New Orientation
After 18 months of radio silence, here I am again on the front steps of The Church of Social Media to announce my new direction. NO, It is not a religious conversion, nor a change of sex, no more than a vegan diet, or a position abroad, but rather personal projects that I cherished since already a few years. Bring back artistic creation to the center of my life, and get back to writing fiction stories.
A 180 degree turn caused by the wear of time, and a certain tiredness of the Web and social networks. After almost 25 years of trying to understand and find a way to assimilate the digital revolution, I see that we have unfortunately missed out. Internet giants are now in control of humanity, and are sweeping the utopian dream of the democratization of information under the carpet, bringing back to us rather the dystopian nightmare of Orwell and ¨1984¨.
Today, social media and mobile apps are emerging as new extensions of our lives. With artificial intelligence and facial recognition, our digital identity and personal data no longer belong to us. Our interpersonal relationships become virtual, and our emotional intelligence and our habits scrutinized by algorithms to define the personality. Trained in a new “digital Darwinism”, we are sinking into an overconsumption, of which we are both the victims and the actors. Like many, I refuse to adhere more to this system.
For the first time in history, four generations also find themselves sharing the same work environments. A situation that too often gives rise to intergenerational confrontations, opposing contrary ambitions and different objectives. Rather than bringing together the strengths and qualities of each, to build together a new world more focused on the principles of social and solidarity economy.
My Last Professional Work on Social Media
Tim Berners-Lee’s dream with the World Wide Web deserved better than that. This is what I support and detail in my most recent, and last, professional work; GENERATION C – The Confluence Marketing at the Era of Connected Consumers. While today we keep talking about social media performance agencies, and influencers who merge into commercial windows, this book rather deals with the digital transformation of companies and organizations from a more sociological angle.
Based on different behavioral studies of current generations, it analyzes the impact of different content according to their real influence on the “consumers”, that we have all become in the digital age. An essay that offers a different approach for businesses, focused more on new governance, promoting the spontaneous involvement of staff, with a view to social sales and connected prospecting.
Published on behalf of the author, this 135-page large format book, with nearly thirty color infographics, is available in digital and paper version on the Friesen Press website or Amazon.
My New Literacy Projects
Having said that, I’m not considering giving up on social media either. I’ll just be there less regularly, and for other reasons than strictly professional. However, in private, I will always be available to advise and share my ideas on innovative and creative projects. More particularly in the culture and communications sectors, where my main experiences lie during the last forty years.
The wear and tear of the years, combined with stupid accidents in 2018, forced me to slow down and find new landmarks. During all this time, I worked on my rehabilitation, while redirecting my priorities. But, I did not remain inactive. Even as I get older, idleness will never be in my nature.
I then developed the ambitious project of writing a novel, in three parts, mixing docu-fiction and spy thriller, revisiting the history of Quebec since the Cold War and the Quiet Revolution, through the autobiography of ‘a boomer of the late fifties, and his romanticized vision of the spirit of the time. Based mainly on facts and real people, this story, although fictional, may reveal some hidden parts of our history. This is the Quebec Zeitgeist.
So, if you are intrigued by a more playful, but ideologically consistent reading, and want to know more, do not hesitate to express your interest and / or comment.
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