RFL: Life Imitating Social Media, or the Other Way Around?

Life Imitating Social Media or Social Media Imitating Life?

OR: Social Networking and Real Life: Which is the Dog and Which is the Tail?

It has occurred to me recently that life may indeed actually be imitating social media and social networking in many ways. It may sound ridiculous, but have we actually created and fed a resource that is controlling the our behavior and personal development- making us dumber in the process? Here's some examples:

• In general, more people have less regard for spelling, grammar, or professional communication than a decade ago.
• Consumer Branding strategies are now being implemented by individuals in what's called "personal branding".
• People are generating greater numbers of shallow relationships and fewer deep and meaningful relationships.
• What is written on MySpace Facebook LinkedIn etc, is being quoted in reputable news channels.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I have noticed a growing commercial footprint within the social media. People are becoming willing to exaggerate themselves and the products, services, or companies they are connected to. There are more "FRIENDS" trying to sell each other services than in real life. It reminds me of the movie GROUNDHOG DAY with Bill Murray. OR, more specifically, the insurance sales person on the street trying to sell Bill Murray insurance. Yes, they once knew each other vaguely, and now the insurance rep feels like it's perfectly okay to leverage that relationship to his benefit. In fact, this is a caricature of insurance sales people that has been lampooned for decades. This dynamic has become the norm in the social media outlets, and appears to be spilling back out into the real world.

See my next post on informercials for a good description of what I mean.

I'm interested on what others think about this premise- does the online social world reflect the behaviors of the real world? Or has the real world changed it's behavior based on the success of online worlds?