Social Responsibility: July 2007 Archives

In an Adbusters magazine article called "my space" (pun intended) Eric Rumble quotes Sherry Turkle, director of MIT's Technology and Self program and author of Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet

"Our society tends toward a breathless techno-enthusiasm...The self that grows up with multitasking and rapid response measures success by calls made, emails answered, messages responded to."

Rumble asks if we are now focussing on "quantity over quality" and points out that the communication patterns we are increasingly getting used to online are oddly reminiscent of the way that advertisers target audiences.

"In essence, networking netizens are getting better and better at producing what amounts to 30-second spots about our states of mind, our ambitions, our whereabouts, our passions and obsessions."

He asks "is there a purpose to this new breed of online social network beyond data mining its membership?" (If you're not familiar with the term "data mining", here's a definition: Data mining is searching large volumes of data looking for patterns that accurately predict behavior in customers and prospects.)

I picked up a copy of Adbusters magazine yesterday, and opened it to a page that asked in big bold letters:

Before chosing a brand, more and more consumers are asking critical questions.

"What are the politics behind this brand? How does it promote the values that I believe in? What does this brand really stand for?"

The answer, more often than not, is "Nothing...this brand stands for nothing!"

That got me thinking about the HomeBusinessWiz brand. I wrote about my intentions for HomeBusinessWiz way back when I started this site. Here's a summary: