There is something wrong with social media you just don’t know what to do about it but you know you need to do something
In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded pouring oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Exposing the recklessness of the Oil and Gas industry in their pursuit of profits.
If you look at the annual reports of all the big oil and gas companies pre-2010 they are all focussed on new extraction technologies like fracking, new oil fields and new ways to drill under the penguins in the Antarctic. Crazy oil profit driven stuff.
Then Deepwater Horizon happened and all their annual reports started to focus on their transition to renewable energy businesses with things like wind and solar power and alternative fuels for jet engines.
Because they know Deepwater Horizon has put a splinter in your mind. Ten years later that splinter has become a full blown political reality called Climate Change.
Climate change is real
We all know it and now more of us believe it because of celebrities like Greta Thunberg.
As a Canadian, I can honestly say that climate change has never been a major topic in a federal election, until now. In the November 2019, Canadian federal election the Conservative party led by Andrew Sheer gained the most seats but failed to form a government. Sheer lost his job as leader. One of the reasons given was his lack of a coherent Climate Change policy!
The word has changed for Oil and Gas companies too. They can no longer contemplate a future of unfettered, easy money drilling, pumping and shipping oil. Investment has dried up as big Investors like Blackrock bend to this new climate change reality by stopping investment in oil and gas companies.
Oil and Gas companies are the new dinosaurs and those that don’t reinvent themselves as Climate friendly energy producers will die. The splinter has become a tree with roots in society that are now so deep they are not going anywhere.
Flash forward to March 2018 when Whistleblower Christopher Wylie exposed Cambridge Analytica’s use of micro-targeted ads based on Facebook derived personality profiles to influence the Brexit Referendum and the 2016 US Presidential election. The Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed how reckless and cavalier social media has become with our data.
Data is the new Oil
Some of you may have heard the phrase “Data is the new Oil”, an analogy used to position data as a new resource that is more valuable than oil. The parallels are even starker when comparing the epoch changing disaster, Deepwater Horizon, to Cambridge Analytica.
Pre-Cambridge Analytica all the messaging coming out of social media companies was about great new Artificial Intelligence based recommendation algorithms and enhanced community building features.
After Cambridge Analytica, all their messaging changed to new privacy features and enhanced human-based content moderation.
The writing is on the wall for social media because they know that Cambridge Analytica left a splinter in your mind. It may take a few years to grow into a political reality but I don’t think it will take 10 years.
The Internet’s Future
The time is now to consider a new future for the Internet, a future based on users with self-sovereign digital identities who freely choose to interact with each other while maintaining ownership and control of their digital footprint. Self-sovereign blockchain-based relationships between real people are possible, all you need to do is hit the reset button and start fresh with a new digital identity.
Political movements start with a splinter in your mind that makes you think twice about the current state of affairs. You know something is wrong with the Internet and Social Media and now have something you can do about it.
Join us, hit the reset button, and claim your digital life back. If we all follow the splinter the digital world will be a much better place.