Fake Tracy Morgan said it best on Twitter, courtesy of Bits &Pieces:
“Facebook asks what I’m thinking. Twitter asks what I’m doing. Foursquare asks where I am. The internet has turned into a crazy girlfriend.”
What fake Tracy is pointing out so eloquently is just the beginning. Another player has come into the space: dailyfeats. What’s different about this one is that there is more of a focus on social awareness or community consciousness.
Users self-report good deeds and receive points, give and receive props to other users, and receive some discounts from advertiser supported feats. (So far, the advertiser/content fit has been good. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will remain that way.)
What makes this social network particularly interesting is that it attempts to tap into an idea that can sometimes be considered an oxymoron in the online world: ethics. Aristotle and Socrates more or less believed that people can and are willing to do good. This social network is taking that idea and is now attempting to allow us to do this online.
If I see that my friends are doing good works, then I should be more willing to do good works, too, right?
The Achilles heel for making this work is twofold: 1. Users need to self-report honestly about their good deeds and 2. Users need to be diligent about updating their good works.
As for the honesty, people will choose to be honest or not. No amount of policing can make all users online be honest, so I’ll let that be. As for the diligence part, that’s where I struggle.
Fundamentally, I am not interested in constantly recording what I’m thinking, doing, saying, eating, (insert verb here), etc. constantly online.
However, the temptation to show how “good” I am online is quite appealing. Even if it can get me to be a little nicer even for a short period of time, I’m sure my husband would appreciate it. I can now check my “Be Kind” feat, yes!
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