I have recently been given cause to evaluate my participation in social media and what I am seeking to achieve by my participation. It has caused me to think on the nature of social media itself and to refresh my understanding of the concept of a social object. Hugh Macleod defines a social object as:

The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else. Human beings are social animals. We like to socialize. But if think about it, there needs to be a reason for it to happen in the first place. That reason, that “node” in the social network, is what we call the Social Object.

So my question to myself is what are the classes of social objects I am interested in sharing via social media? Here is the list I came up with (in no particular order):

  • Games. I have a boardgame collection (listed here) and each game on it as well as other games I play is a social object.
  • Locations: I live in Adelaide, Australia and each place I visit is a social object.
  • Business Organisations: every organisation I interact with either as a customer or as a service provider can become a social object.
  • Industries: The industries that organisations I provide services to operate in are social objects in themselves.
  • Devices: The devices I own and use are social objects themselves as well as the features of those devices such as operating systems.
  • Software: Software that I use is a social object.
  • Links: I am constantly reading information on the internets and those links are social objects.
  • TV: The TV programs that I enjoy are social objects.
  • Books: Books that I read are social objects
  • Images/Video: The images and video that I capture using my phone and camera are social objects.
  • Chrisitanity: I am a Christian and that is a social object as well as the church I attend.
  • Sport: One of my son’s plays rugby and I infrequently watch sport on TV so that is a social object.
  • Curent Affairs: anything that happens anywhere that piques my interest becomes a social object.
  • Political Issues: Any political issue that I care about is a social object.
  • Life Skills: Life skills that I lack or am developing become social objects.

My social objects are one way to model both my online and offline relationships and a way to gain insight into behavior, one I will be thinking on much over the next little while.

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