One + February 2011 - (Page 42)

> > H I G H -T EC H H U M A N I T Y THAT’S ENOUGH FACEBOOK I’M SICK TO DEATH OF THE THING. Not just Facebook the application, but talking about Facebook. Half the questions I’m asked by interviewers and students and after talks—talks that have nothing to do with Facebook—are about Facebook. Is Facebook becoming too powerful? What should our business Facebook strategy be? What is my kid doing on Facebook? Who controls Facebook? When will I be able to buy stock in Facebook? Facebook, Facebook, FACEBOOK. I can answer these questions, but they’re irrelevant. Facebook—and the “social networking” it embodies— is temporary. Its centrality is a self-fulﬁlling prophecy. Mainstream media are desperate for “human interest” material, and we relate to stories about our digital networks. Sorry Wrong Number expressed the anxiety of early telephone culture. You’ve Got Mail shared the possibilities for e-mail generation. The Social Network is the vehicle for today’s Facebook age. So, Time magazine names Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as its Man of the Year, and you get a picture of the can’t-beat-‘em-so-join-‘em approach to this “threat” of social media. By surrendering their screens and pages to stories about social networking, these traditional media outlets hope for the Likes and Tweets “required” to survive in a social media-driven space. One story on Facebook leads to another, leads to another, leads to another, until it seems like our entire world is somehow dependent on this solitary social networking app—and all of our organizations, businesses and meetings must somehow incorporate it into their core functioning. It’s not enough to launch a website for every conference or meeting we convene. Now we must also create a Facebook group or (better!) an entirely new social network for our participants. We trudge off to Ning or Groupsite. Sounds great on the surface: our conference can be its own social network! People can connect before the show! Meet up for real! Stay connected afterwards! But who wants to join yet another social network, have another website or application to check each day along with e-mail, blogs, RSS feeds, Twitter and Facebook on top of whatever proprietary systems for ofﬁce and company news at work? And of all the places and things and streams we’re already checking each day, how many are we even visiting to ﬁnd something actually useful? Our dominant motivation has simply become making sure there’s nothing requiring our attention. I’m here to tell you the gut-wrenching truth: Facebook does not require your attention. If you like it, ﬁnd friends and connect to family, God bless. Families fractured over the last century to all parts of the globe as corporations became dominant employers and local communities disintegrated. It’s great to have ways to reconnect. And if you happen to love the way it works, and want to use it to enhance the connectivity of your meeting, go for it. At BY DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF << 42 one+ 02.11

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of One + February 2011

One + February 2011
Contents
Energy of Many
Impressions
The Productivity Cloud
Overheard
Agenda
MPIWeb Connect
Thoughts+Leaders
Events for Life
Gateway to the Future
Top Spots
It Was Not Interesting
Irrelevant
The Wrong Words
Up to Snuff
That’s Enough Facebook
Super Foods to the Rescue
Shoring Resources
Jack and Smoke
Accidentally on Purpose
Staying on Top of Tech
The Joy of Work
Plan to Run
Productivity on the Go
Angel of the Favelas
Your Community
Making a Difference
Until We Meet Again
MPI’s 2011 Meeting Guide to Canada
Contents
Banff Centre
Ottawa Tourism
Tourisme Montréal
The Buzz
InterContinental Canada
Caesars Windsor
Vintage Hotels
The Great Green North
Whistler, British Columbia
Meetings and Conventions Calgary
Scotiabank Convention Centre

One + February 2011