Every so often I come across posts and declarations about particular social media platforms where people are laying down rules about how I will use a platform. They’re telling me how it’s going to be. I have never responded particularly well to such outbursts, mostly because I consider myself intelligent enough to think for myself, and consider someone blindly telling me what to do as a gesture that disrespects me as an individual… but when it comes to social media, it’s not just my attitude toward blindly following authority that’s the problem, it’s about something different.
I see social media as a social construct. Let me briefly explain what I mean there. I see social media as something which is defined by our social interactions online. This means that I see the social media technology as an empty shell which is ultimately shaped and defined by our interactions. As such, I consider that online communities have their own mediating cultures in their own right, separate from (although defined by and mediating between) national cultures. Considering that culture is defined over time by our collective interactions and beliefs (see Vygotsky’s work on culture), and our rules understood and defined through culture, I don’t see how one person can define rules around a particular platform when that platform is built based on interactions which are mediated through culture. At best, I think an individual can observe the rules that result from culture, but alone, they can never define them.
So, all this lack of control sounds a bit scary… But its not. It’s about recognising that one person cannot have total control online, just as they cannot in the face to face world, and that a group will form their own norms and rules irrespective to what an authority figure says. We negotiate our own rules through participation. Were this an organisational context it’s even more important because declaring unquestioned authority undermines collaboration. In that instance it may be a matter of having the group define these rules as an introductory activity (see Virginia Shae’s netiquette). I’m not calling for social media anarchy, far from it. I’m calling for a recognition of our collaborative approach to our collaborative online environments.
Now I think you know what you can say to the next individual that tries to impose their self professed social media rules on you…
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