This is how Wikipedia describes the information society .New technologies are adopted and there is almost no limit to the opportunities in ICT. It’s constantly changing and advancing as scientists and engineers create new technologies for us to use and enjoy. In the last 50 years technologies such as personal computer, the internet, mobile phones, television etc. have become commonplace for us. And because of these tools, we are well positioned to publish, disseminate and obtain information quickly and efficiently. An example is my mother who wanted a recipe for apple pie without milk because she is lactose intolerant. She saw this as an impossible task. I explained to her that it was just to Google "apple pie without milk” and then it came up several recipes. She was quite surprised and it all culminated when I showed her that it was actually a website called utenmelk.no (withoutmilk.no) with recipes designed specifically for those with lactose intolerance.
So either we want a recipe, read the news, pay our bills or just get updated on the latest gossip, is quite simple just because of the development of the technology, but also because of the distribution and processing of information as an important cultural activity in our society. This information can be public, but lately, many of us had a desire to publish information about our privacy on the Internet, these through channels such as facebook, twitter, blogs etc.
We create a profile with name, photo and other basic information. Then we write a little about our interests, our political standpoint, maybe a little bit about what kind of music we like, etc. If we are part of, for example facebook, then we always updated on the newest information about our friends, family and colleagues trough for example status updates and pictures. The same is for blogging.
In Norway it is most common for people under 30 years old to blog. And often we see so called pink bloggers with very girly topics in their blog, young girl’s blogging about make-up and fashion, because this is their big interests. Blogging is quite common in the United States. Here are the bloggers older and they write about more serious things such as politics, music and other topics that is current. A trend that I think will reach Norway in short time.
But I can’t help ask the question. Why do we create a profile on facebook? Why do we blog? Why do we want to publish information about our privacy on the internet where everyone can have an insight in our life?
Of course, we can choose to have a low profile and remain private. Though it’s difficult not to write about who you are and why you have your opinion about politics or music. Some information about our privacy will be publish either we want it or not. And if you don’t get personal, the blog might get boring and people lose interest reading about you. I meet people who don't have either facebook, blog, MSN or twitter. They tell me that they don't want to publish private information for example trough facebook. Though they feel left aside because everyone else communicate and keeping updated on the web. They say that they feel a pressure to establish for example a blog just to keep up with the rest of the society. A large proportion of their friends are a part of it, and these friends publish information about these on their profiles online.They feel that they are automatically a part of this society because of this.
For these people the saying, if you don’t exist on Google, then you don’t exist at all becomes a reality. It can seem quite brutal. Another example that this saying becomes a reality, is from my practice at a secondary school. I and my co-student did an inquiry on this school about young people’s habits when they use the internet. A large proportion of the students had accession to a computer, either their own or the family’s computer. And a larger proportion had a profile either on twitter, facebook, nettby or they had their own blog. Often they had profiles on all of these arenas. My impression is that if these young people didn’t have a profile on the web or a blog, they weren’t popular. It seemed like the young people social life took place on the web, either for example trough MSN or trough blogging. This means that they also had access to a lot of information and was updated at any time.
The pupils used their computers either communicates through the mentioned arenas. In addition to this, they used their computer to listen to the latest music, play the newest games and looking at the newest fashion. That means that they were always updated on the latest news within their field of interest. Few students were using the vast information that was found on the Internet for schoolwork. They culture was distributing and processing information about themselves and their friends on the web.
These people live their social life on the web and if they don’t? Then you aren’t popular, you don’t “exists”. But it’s not just the young people that live their social life on the web. It is becoming more and more seldom that I actually meet my friends face to face. Still I know what’s going on in their life because I either by communicate with them by chat programs or I read their blog.
This is a video about social networking. It tell us how it work when we live our social life on the web:
We don’t just live our social life on the web; we also live our emotional life on the web. Are we happy, we will write about it in our blog. Are we sad, then we want to share it. Are we mad, we definitely want to share it with the rest of the world. Not to talk about if we are in love, then we want to tell it to the whole wide world. And what is more easily and effectively than to publish it on the World Wide Web? We now easily have access to the tool that helps us publish information about ourselves on the web. We can for example take pictures with our camera, publish them trough either our mobile phones or our personal computers.
So why do we choose to expose ourselves on the web, why do we want to share our private information on the web? Well, I think that the human beings have always had a desire to confirm that they actually exist. By publishing our pictures, our mind or our political opinions either through the blog or facebook so we get response. Perhaps more response than if we were standing on the street and screamed out the same things. When we publish information about ourselves on the web, we actually saying: Hey, look here! I do exist! I think that we act in a new way in the information society, is quite usual to expose our private information because we get a confirmation that we exist when we receive feedback from such a large audience.
Another reason why we choose to expose ourselves on the web is because it is a way to draw attention. In our blog, we want to pleasure others by giving them an opportunity to read about our lives. We want to inspire other people, some think blogging is a way to get known and make money. But all in all it comes down to that we want to be seen and recognized, it’s about recognition.
We want an attestation that we actually exist, and the saying is becoming a reality: if you don’t exist on Google, then you don’t exist at all!
Seth Godin & Tom Peters talks about blogging and why we choose to expose ourselves on the web:
