The holiday season seems to make us all more reflective. We live in a busy world with data coming through our screens at an unprecedented rate, it is good that we take time to reflect on our life, our family and society as a whole.
One aspect of the social web that constantly attracts me is the lack of filtering and the effect of this on society.
When we moved house as a child, we used the opportunity to 'filter' our memories, of our 'things'. When we went on holiday we chose the photo's we wanted to put into the photo album as a reflection of the experience.
We filtered...or should that be WE filtered - not Google, not Bing, not our friends through likes.
It strikes me that with a seemingly infinite amount of data space it brings us to a new way we create the perception of our experiences. What I can't work out is whether this is good, bad or just different?
My childhood was often spent talking through photo's with Nana, or talking about the importance of the horseshoe that Grandad kept.
Where I believe that the ability to keep all memories must be a good thing so that as far as possible recollections are objective rather than subjective......are we in danger of losing the personal element, that storytelling which brought generations together?
I also think there is an opportunity for brand management and their social marketing initiatives.
- Can brands add the emotion by being the social nexus between generations, helping people to share those stories?
- Can brands offer that emotional storytelling which acts as substitute...not to replace but to fill in the gaps?
- Can brands find ways of inspiring us to tell our stories and to filter our memories?
