What Was and What Shall Be: The Rise of The Emotional Web

If the 90’s went down in history as the decade of the data and information highway, the last 10 internet years could go down confidently as the decade of the network. Since 2004/2005 the evolution went from physical networks to data networks onwards to the conquest of the social network (Facebook, StudiVZ, YouTube, Twitter, etc.)

Social Networks vs. Personal Networks

The term Social Network might be a misnomer similar to the likes of the data highway of the 90’s. What really evolved were personal networks, as an extension to the public web represented by Yahoo, AOL, Google, and the like.

A very good introductory article on the topic was written already at the beginning of the decade, albeit in a somewhat different context. In it, Gerd Waloszek describes various points of view and very nicely separates the personal and social categories:

"The term "personal network" is not a new term coined during the current boom of collaboration tools. Personal or social networks have always existed (though perhaps under a different name) for the simple reason that humans are social creatures.

They build relationships and form groups, they communicate and collaborate. That said, the introduction of new technologies, especially the Internet, has had a major impact on how people organize their personal networks.

Time and distance have taken on new meanings. "Physical distance" has lost its significance and been replaced by a perception of "closeness" in time and virtual space.

Face-to-face communication, although still important, has become less so, while computer-supported media offers previously unknown channels that inspire new communication styles."

The documentary film “Six Degrees of Separation” is a very helpful guide for understanding the developments of the past decade. It not only shows how social networks work, but also illustrates how closely people have closed ranks:

With this background, the two most important developments of the last decade:

• The advent of personal/social tools and gadgets - be it cellphones, smartphones, netbooks, etc. and the cornucopia of associated (web) applications.

And looking deeper:

• The social/personal gaming arena, which especially tests out the emotional potential of the Web.

The coming decade may in particular show us how networks will help us satisfy not only our information needs, but also our emotional ones - The Rise of the Emotional Web.

Originally posted in German by Jochen Krisch, adapted for excitingcommerce.com by Jason Soo.

Comments

[Acai Optimum]

nice video... i kind of made a lot of sense in your post.. good job