the internet galaxy revisited

networked individualism

The dominant trend in the evolution of social relationships in our societies is the rise of individualism. [ ... ]

After the transition from the predominance of primary relationships (embodied in families and communities) to secondary relationships (embodied in associations), the new, dominant pattern seems to be built on what could be called tertiary relationships, [ ... ] "personalized communities", embodied in me-centered networks. It represents the privatization of sociability. [ ... ]

The new pattern of sociability in our societies is characterized by networked individualism.

Castells, The Information Galaxy, p. 128 (emphasis added)

Here we see the third wave paradigm applied to patterns of social interaction.

no technology push

Castells, true to his background, is keen to point out that this networked individualism results not from psychological preferences, but is

rooted in the material conditions of work and livelihood in our societies.

Nor is this shift in sociability caused by technological developments:

It is not the Internet that creates a pattern of networked individualism, but the development of the Internet provides an appropriate material support for the diffusion of networked individualism as the dominant form of sociability.

That is, the web 2.0 buzz was not created by technological innovations; rather a more fundamental tendency in organizing our social selves, gets expressed in technology that happens to become available.

Following this reasoning through has rather profound implications. The big social networking sites aren't really me-centered networks. They pretend to be, yes, but ultimately these sites are profit-centered hubs, run by corporations, who cultivate user lock-in.

That's a big gap between fundamental demand and available supply. There's still plenty of untapped potential for disruptive innovations in social networking out there...