Why Web 2.0 and Social Bookmarking Really Works…

One aspect of the internet that has always amazed me is how intimate digital communication can actually be.

Objectively you wouldn’t think so - letters typed on a screen. How can that be intimate? All I know is that I have been brought to tears on numerous occasions through a touching and thoughtful email or blog post.

Every so often I forget about my amazement until I am reminded by a passionate and emotionally open piece - created by a caring and tuned in person.

Maybe it’s the emotional honesty that is so striking ; maybe it’s authenticity. Maybe it’s intent. Maybe it’s intention.

Some of us learn early in life that it’s ok to express emotion and it’s safe to be who we really are.

Others have a tougher challenge to overcome as adults because we learn early in our experience that it isn’t safe and that individual expression equates to punishment, demeaned self esteem and retribution.

For the former, the realm of emotion and self esteem is a playground, a joyful experiment and an exciting and interesting game. Mistakes are not only allowed and tolerated, they are encouraged. Life is fun.

For the latter - as a child - survival depends on being transparent, invisible, unheard and unspoken, because being seen and heard equates to pain - emotional or otherwise. Mistakes must be avoided because they are flags that draw attention.

Life is scary.

For the person with low self esteem, it’s a really big deal and it takes courage to express oneself openly in relationships, socially or on the Net, in contrast to who those already understand that it’s ok to be who they are in public.

The Impact on Baby Boomers…

These issues are particularly true for Baby Boomers because we are the generation once removed from the Great Depression and the direct social descendants of the WW2 generation.

Men were silent about their pain and fears. It was the way they survived the horrors so many of them saw in the war and their memories of hunger and scarcity in the Great Depression as kids.

As such, Boomers were trained to emulate this same emotional behavior en masse - just by observing the way many of our fathers maintained a distance and a consistent lack of emotional expression, masking all that pain.

We directly reflect these attitudes and social mores as a group and this self esteem polarity seems to be more pronounced in us as a result.

How One Person Really Makes A Difference

What was it, for example, about seeing Paul Potts - a frumpy, self conscious and humble cell phone salesman singing his heart out on Britain’s Got Talent, that so dramatically impacted observers emotionally?

And it did…

There was not a dry eye in the house when he finished his performance.

Was it the amazing power of his voice?

Yes, partially.

Was it the fact that he allowed his personal power and magnificence to shine through for the first time in his life - and expose his true spirit - in spite of his absolute internal discomfort and fear of failure?

Most definitely.

Was it because instinctively we all sensed that the magnitude of the risk he was taking was so large that most of us would never have taken that risk?

Yes, that too.

Was it because we knew he was taking the biggest chance of his life and that the risk didn’t just benefit Paul Potts, it benefited humanity?

There was a sort hush from the sense of awe that the audience experienced observing greatness unepxectedly. Somehow we all grew from his courage and simultaneously we all experienced emotional cleansing through a widespread “release”.

And a new understanding.

The collective human consciousness expanded a step further towards goodness and truth and the Creator within each of us just by his willingness to face his greatest fear and follow his true path for the first time in his life.

On some level we were all elevated. We rose up. We expanded. And we also learned - clearly - that if he could do it, we can too.

And this happens each and every time someone speaks his (her) truth authentically…

This amazing vehicle we call the “Net” is fast becoming a collective consciousness development program - that expands as rapidly as our ability to understand and utilize it - almost along the lines of the “holographic universe”. So through it all, truth (or the lack of it) permeates all communication. On some level, we can not hide who we truly are when we are active participants because somehow the collective consciousness can sense the authenticity and passion.

Many times in the past I have taken exception to the zealous attitude that blogging purists have taken regarding their antipathy towards internet marketers - somehow equating making money and self promotion with a lowering of standards and an intrusion into “their world”.

But the cool part is that in the bigger picture, we can’t fool anyone when we are not being authentic.

So as the Net consciousness continues to expand collectively, those who are not acting in truth and for the overall betterment and growth of all involved will begin to stand out more obviously through contrast - digitally and instantaneously.

Social bookmarking and web 2.0 are therefore part of the natural progression of free expression and the natural evolution of the Internet.

And those who do not adapt will become extinct Internet dinosaurs.

The days of the used car salesman types online are coming to an end naturally as the Net becomes a greater and more accurate expression of human consciousness.

Authenticity and integrity will overcome self serving behavior and manipulation as the default of expansion and growth. It is inevitable because it will cost too much money to sustain the facade as more and more people get the message and click away to something more in alignment with what they are looking for.

So Web 2.0 and social bookmarking really work because, on an individual level, it is a safe environment for self expression. There is safety of sorts simply through anonymity in and of itself.

But Web 2.0 has also inadvertently emerged as a development tool for self esteem because authenticity is encouraged, congratulated and supported time and again through comments, posts on other blogs, back links and active readership.

It is becoming a platform for high self esteem where we can grow self esteem through the process of helping others and by receiving complements and recognition for good work on a consistent basis.

It’s amazing how the universe works even through an electronic communication medium.