rwwmike's posterous

Hung out recently with two Googlers. One at YouTube, the other at Gmail. The question of social and Google came up. We quickly found our way to Google's many social failures and its current +1 endeavor.

The YouTuber explained that he thinks Google's problem in social is that a bunch of introvert engineers are put in charge of creating a social situation. Seems fair enough. The other, a Gmail engineer from what I gathered, explained that he doesn't understand why anyone would share a link on Facebook. "Why add to the information overflow?" he asked me. Clicking +1 to possibly ensure that "friends" would have a better search experience, he explained, was much more worthwhile.

The difference in thought and approach almost reminds me of my time in China. I went during the height of the Swine Flu scare and a situation with self-reporting (ie doing for the good of the society and others) illuminated something about my thought patterns and those of possibly many Americans. I had gone expecting a top-down control, but instead found a society that had a somewhat reversed value system from the U.S. Here's what I wrote on it at the time:

A few days [after arriving] I got a call from the Chinese government, along with a little package from the Dongcheng Community Health Care Center. Though I was never told a reason, I was to take my temperature twice a day and report it to the hotel staff who would then relay the information to the local government. If anything were abnormal, I was to assume, I would immediately be placed under quarantine. The package contained some masks, a letter from the Chinese government, and informational pamphlet (all of it in Chinese) and a thermometer. I signed a letter saying that I would report daily and refrain from going out in public as much as possible.

“Will they watch me take my temperature?” I asked one of our local hosts, who I figured would be more familiar with the procedure.

“No,” he told me. “You just take it and then tell the hotel what it is.”

The process immediately illuminated a few things about my views about China, my views as an American and the ways of the Chinese government and its citizens.

For me, the whole thing seemed a bit absurd. If I found out that I had a fever, I was to tell the government and therefore subject myself to quarantine? Why would I ever want to do that?

Only in a society where social controls and supporting cultural values are this strong would a self-reporting system, such as my temperature-taking routine, actually work.

I was exhibiting some stereotypical American attitudes. Why would I value the good of the society over what was good for me? That’s what they were expecting me to do, after all, wasn’t it? 

Of course, these aren't the same. The Swine Flu situation had me fearing being held captive in the hands of the Chinese government, while clicking that +1 just has me wondering "What's in it for me?" But that's just the thing - ME.

As one classmate wrote at the end of her time in China, "Harmony of the society has top priority." Google's +1 makes perfect sense if you view it in this light. You're not doing it for yourself, but for others. But I still look at it the same way as when the Chinese government asked me to self report my temperature - that doesn't serve me.

When I "like" some external website using Facebook's "like" button, it's not because I want to help the future of others. I'm not doing it for the good of the whole of society. I'm doing it because I'm saying "Hey, this is something that defines ME as a person" or because I'm saying "This is my point of view and I want to share it with the people I know!" or even, more selfishly and shallow-ly, "Hey, look what I found! Isn't that cool? (And I found it!)."

The immediate hope upon clicking that button, however, is that it is broadcast to the people you're connected to right then. It's not that they, in their potential future search, will be urged toward that same content.

Google has a great idea with its Twitter search integration, in my opinion. Twitter still has a social aspect to where people share things with a purpose in mind and in a situation where there is feedback. There is a context. If I share something absurd on Twitter, I'll get responses. I'll get feedback. I'll get unfollowed. On Google, if I press +1 on all sorts of dumb shit...nothing happens. It all occurs in a void. What, someone is going to remove me from their contacts? Nope. Their contacts is their address book. The one they use for Gmail. Too bad they don't have any other way of telling me my +1 is stupid or offensive.

I digress.

Sharing for the better of others is not "social." Just because multiple people are involved does not make it social. Social involves interaction, feedback, consequences and, possibly most importantly, a sense of self and not selflessness. And if you are doing something selfless, chances are you're Tweeting it or setting it as your Facebook status so that you can bring it back around to YOU and get some self validation.

So, again, what's in it for YOU to click that +1 button?