9/11 and the social software movement
Towers of people
The moment the planes hit the World Trade Center it was immediately transformed from America’s icon of commerce to two towers filled with people. In an instant our Government’s Pentagon was turned on it’s head. Our national psyche was shattered and an entire generation shared in horror and disbelief. Everything we had taken for granted was re-evaluated. While our government locked down, we more than ever before, reached out to each other.
The pivot after the tragedy
This isn’t a post about 9/11. It’s about what happened afterwards and the longer term effect on us. In the weeks, months and years after the tragedy, we desperately reached out. We turned to our computers. We emailed, we poured over the thousands of stories on blogs. We searched for the people who had been there or who were sharing their personal stories. We commented, we connected, we asked why. News broke faster over blogs and email than traditional media. At the same time our government quickly learned that their systems weren’t built to connect the dots the way we really needed them to.
Cutting the red tape
Getting to who and what we needed faster was critical in this time of need. The companies didn’t matter, the people did. The “Government” didn’t matter, we wanted to know why we didn’t know and weren’t protected. The media didn’t matter, it was the experts who could share and who we could talk to directly. We wanted transparency, speed and connection.
Rise of social connection
In the years since then, we’ve kept this trend going. We know that connecting people online is critical. We can get much more done more quickly this way. We no longer turn to “the company,” we turn to the people in these companies. We turn to the experts. We want to add our voice to the places we care about and find others who share our desire. We don’t turn to ABC or CBS or any other company that’s supposed to be “the” resource. We look for people who know. This change has transformed an entire generation who expect to do business with the same people-centric values born from this tragedy. This level of interaction and transparency still has it’s effects on us today.
Things people have said about this post
Sam, the parallels you draw depicting an instance of INSTANT CHANGE are very interesting to me. The social software helps bring people together to connect, share, and cooperate on this planet as well as accross industries, whether for profit or not. Thanks for your insight.
steve
“This level of interaction and transparency still has it’s effects on us today.”
Thank Goodness it does!
This phenomenon is what makes Twitter indispensable.
People on the ground, not entirely affected under the roof
of corporate media culture.
Although, having 10,000 twitterers tweet what they
ALL simultaneously watched, Obama TV for example, does not THE truth make.
On 9/11 in News York, at the scene and for days after, the only thing that worked were Blackberries. cell phones were down, land lines and public phones circuits overloaded. those of us who at the disaster, and displaced from our homes had no access to email unless we had blackberries. I didn’t, but people who did contacted my friends and family for me to say I was alive.
it would have been great if we’d had twitter to connect to each other, and to contact our families through our networks. And now we do. Indispensable is right!
Very thoughtful post. The long tail of the impact of September 11th is readily seen in the constant need to stay in touch with friends, colleagues, and family through social networking applications. It brought back the trust to the individual level.
I challenge the readers to reach out to individuals which you have wondered about from previous employers, college, or social situations to re engage the back to be a contributing member of your circle once more.
Great post! This post, social software, and this day, all remind me of the importance of community.
I personally believe that it is a fundmental *need* of almost all human beings to feel as though they are a part of a community, to feel connected to other human beings in meaninful ways.
To barrow a term from cisco’s recent advertising campaign “the human network” (community) gains strength and felxability the greater the connectivity between the nodes (humans.)
Social software is (at least I think it is) all about increasing the connectivity, strength, and felxability of the human created networks / communities… both on a small and large scale.
-N
I think a similar parallel could be drawn to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. How many of us clicked refresh all day long as we watched a trapped SysAdmin capture his thoughts and feelings about what was happening around him? How many of us poured over Flickr, blogs and elsewhere to see what was really happening?
I turned to the people I loved. I did this face-to-face, by phone, on the street and at houses of worship.
I don’t remember an urge dictating in the months, years that I should connect with strangers or as you say: “We turned to our computers.”
I watched TV that night, several hours after the most bizarre client meeting in the afternoon (after the first Tower fell). Importantly, I do remember turning off the channels (TV, radio, newspapers) eventually and thinking it was more important to play with my two-year old and bring/seek comfort with family and friends.
Steve, I think we still close the walls even with “open” “free” SoMe tools and social software. A lot of time, I feel like we still self-select those we agree with and validate. I don’t see a lot of honest interaction for that promotes social change – seems like we’re more often tweeting for business promotion or recapping our current pleasures. For example, for all the social media coverage of recent hurricanes (and there was excellent resources and alerts), can we point to actual humanitarian efforts and relief in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba? Seemed like once the storms fizzled in America, not enough people cared.
Ed, I need a little help seeing parallels with our current social media culture. Seems like the shared experiences like Obama TV or StandUp2Cancer online are so much smaller than 9-11-01 and the weeks that followed. But I share your optimism that we can accomplish great things together with (and without) social media.
[...] Lawrence on 9/11 and the social software movement Sam Lawrence has this great blog post on 9/11 and the social software movement. Lawrence said, “Getting to who and what we needed faster was critical in this time of need. [...]
[...] and the social software movement Sam Lawrence has this great blog post on 9/11 and the social software movement. Lawrence said, “Getting to who and what we needed faster was critical in this time of need. [...]
Adam,
Similar to you, I actually don’t recall turning to my computer for social connection in the first few weeks after 9/11. However, I do remember turning to my computer soon thereafter to develop business relationships over very long distances. The primary driver for me was motivated by safety (I was a tad fearful of boarding a 747 missile) and cost. Few clients were spending and it was a buyer’s markets, so we were really pinching pennies like many others — and that drove me to rely more heavily on the web.
From my POV, I find it is easy to believe Sam’s experience on 9/11 is genuine. Also it is safe to say that the sky’s the limit when it comes to enterprise software applications that enable social change.
Oftentimes the barrier to adoption is at an individual human level and is sometimes due to lack of strong, disciplined leadership and core beliefs and social values, ie like cooperation and openness.
As opposed to what you said you believe, I DO believe honest interactions are abundant on the web, especially for those of us who believe our future is up to us, ie the aggregate of our individual actions impact our collective results.
[...] read some inspiring posts regarding 9/11 this week. Sam Lawrence played up an interesting parallel between our need to connect with people then, and our need to [...]
[...] read some inspiring posts regarding 9/11 this week. Sam Lawrence played up an interesting parallel between our need to connect with people then, and our need to [...]