The Future of Social Interaction
Future of Social Interaction after 10 Years
Social networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, Facetime, Skype, Flickr and YouTube have greatly changed user interactions on the World Wide Web. Vast user power and dynamics have changed how people engage in and experience their social interactions, interests, and collaborations.
The average user can get a lot done within a very short time through the use social platforms. This has tremendously increased the information threshold and the speed at which information is transmitted. At a single instance one can access information on various platforms and discover new things that surround the people we know and the places we are. One can join a group and contribute towards a cause. One can shop make orders or view what his or her peers are buying, this in turn has immense influence on their decisions.
Social media has increased the value of virtual space as well as time. For instance one can make an international call at a very minimal cost or send texts for free. The seamless connectedness of platforms has also increased the relevance of issues, for instance if I see a discussion on TV over World Economic Crunch I can join the discussion through Facetime, Skype, Google hangout, tweeter among other platforms. This makes life easier, more dynamic and authentic.
However, this comes at a cost. There are implicit costs that one incurs to have internet access. For instance one has to subscribe to an Internet Service Provider (ISP). This is dependable on the speed and bundles offered. Moreover there are other explicit costs that come with subscription to different social media platforms. These costs are incurred in form of premium services which give better experience. One can also make purchases on these platform.
The key challenge with costing is that most on the costings are not well pronounced so budgeting can be challenging and moreover, one can end up spending more and more on the web because the best experiences and services are payable.
Online social interactions will evolve within the next decade to deal with the growing needs of its user community and build entries into several aspects of our lives. This evolution could be among the foremost exciting ones of our times wherever the individual and collective power of individuals to contribute and share content, experiences, ideas etc. may be even more enhanced than it is today.
The web is regarding people: those who make interaction with other people through a flurry of emails, instant messages, media, and RSS feeds. The volume of digitally mediated communication is rising with our growing and ever-present connectivity and mobility. Greater connectivity brings new experiences from mobile applications to web-social platforms. Additionally, we have a tendency to perform actions that act as part of our strategy to realize the future of social interactions: random exploration of the physical space or the intellectual space. Thus social online interaction will be rooted in contextualized traces we leave wherever we want to. Social online interaction will be mobile and immersive interaction. Observing the speedy rate at that on-line social networking is taking the world; one cannot help but feel that our perception of data privacy will change (Conference.org, 2008).
The changing needs experienced in our societies and the increased usage of internet social media is likely to change in a manner beyond improvement is also formed through a higher understanding of user needs and behavior and it’s going to be enabled through the seamless convergence of multi-modal technologies, new applications, new domains, data processing and higher steering and search capabilities (Conference.org, 2008).
A number of these changes also will permeate into the work and alter the manner we tend to work. Despite the very fact that we are already seeing the use of the social network in interaction, it is clear that the social aspect of media generation and consumption on the web will grow. The key push for this development is the needs of humans to share experiences during a globalized and mobile world.
Communications in social software often seems like an afterthought, when indeed it is the core of the user experience to connect with, share, meet, and interact with each other. Thus in 10 years from now there will be a big change in the way people interact (Conference.org, 2008).
Finally, the Future of Social Interactions aims to tackle problems like privacy and total transparency, human interactions and virtual profiles. Artificial enhancers of social relationships combined with social networks will affect knowledge creation and also the scientific method itself. Soon social networks will become truly communication enabled, as communications solutions become more intelligent, starting a shift away from just content to putting context, communications, and communications data at the core of on-line interactions. Communications will be fully integrated and unified with social networks, and contextual interaction across media will be shared and analyzed to drive a new user experience. This will change the way we interact, connect, share and find each other and transform the communications user experience we are familiar with today (Conference.org, 2008).
References
Conference.org, (2008).The Future of Online Social Interactions: What to Expect in 2020. Retrieved from http://wwwconference.org/www2008/papers/pdf/p1255-john.pdf
