The human need to be social

There’s a lot of talk of social media – about social media marketing, social networking, viral marketing, tweeting, tagging, cloud sourcing, etc. The talk usually hovers around the Internet and mobilephones, and how technology makes everything possible. More so, because the technology that makes this possible is now in the hands of millions of people.

With this technology – actually it’s a collection and convergence of various technologies – people are talking, connecting, creating, commenting, blogging, tweeting, messaging, emailing, uploading and downloading files... sharing everything from professional information to political points of view to personal interests and experiences.

Although technology has centre-stage at the moment, I wonder if it is being given importance far beyond what it deserves. After all, though technology is making it all happen (and I do give it due credit), technology still needs to make use of, sit on and act upon the solid bedrock of human relationships that makes up our world.

For, it is the human need for relationships and togetherness that seeks out opportunities, methods, resources, time and technology to bring people together. Social media simply complements and completes this need, bringing joy to millions of people around the world. It is this human need to be social that’s driving this phenomenon we call social media.