Shankar Ghosh, Head, Strategy & Planning, Weber Shandwick talks about how the virtual world is becoming a part of our real lives and how the two can no longer be looked at as different entities.
BY SHANKAR GHOSH
Head, Strategy & Planning, Weber Shandwick
It’s official… we now have more friends online and in the virtual world than we have in real life. For example, I have friends on social media whom I’ve ‘known’ in my different work spheres, met somewhere in my social life (in the ‘real world’) and some who are just friends of friends who write interesting stuff or post cool things I can share (and call my own). Additionally, I have ‘friends’ whom I’ve never spoken to, seen or interacted with beyond Facebook, but they’re still my friends.
Is there any difference left between our virtual or online life and the real world? Can I even make that distinction? Can I even call the real world, ‘The Real World’ anymore? With the Internet boom, we shifted paradigms with e-mail, instant messaging and bulletin boards, most of us thought that it couldn’t get better this.
What could be better than reaching out to anyone in the world pretty much real-time? Then came along a bright spark named Philip Rosedale, and created something called Second Life. This is the fore-runner of what we know as social media today. The purpose of both is to enhance interaction between people. While Second Life is about creating an avatar and therefore is divorced from who and what you are in real life, they both serve a common need – the need to interact with others beyond our immediate circles and for social affirmation.
So how does this help us get closer to our answer? The path lies in understanding the evolution of social media and how it has affected our lives. For the longest time, social media has been about social affirmation and validation. I would put out something which I thought would make me look cool to my friends and followers; they would like, comment and share it and I would get an ego boost. While social media is still somewhat about that, it has evolved significantly. Now, relationships between people exist on the basis of not just what they share but the conversations they have, the things they read, the movies they watch and most importantly, the opinions they have. Social media has become not just another way to communicate, but an integral part of the entire communications ecosystem that we live in – everyday.
Given this rapid and sometimes chaotic growth of the medium, our lives have had to undergo their own chaos – what are the rules for the medium, are they the same that we use in real life? Do we need a separate set of rules for our online lives?
While there is no one correct answer to all of this, I think the solution is simple. Our online and offline lives are no longer different or separate; they are part of a multi-faceted life that we have to live and therefore the rules overlap as well. No longer is your virtual life a separate entity - it is as real as the relationship you have with your dog or with a colleague who sits at the next desk. So, the sooner we accept that everything we do physically and virtually are and will continue to be integrated, the better we will be able to build full and wholesome lives online and offline.
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sghosh@webershandwick.com
