January 13, 2015

Collaborative Plato Post

What makes a social website?

An website where a community of users can engage in some sort of social interaction.

What makes a social website good?
  • All parts are unified by a theme. Cannot separate each part and still have the thing or theme imbedded in each part.  Kind of like Plato's example with parts of the body: cannot separate and say have two bodies.  
  • Plato believed everyone could be taught knowledge.  Everyone should be able to get on a social website and understand its point/purpose.
  • To Plato conversation helped define things better than words.  Social websites can be looked at as giant conversations, and if they are looked at as conversations, something should get defined or understood better through them.  The things being defined or understood better can be products (Amazon), an individual (Facebook), the church (Mormon.org), etc. Since every social website can be looked at as a giant conversation, every GOOD social website should help facilitate authentic conversations and therefore authentic definitions.
  • Attracts people or draws them in so that lots of people participate. 
  • Plato's writings never had final answers, because he wanted his readers to come up with answers and then come up with better ones, etc. etc.  A good social website should be capable of adaptation.  It is not an end, but a beginning of a platform that changes and grows as users push it to.  Not just for people to interact, but for people to dictate as well.
  • Plato hoped his writings would facilitate face to face conversation at parties. A good social website should encourage people to get offline and have face to face interactions as well.
How does one create a good social website?
  • Find a theme
  • Make sure it's clear and user friendly
  • Decide what it should help define
  • Find a way for it to attract people
  • Make it capable of adaptation
  • Figure out a way for people to get offline as well

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