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We are reprinting the column by Adis Hasaković published on the Al Jazzer Balkans portal in its entirety.
http://balkans.aljazeera.net/blog/socijalne-mreze-revolucija-poput-gutenbergove-stamparije
Written by: Adis Hasaković
Social networks have definitely changed the world. Just as Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press meant a civilizational change, so the emergence of social networks permanently changed the most important thing – communication between people. If the goal of all communication is above all understanding, today we already have enough “material” to doubt that this goal will ever be achieved again. The rules of the game no longer apply. However, this does not absolve us of the responsibility to try again and again to reach the goal of understanding as a universal value of all people for all time.
In the beginning, social networks were not intended to be media, but it simply “happened”, incredibly quickly, and in such a way that they are currently the most powerful media that exists. Social networks are therefore not subject to the regulation provided for the media, international and national journalistic codes, and even the charters and resolutions of the UN and other international bodies related to communication are rather stretched when viewed from the perspective of social networks, so the framework, that is, the framework for the (overall) picture, is rather undefined. We register on social networks and participate in communication through these channels voluntarily. Which is to say that no one forced us to do it. Our friends, real and virtual, also do this at their own risk. When you put things that way, it’s clear that you and only you are to blame for everything that happens to you. You are not protected.
So, we agreed to the rules of the game that are based on the fact that there are no rules. We are all each other’s “friends”, “followers”, “fans”. And in fact… Who is to blame if we get hurt. If you don’t know someone personally, it’s unlikely that you will have a relationship with them as with a real friend or acquaintance.
Nevertheless, the revolution took place in the very basis of communication systems as we knew them before. Yesterday’s recipients of information (those who receive information) have become communicators (those who create information). Overnight, social networks made it possible for anyone, anytime, anywhere, to become a media personality – a media actor.
The good side of the medal is that now all people have the right and the opportunity to freely articulate their own opinion. And the downside is that only a few are aware of this freedom and their responsibility. And the worst thing of all is that, by coincidence, there are also those who were trained, educated and learned in any way how to create media content (not to mention the conditions for creating branding).
The bottom line is that people should do what they know best. Now, the media makes people important, or more important in their own eyes than they really are. Our own media mirror is very often distorted when it comes to ourselves. Which is to say that we somehow become more beautiful, better, smarter to ourselves. “Fame” is no longer the privilege of the famous. “Famous” can be anyone these days. In the case of social networks, each of us has the chance to experience all of that.
There are very few who are able to deal with “fame” that is unreal, and which essentially does not exist. Why does it not exist!? Because there is no necessary and relevant public (social) criticism that would give someone or something a green, yellow or red light for (not) passing. Then people imagine that they know, and that they are important, and they get angry when things go wrong, or God forbid, go wrong. So, what I want to say is that social networks have become so powerful that they are able to change people’s mentality and character, and do so very quickly, almost overnight, without people even realizing it.
The epilogue of everything is that today people easily agree to games in which they are not even aware that there are rules, let alone know anything about them. This then leads to the fact that we have a hyperproduction of “experts” for various fields, not only for styling, PR, branding, body language, or popularly called “marketing”, things have gotten out of control so that today through FB, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram…, they offer us various services – they cure the sick, they would lead the country, solve world problems as they were, for a moment they would talk about a colleague from work, and then they would return to more “serious” topics, by the way would come up with something out of the ordinary, unprecedented and spectacular for business (to) years.
When someone wakes them up from a virtual dream and when their own face, which they are looking at in the curved mirror of new media reality, suddenly becomes not so beautiful, it is too late. Instead of stopping, the conflict, or misunderstanding, only then takes on unfathomable proportions. “Noise in communications” is a euphemism for what these new communicators are ready for. Insults, attacks, threats, curses, hate speech, lies. Everything then goes under the hood, in order to preserve a false image of oneself, and some of one’s convictions. The fact that all of this is now spreading so quickly and becoming available to everyone makes the whole problem even more difficult and intractable. The virtual becomes real, it spreads faster than light, the consequences are unimaginable.
That is why upbringing, education and morality are now coming to the fore even more. The crises of all the above are much more visible, and it seems that the collapse of values is even greater, and the confusion that it will overpower the truth. Although we should not be afraid of the latter, because there is no lie that will cover up the truth, this moral imperative obliges us to do everything so that the positive, normal and good prevail over everything else. Communication and communication between people have become too important today more than ever, and we should consider introducing this subject into the educational system from the lowest to the highest stage. Otherwise, we will have a problem as a society and civilization. Starting from scratch, what is news, how is it created, what does it mean to be objective, why do we need the so-called “rule of the other side”, etc. Because, every person on the planet today is a communicator who is able to create media content. Therefore, today we all need to learn anew what, in the new circumstances caused by the communication revolution of social networks, the moral credo that my freedom ends where the freedom of another begins means.
Every day we have situations where “people pretend to be all sorts of things” in order to gain (media) attention. Social networks suffer from everything, even more than paper. Because they are virtual. If 30 years ago in BiH we had only a few dozen media outlets where professionals worked, today with all those profiles on social networks we have at least 3.5 million media outlets, and so on, several billion (people), and most of them have never even encountered the basic rules of creating media content.
There will be more.
May God grant it to get better!
Source: Al Jazeera