Strictly speaking, not. Reading is not socializing. Status updates are not the same as saying hello in person. 2.0 socializing is make-do.
One consistent theme at this blog has been that the human is at the center of computing. Face time not only matters, but is central to the equation. But when I say face time, I don't mean just the caricature of it. As in, don't look at the screen, look at me. I mean group dynamics, I mean the larger human affairs, I mean staying in tune with the big political developments of the day.
But where 2.0 is indispensable is that although 5.0 is key and central, that 5.0 can not stand alone. (Web 5.0: Face Time) You need a rich 2.0 environment to give that 5.0 the best possible shape.
9/11 happened here. But that was the work of the Al Qaeda. America and the world were transformed forever. The financial 9/11 happened. But that was not the work of the Al Qaeda. The bungee jump phase has already lasted nine months. I think we are about to hit the plateau phase. (That Plateau Feeling) How long will that last? When will we see the take off phase? How soon?
The pain of the bungee jump has been very real. It has been across the board, it has been across the country, it has been across the globe.
There's death to disease, there's death to accident, and there's death to crime. They don't fall in the same category. Children dying to diarrhoea do not fall in the same category as people dying to genocide. Two investment banks falling to the global financial crisis does not fall in the same category to the two buildings falling to 9/11.
This city has lost tens of thousands of jobs that will never come back. The challenge is to create tens of thousands of new jobs. The challenge is to create new jobs, companies, and industries. The basic greatness of this city has not changed. This city still attracts the top graduates of the top schools in the country. This city still attracts people from every town on earth. This city still has money, and people, and the infrastructure. This city has the capacity to create.
This city has the option to reimagine itself, and claim an even more central place in the planet's imagination. (Silicon City)
Technology will never substitute face time. (Web 5.0: Face Time) But is the cubicle the best way to respect that fact? And if you have to stare at the screen for several hours each day, does that screen have to be in a cubicle?
And if people become so central to the knowledge economy ways, don't sexism and racism and other isms become unbearably intolerable? I mean, if you are trying to get the very best out of each member of your team. You want each person on your team to give the very best they can.
And if it is the knowledge economy and knowledge workers we are talking about, what does it mean to be committed to lifelong education? Education never stops. What does that mean?
If the best idea could come from anywhere on the team, what does that do to the traditional hierarchy? Is there a hierarchy? Has the pyramid become a cloud? The best ideas might come from outside the team. What does that do to the team? Could the team be learning?
What would it mean to take a company through one paradigm shift after another, every few years? How long can you keep that startup feeling before you are big but no longer on the bleeding edge?
People will leave. You will ask some people to leave. You will outsource some of your work, you will crowdsource some of your work. What does it mean to have a core team in that sea of volatility? What does it mean to build and enrichen and deepen relationships?
What would it mean to have a company completely at peace with social media?
But there's a flip side to the face time concept. What if geography is irrelevant, as it is, and I can attempt face time with you still? There's emailing, chatting, audio, video, there's facebooking, tweetering. That changes things. You can feel India's presence right here in New York City.
But the new office can't just be a fashion statement. The new office has to make more money than the old office. The new office should get rid of discredited, old paradigms, but it should also breathe new life into timeless values. Profits still matter. Innovation matters. Hard work matters. Playing by the rules matters. Breaking rules matters. Teamwork matters. Out of the box thinking matters. Leadership matters more than ever. Customer service matters. The market is the goddess we worship. Market forces matter. Democracy is the goddess we pay homage to. Doing good matters.
Some things change fundamentally. Some things never change.
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