Solidarity on the Social Technologies

This is a response to Question for Monday 10/11

I don’t think the social technologies are direct results of Collins’ idea, but some parts of Facebook and Twitter may work to build solidarity. The functions of event invitations on Facebook and Retweets on Twitter can be used to expand information, movement, and ideas, and gather users. The users strengthen solidarity with others there by sharing a same interest. In the case of an event invitation on Facebook, a host sends invitations to other users and the guests can choose whether to attend the event. If they decide to attend, the information is known by other users who are friends of the guests, and this function may increase the numbers of the guests. The system of event invitations follows the process of how rituals are made, that is, “by shaping assembly, boundaries to the outside, the physical arrangement of the place, by choreographing actions and directing attention to common targets, the ritual focuses everyone’s attention on the same thing and makes each one aware that they are doing so” (Ling, 74-75). The social technologies may be applied to what Collins says in this way.

Yet still, it is hard to say that people use the technologies to create assemblies to make a change in social order. Facebook and Twitter are individual-based technologies and a purpose of the use depends completely on users. Also, the systems like event invitations usually work temporary so that the strong social solidarity is hardly given to the users. Thus, while I believe the social technologies have a possibility to produce emotional energy for gathering and cohesion, it is hard to say the desire for generating the energy creates the technologies.