Post-Covid, the Emergence of the Social Continent

FR version here

The global pandemic and its consequences have entirely transformed our relationship with the digital world. We have witnessed the appearance of a new Social Continent that will change our daily life forever : commerce, politics, culture and generaly speaking, trust, will never be the same.

Our online activity has accelerated at an unprecedented rate. We now spend almost as much time using the Internet each day as we do sleeping - nearly six hours. In the professional world, as well as for private use, our lives are concentrated behind screens creating a constant stream of data flow. Yet, the transformation of our internet use is less often noted in mainstream media. Not least of the intensity but equally the transformation of the entire nature of our digital universe which has propelled our society into a new age of social connection. In just one year of the pandemic, there are half a billion more social network users in the world or 4.2 billion people. In Europe, in particular, the penetration rate of Social Media use is 80%. Among the five most visited sites in the world, three are social networks: Youtube, Twitter, Facebook.

As it stood, the Internet was a succession of sites linked by hypertext links. Prior to mobile applications, the very essence of the Internet remained that of navigation by URL and Html link. The prescription depended more on the quality of referencing, thus on the links connecting the sites and the quality of their contents than on the opinion of the Internet users. Social networks, even if they have experienced a rapid growth of their audiences as well as of their advertising models, were not able to compete with the massive audiences of e-commerce, news, or leisure sites. They existed as an archipelago, spreading out in a myriad of points on the digital map, surrounding the audience blocks constituted by the sites. These billions of social accounts remain today a by-product of the web of the 2000s.

Yet, such a transformation has entered an unprecedented silent revolution in recent months, and interestingly so without being truly named or documented. During the 2020 COVID crisis, our use of social media has globally increased by 61%. Turning to the example of a popular Chinese app, Wechat: the social platform gathers almost all the Internet user information. It is a software that exists as the essential point of entry in digital, commercial, administrative and professional exchanges. If our social networks are different in the West, we can talk about the "Wechatization" of our digital bubble. This transformation holds true especially for the Millenial and Gen Z (born after 1997) cohorts of society. It is no longer Google that is the first Internet click, but Instagram, Youtube or Tiktok. For all of them, the main compass is already the opinion expressed by other Internet users, by their relatives, or the influencers they follow. To form their opinion, they all go to search on video platforms to learn more about a fact, a product, an idea, a news piece...

For the purposes of this piece, I will describe this phenomenon as an emergence of a ‘Social Continent’. A Continent that will undoubtedly become a Pangea in the years to come, the universal base of all digital communication, from which all the others will be built, and which will bridge the technologies of the future, AI and virtual reality. There is no turning back. This is the vision of Epic Games or Facebook today, who are actively preparing the combination of social media and virtual worlds to forge the Metaverse, these persistent social worlds where we will collaborate tomorrow.

An emergence with countless and decisive consequences...

This emergence of the Social Continent has economic, political, and cultural consequences. Most critically, it allows for the emergence of Social Commerce, which is forecasted to grow by 35% this year in the United States. From now on, we will buy directly on social platforms, or at least allow it to guide us in our purchasing decisions. Traditional e-commerce must reinvent itself to follow these new uses. Digital marketing, as we know it, has witnessed a high level of disruption; social networks have experienced a 30% growth in advertising investments. A lot of money will change hands. It therefore begs the question whether companies such as Amazon, an integral heir of “website-centric” culture, will survive this rupture?

Such a landscape necessarily will yield political consequences: it is no longer inconceivable for any representative democracy to maintain a transactional model inherited from the 18th century. Now, individuals are used to commenting, judging, and making decisions in real-time. Why shouldn't the State and the communities be in tune with this daily use? Rather than a threatening endeavour, it poses an opportunity to create a so-called "liquid" democracy, creating a chance for nations to reinvent the damaged relationship between representatives and the represented. This was the popular expectation of the Gilets Jaunes in France, as well as of the Pirate Party everywhere in Europe: not that of direct democracy, but of real participation of citizens today mediated only by opinion polls.

Perhaps the most significant effect of a Social Continent is the cultural revolution it manifests. Beliefs, ideas, and a sense of belonging will be forged and distributed in digital communities. In order to convince, inspire, or influence society, it is now necessary to harness the mind of a large community and yield numbers- this has now become the core of modern struggle. As the techno-prophet Howard Rheingold reminds us in his book ‘Smart Mobs’, numbers will be associated with intelligence. Generating support through numbers will guarantee social respectability. It creates an openness in society, that will allow for the best, and arguably also the worst, effect. In recent years, there has been an acceleration of conspiracy theories, a balkanization of public debate into antagonistic sub-communities, and also an appearance of unpredictable crowd movements, which can be highly dangerous for society.

The paradox of trust on the Social Continent

In times of crisis, nothing is more precious than our social relationships, in that it can provide information, support, and mutual help. In the chaos of opinions and manipulations characteristic of the acceleration of history we are living, we cling to human relationships to understand and overcome chaotic events. Social platforms are at the heart of this promise to manage the ambient chaos since they allow a direct and disintermediated relationship between individuals, companies, and authorities. A role played to the full during the last election campaigns and throughout the COVID crisis.

Therefore, the emergence of this Social Continent has paradoxically given rise to a growing distrust on the part of those who came to find advice and refuge there. Turning again to the analogy with the Chinese web, the emergence of the Social Continent has been placed at the service of surveillance and control society. It facilitates, in China as well as other nations, an extraordinary collection of data, a short control loop, and the large-scale construction of a social score. In the West, the appreciation of this emergence is mixed when it comes to assessing trust. Information seems uncertain on Twitter, wild recommendations from influencers are often biased. Concerns about privacy and manipulation are reaching their peak (see JIN - Opinionway study on digital malaise). However, the audiences are still there, massive, faithful, drawing the contours of this Continent that is gradually supplanting all other media interaction.

 How can we restore trust with the new social continent that is emerging?

Gaining trust on this Social Continent will firstly require public policies on the protection of private data: this is the path taken by Europe which is now inspiring a growing number of American politicians to do the same. The commitment of brands and companies, to not only respect, but also anticipate these privacy protection policies, will be a determining factor in the confidence of citizens and consumers in them. We will undoubtedly see an increasing number of charters and labels in this respect.

But above all, this search for trust will require a different approach to communication. On this Social Continent, to be truly perceived as trustworthy, those who want to communicate will have to bend towards the demanding discipline of positive influence.

In the new world of social media, characterized by a flow of immense density and in real time, the free interruption is perceived as hostile. Only a message that brings relevance, that is intrinsically useful to the recipient, can be accepted. This relevance can be of different natures: useful information, a testimony of sincere and mobilizing commitment, an artistic or even entertaining expression. For example, the Allianz insurance group scored decisive points when it demonstrated its commitment to renewable energy by stopping support for coal-based contracts. This is an inspiring show of commitment for the whole company. Similarly, when the Beaba childcare brand offers advice to confined parents amid the covid crisis, it makes itself useful and scores points with its customers.

Communication becomes here a service that aims not only at serving the one who sends it but also the one who receives it. It is on this condition that it will be accepted. It is based on a detailed understanding of the expectations of the communities and individuals gathered on the networks. If we don't have the "connecting" idea that will bring this positive influence to life, we will probably have to be satisfied with keeping quiet.

The Social Continent: the first step towards a universal community?

This digital transformation around a new social Lingua Franca is a positive construction for our society. It is an opportunity to be seized to get closer to a universal consciousness, as Teilhard de Chardin imagined. Certainly, it is necessary to avoid the real traps of an Orwellian dystopia, in order to avoid the construction of a political system on the central and reciprocal surveillance that networks allow. Let's be optimistic: we must consider that, like a modern Babel, this tower can be everlasting in providing an essential service of connecting our society.