Social como en justicia social, no como en Facebook

A Malcolm Gladwell le ha salido compañía: Alexandra Samuel, nada menos. Lea The Devolving Meaning of Social Media en Harvard Business Review (son dos minutitos) y verá cómo hay una Tercera Vía razonable más acá del hooliganismo 3.0. y menos provocadora que Gladwell. Un extracto:

And yet, for me, social media remains the other kind of social. The primary meaning is still social as in "of society." Social as in social change, social justice, social responsibility, social policy and social services. Social as in, hey, we're all in the same society, so let's act as if we actually care about one another.

I started using social to describe the "social web" back in 2006. Up until then, I'd used the term "online community" or "Web 2.0"; but I was working with Marnie Webb on NetSquared, and she started using the phrase "social web" to refer to the focus of this new web site aimed at helping non-profits use the latest generation of web tools. I liked the double entendre. Yes, it was social in the sense of being interactive and engaging; but it was also social in these sense of focusing on the needs of society and social groups.