Beyond Words

Create your network, anticipate your precious opportunities.

Online, the word « friend » has a special meaning. Your friends are not only your folks or the people you know personally, but also the ones you are connected to online. All these people constitute your own network. The Internet has made things so easy about relationships. Communities as Flickr or Twitter are the result of the hyper-communication fashion nowadays. People need to talk about their lives, to know what happens in their friends’ lives and to interact. These friendships online seem to offer only advantages. Indeed, the more contact you have, the more you gain : your range of action is larger. If you are looking for a job, a baby-sitter or if you need some electrical work done in your house, you can ask for favours...that you will give back. It can help you to find the perfect person at the right moment.



But be sure to put the social networks to good use. Of course, knowing people all around the world and maintain close relationships is more than an fame,it is a great resource, a precious opportunity. Nevertheless, this will to be linked anytime to everybody can become a society issue. Will independence and autonomy come to an end? Is the human being losing the pleasure to be alone? Do we systematically need to define us in relation to someone?

Whether you want it or not, on the internet, the transparency seems to be unstoppable. With the IP address or the data bases, we are unable to control the information about us.
For example, according to the links we clicked on, or the information we gave on surveys, we can see particular adds on our web pages. In this tough economic period, brands are more than ever using viral marketing thanks to the Internet. It is cheaper but it is also a better way to reach their audience. Indeed, if your finances are tight, it is way more effective to obtain awareness on a social application like a Facebook page than to pay for a TV spot. Marketing is much more easier when you have a deep knowledge of your audience because they are talking about their motivations just as a focus group. To me transparency can become a real invasion of privacy.

But isn’t transparency one of the main principles of Web 2.0?

I am thinking particularly about the social networks. When people interact they must be outspoken. When you log in, you reveal a private part of your life, but it appears natural because everybody does the same thing. It does not seem to be serious but at the end I can’t help but imagine how much data people provide to these networks. You upload your profile picture and one thing leading to another, you publish your mail address and your holidays snaps…
We reveal our lives on social networks because they become virtual places where we feel comfortable. But in my opinion it is exactly social networks’ aim : they encourage us to confess and thus to interact because it creates activity on the network. Thus, we forget that we are displaying our lives and that people can judge our pictures, our status…
The hugest error to make is to add a professional relationship as a contact, on Facebook for example, even if you consider this person as a friend. Let’s imagine your relations deteriorate, this person can use these information against you. Moreover it’s important to manage your privacy settings on these social networks. If you don’t, a potential recruiting officer can visit your profile without being your « friend » and dislike the way you display yourself on this platform.

Socialize yourself, but mind the gap between your job and private life.

Nobody doubts about the Internet’s ability to break habits. For instance, two years ago, downloading a picture from a website took couple of minutes. Now it is a matter of seconds. The way we surf on the Internet changes constantly. To me, it is even more obvious since I was not really comfortable with new technologies. Today, I am on Twitter and Facebook, I write on this blog and I go online everyday... I try hard to adapt myself, but one of my deeply anchored principles was not to use my credit card online. I used to be stubborn about security on the web. Now I have understood that it is very convenient, and moreover it makes life easier for so many things. Even the government uses the Internet to make the tax paying system more accessible.

Yet, I can't help but think we are dehumanizing our lives. We used to go to a library with no precise idea but buying a book, asking the booksellers for some advices. Nowadays, the advices are little rating stars on online bookshops. I think the very consequence of this loss of sense is an absurd world. If I am not afraid anymore by this constant revolution, I still mistrust this wind of change.

This morning, I got up with a song in my mind. I wanted to get it off, just listening to it. A brief connexion on the Internet, and… done. Something which seems as natural as drinking a glass of water.

Internet established the worship of immediacy, especially when it comes to music. If you are craving to listen to a particular song, it is now possible to quench it in a split second. Just connect to one of the many online radios, (Deezer, Jiwa…) and there is no need to download anymore. The streaming music does not only give us the possibility to listen to the whole world’s music but also to do it legally. From this point of view, Internet has freed the music from its economic model and from the actors who (used to) control it. Because music is not a matter of money, at least not always. We don’t have to pay to enjoy cultural goods.


The social networks have had a great impact on online music: they gave a wide visibility to music but also to musicians. From Facebook to My Space, an international musical web has been created on the Internet. If you play on a group,it’s good for you to put your songs on a blog to increase your network and your reputation, more than that : it’s necessary. Actually, if you’re becoming famous and that people don’t find you on Google, it means you’re nobody. On the contrary, people will believe in your potential talent if you write on a blog regularly and you broadcast your music on your Twitter, My Space and Facebook accounts.

To me, it’s necessary to put boundaries to this growing phenomenon. If anyone can expose his art on the web, everyone can become an artist. Here is a paradox: only a small part of the population really deserves the name of artist. If everyone is an artist, then nobody is. What happens next to the people who have real talent? How can they break out? Do they try reality shows on TV? What if they don’t want to humiliate themselves? How will we make the difference between a real musician and a person who just takes advantage of being an Internet expert to become famous? The actually gifted people are the victims of mass talent murder.

Internet has crashed music into its own already existing crisis, and now there is no way to go back. Now, the audience controls everything and becomes the main actor. The Professionals won’t be able to get back in control in this mere anarchy.
The public is the only decision maker in this process. No one can really do anything about it.