were recorded and could be revisited at any time, reconsidered and restarted, sometimes months or years after the last contact.
That all worked fine when we used one or other social networks. Now, though, who sticks with just one? The networks have specialised and niched, even where they are mass market, some are controlling, some open, some opaque and closed, others transparent. On some our conversations are public, in others in small groups and in yet others in private. Now we might start a conversation on Twitter that's commented on in Friendfeed and liked on Facebook. Our reply might be made in a group on LinkedIn, and so it goes on.
Our memory is being fragmented. Fragmentation and disaggregation means conversations become disjoint. Brains that suffer damage repair by routing round the problem and making new connections.
Facebook Connect and similar technologies is a sign that the internet is repairing itself and (re)connecting conversations where ever we have them.
Pingback: The Societal Web » Is there an optimal size for Social Networks
Pingback: Analogue Memory, Digital Memory, Community and how they interact.