The idea from this week's reading that I will be responding to is Design Principle 7.8:

Principle 7.8: Design "Anti" Social and Omni-Social Networks

I've already touched on my deep disdain for modern social networking tools in a reading response from early in the quarter, but since Ge's anti-Facebook rant from class earlier this week, I've been ruminating on the topic more and what a positive, alternate social network could look like. One of the main problems that I identified with the current state of social media is the disconnect between the lives we live virtually and in real life. Online, you can find people almost identical to you in every way - their preferences, tastes, and views at microscopic levels. Often, you can actually find enough of them to form entire virtual communities. But all of these communities are disfunctional in the sense that they are not reflective of real life. A society can't operate with people of all a certain disposition. Imagine you had a deep distate for garbage, and you formed a society of people who all shared that view - who would take care of the basic sanitation needs in your community?

Diversity is the lifeblood of functional communities, so if you want to build a social network that reinforces community rather than erode it, diversity has to be baked-in from the start. I think geographically targeted apps like Nextdoor are a better example for the types of communities we should strive for in our virtual lives. Imagine a social network that only allows you to forge connections to people with geographical ties to you, and where all activity on the network is publically viewable. The relationships you form as a result are thus linked and impactful to your offline life. I think maintaining social media as a sort of public forum brings us more into line with the idea of social media as a "public good". For us to be able to continually form positive social relationships (both real and virtual) as this new technology evolves, our interactions online cannot be cordoned off from the ramifications they have in our real-world communities. Bringing the two facets of our lives in harmony is the necessary step to revert the erosion of the social fabric that irresponsible companies like Facebook have inflicted on us so far this century.