Paul Buchheit makes some interesting comments on the potential for value of social networks like Facebook.
What I really like about the article is what’s behind what he’s saying: that the distinction between online and offline behavior is diminishing.
The title Paul chose for his article is a little too ominous sounding for me though. The idea that the online world is ruled by cheaters (or big brother) is exactly the kind of thing that keeps many of my technophobic friends from participating fully. I’m sure this is a big barrier across the board. But it turns out, social networks aren’t the problem, they’re the antidote! They give us the opportunity to behave more like we do in real life (the opportunity, mind you!).
Think about it. Way back in human history, we used to do something similar (in part) to what we do on Facebook: We used to store our names, addresses and phone numbers in a big book that was easily accessed by anyone. We even walked down the street and saw people’s faces (okay, we still do that one — the consequences for poking or throwing a sheep at someone, though, were different than they are now).
The study of Darwinian evolution teaches us that evolutionary stable strategies will always include some small percentage of cheaters. In fact, we need them. They keep us on our toes! The theory goes roughly: if there are too many cheaters, they feed on themselves and the population decreases; if there are too many saints, we all die from puking our guts out at the smarmy-smug righteousness of it all.
…or something.
Need another analogy? Imagine poker without bluffing….
Okay? We on the same page? In conclusion, don’t fear the online world any more than you already fear the real one rest of the world.
