Will The Web Make Us More Honest?
3rd September 09
Posted in culture, social media, transformational change
In a world where it’s too easy to get used to things coming in 140 character-sized packages, everything happening in real time, and thinking about the future and what it might bring means having a debate about whether Tumblr is better than Posterous, it’s always refreshing to have something more substantial to chew on. A proper three-course meal versus repeated, ultimately unsatisfying, trips to the snack cupboard.
We’ve been digesting – and debating – a post by Walter Naeslund on his very excellent blog. Naeslund is, in his own words, ‘an internet freedom fighter and CEO of the Stockholm based communications agency Honesty. [He] also give lectures and runs workshops on Internet Trends, Modern Communications Strategy and Social Media.’
Naeslund’s post, from Tuesday, was grandly-titled “What the World Will Look Like in 25 Years“. The whole thing is worth a read (it’s not long). He offers a range of more speculative thinking around the way the world might be going, and the emerging role of the web within those scenarios; as I said, a welcome contrast to an increasingly myopic focus on the now.
But what struck me in particular was a short paragraph in which Naeslund speculates on what one might call future ‘ethics’:
It’s an interesting contention, that there are fewer hiding places in a world of instant access to perfect information, and total transparency. Even if it is likely to never be that flawless in practice (& actually, would we want it to be?), the pronounced increase in sharing of everything about one’s personal life in digital form (what Naeslund characterizes as the merging of physical and digital identities) will undoubtedly bring both costs and benefits.
It’s the last line of that paragraph that intrigues me and that has stuck with me.
Is there any evidence of better behavior and less cheating?
How do we think that might manifest itself, if and when it does happen?
On one hand it all sounds a little Utopian (and some might argue, less fun). On the other, it does sound rather attractive.
What do you think?
18 comments on “Will The Web Make Us More Honest?”
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Ben Malbon
On the Internet, everyone will be able to see that you’re a dog: to my mind one of the key things we need to teach people is how to manage transparency.
It was a brilliant post, thanks for turning me onto it.
It’s hard to doubt the web will continue to give us increasingly more honesty, meaning true and transparent information. Whether this will lead to more honest behavior is another, more opaque, question. For brands, who answer to public markets, it probably will. Alternatively, some may simply act more callous, in particular if they hold some degree of monopoly power.
For other societal constructs, such as a nation/regime, hard to say. The world had pretty honest information on the Iran situation, but that didn’t make the regime behave more honestly. On the other hand if victims in genocidal warfare in Africa had means of disseminating real time information would the world be more inclined to intervene and act more honestly by upholding basic human rights?
It is a really really interesting question looking at honesty, does make one think that media literacy will be an important skill in 25 years.
Love it. I hope it’s true. With fewer places to hide a more open and honest society will be very welcome I believe.
Thanks for commenting my post.
There are some very interesting points you are making that I will make a few more comments on tomorrow. It’s bedtime here in Sweden now.
In the meantime you can check out some slides from a talk I did on this topic last week, and where I discuss good an evil in the perspective of the 1971 Stanford Prison experiment: http://walternaeslund.com/cool-i-just-got-featured-on-the-slideshare-homepage/
Over and out from Sweden.
It sure was a brilliant post, but I don;t think of it so much as a what is going to be but rather what it is. And.. made me think about my actions now. If I’m not honest now, I’ll have to be in the future. Isn’t that right?
Thanks for the comments, some good food for thought there.
And thanks again to Walter for the post.
[...] BBH Labs wrote an interesting post commenting on some of my thoughts on internet transparency and gossip. [...]
To give my answers to a few of the questions above, I posted a follow up Q&A which you can read here: http://walternaeslund.com/qa-from-the-bbh-labs-post-on-honesty/
i fully agree with what’s said in the article/speech. we will see more of this techno induced honesty as we approach singularity/flat world/one world culture. happy to see more and more people in our industry aware of this. thanks for sharing.
An interesting article in the Times of India today, about couples having a common personal email, facebook and twitter ID. I guess the fear of getting caught doing soemthing wrong will make most of more virtuous! Check the article out on page 17 of the epaper if the link doesn’t open- http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOINEW/navigator.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI
Thanks Chandru – well worth a read, even on the slightly tricky-to-navigate eReader from Times of India. B
Some new stuff on the practical use of these theories. Enjoy!
http://walternaeslund.com/the-hangglider-theory-%E2%80%93-how-to-survive-disgusting-dominos-pizza-clips-and-more/
/W.
Call display pretty much destroyed all kinds of telephone scams and pranks. Phone is too transparent for immoral (heavy breathers) and many criminal initiatives.
Internet is a freedom fighter itself. People and brands will have to be more honest, open and nice. Yes. And for brands it’s back to building a really great product as advertising can do less (yes, less – but not marketing) to help them. Alan Wolk’s post on magic advertising (http://tangerinetoad.blogspot.com/2009/09/magic-advertising-words.html) hightlights that.
This is what’s going on NOW. Not tomorrow. Transparency and openness/collaboration (a bigger piece in many communication strategies and ideas) is the manifestation, so far, of being more open, nice and behaving nicelly. I think.
heck, we’re already living out the prophesy.
exhibit A: there’s not a chance people are exaggerating on their CVs like they used to.
exhibit B: how many of us have pulled questionable photos off our Facebook pages in the last year?
Answering this question means taking into account the way the Internet has changed the meaning of the word “honesty.” Whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter, a blog comment or even in an IM, the Internet allows us to self-create. Simultaneously, when we receive data, we also have to imaginatively interpret things like tone and intention.
There may be more data, but we are sacrificing the readings we get intuitively.
An example of an honest of the augmented reality in terms of communication. The most Interesting is that it doesn’t make any false or maybe too fantastical impressions of the company.
A brazilian bank Iphone app in AR for the 3GS that can be quite useful for the bank clients.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIGAkVMre_o
This is an issue I’ve been thinking a lot about recently- thanks for the post.
There is certainly evidence some companies are becoming more honest and transparent because of the internet- ASDA installing cameras in their dairy farms, First Direct with their live feed and aggregator showing positive and negative comments, Dell and Zappos on Twitter. For many it seems a way of defining themselves in distrusted and homogenous categories (insurance being the best example).
But then again if you look at Apple, they are phenomenally successful without being in any way honest. They are one of the most secretive companies around and release no information on how their products work.
It seems like the internet makes honesty an all or nothing game. You either submit to it completely and see what happens, or you shut the gates and try not to let any information seep out. I know which one seems like the future.