December 31, 2007 / /
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social objects for beginners


As y’all will know, I’m fond of tal­king about “Social Objects” and how they per­tain to “Mar­ke­ting 2.0″. Even so, some peo­ple still get con­fu­sed by what a Social Object actually is. So I wrote the follo­wing to cla­rify some more:
The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the rea­son two peo­ple are tal­king to each other, as oppo­sed to tal­king to some­body else. Human beings are social ani­mals. We like to socia­lize. But if think about it, there needs to be a rea­son for it to hap­pen in the first place. That rea­son, that “node” in the social net­work, is what we call the Social Object.
Exam­ple A. You and your friend, Joe like to go bow­ling every Tues­day. The bow­ling is the Social Object.
Exam­ple B. You and your friend, Lee are huge Star Wars fans. Even though you never plan to do so, you two tend to geek out about Darth Vader and X-Wing figh­ters every time you meet. Star Wars is the Social Object.
Exam­ple C. You’ve pop­ped into your local bar for a drink after work. At the bar there’s some ran­dom dude, sen­ding a text on this neat-looking cellphone you’ve never seen before. So you go up to him and ask him about the phone. The ran­dom dude just LOVES his new phone, so has no trou­ble with telling a stran­ger about his new phone for hours on end. Next thing you know, you two are hit­ting it off and you offer to buy him a beer. You spend the rest of the next hour gee­king out about the new phone, till it’s time for you to leave and go dine with your wife. The cellphone was the social object.
Exam­ple D. You’re a horny young guy at a party, in search of a mate. You see a hot young woman across the room. You go up and intro­duce your­self. You do not start the con­ver­sa­tion by saying, “Here’s a list of all the girls I’ve gone to bed with, and some recent bank sta­te­ments sho­wing you how much money I make. Would you like to go to bed with me?” No, something more subtle hap­pens. Basi­cally, like all sin­gle men with an agenda, you ram­ble on like a yutz for ten minu­tes, making small talk. Until she men­tions the name of her favo­rite author, Saul Bellow. Halle­luiah! As it turns out, Saul Bellow hap­pens to be YOUR FAVORITE AUTHOR as well [No, seriously. He really is. You’re not making it up just to look good.]. Next thing you know, you two are totally enve­lo­ped in this deep and mea­ning­ful con­ver­sa­tion about Saul Bellow. “Seize The Day”, “Her­zog”, “Him With His Foot In His Mouth” and “Humbolt’s Gift”, eat your heart out. And as you two share a late-night cab back to her place, you’re thin­king about how Saul Bellow is the Social Object here.
Exam­ple E. You’re an attrac­tive young woman, married to a very suc­cess­ful Hedge Fund Mana­ger in New York’s Upper East Side. Because your hus­band does so well, you don’t actually have to hold down a job for a living. But you still ear­ned a Cum Laude from Dart­mouth, so you need to keep your brain occu­pied. So you and your other Hedge Fund Wife friends get together and orga­nise this very swish Cha­rity Ball at the Ritz Car­le­ton. You’ve gues­sed it; the Cha­rity Ball is the Social Object.
Exam­ple F. After a year of per­so­nal trauma, you decide that yes, indeed, Jesus Christ is your Per­so­nal Saviour. You’ve already joi­ned a Bible rea­ding class and star­ted atten­ding church every Sun­day. Next thing you know, you’ve made a lot of new friends in your new con­gre­ga­tion. Sud­denly you are awash with a whole new pile of Social Objects. Jesus, Church, The Bible, the Church Pic­nics, the choir rehear­sals, the Christ­mas fund drive, the coo­kies and cof­fee after the 11 o’clock ser­vice, yes, all of them are Social Objects for you and new friends to share.
Exam­ple G. You’ve been married for less than a year, and already your first child is born. In the last year, you and your spouse have acqui­red three beau­ti­ful new Social Objects: The marriage, the first­born, and your own new family. It’s what life’s all about.
There. I’ve given you seven exam­ples. But I could give THOUSANDS more. But there’s no need to. The thing to remem­ber is, Human beings do not socia­lize in a com­ple­tely ran­dom way. There’s a tan­gi­ble rea­son for us being together, that ties us together. Again, that rea­son is called the Social Object. Social Net­works form around Social Objects, not the other way around.
Another thing to remem­ber is the world of Social Objects can have many layers. As with any com­plex crea­ture, there can be more than one rea­son for us to be together. So any­body currently dating a cute girl who’s into not just Saul Bellow, but also into bow­ling and cellpho­nes and Star Wars and swish Cha­rity Balls as well, will know what I mean.
The final thing to remem­ber is that, Social Objects by them­sel­ves don’t mat­ter in the grand scheme of things. Sure, it’s nice han­ging out with Lee tal­king about Star Wars. But if Star Wars had never exis­ted, you’d pro­bably still enjoy each other’s com­pany for other rea­sons, if they hap­pe­ned to pre­sent them­sel­ves. Human beings mat­ter. Being with other human beings mat­ter. And since the dawn of time until the end of time, we use wha­te­ver tools we have at hand to make it hap­pen.
[Afterthought:] As I’m fond of saying, nothing about Social Objects is roc­ket science. Then again, there’s nothing about “Love” that is roc­ket science, either. That doesn’t mean it can’t mess with your head. Rock on.
[Link:] Mark Earls has some nice thoughts on this, as well. “Things change because of peo­ple inte­rac­ting with other peo­ple, rather than tech­no­logy or design really doing things to peo­ple.“
[N.B. “Social Objects” is a term I did not coin myself, but was tur­ned onto by the anth­ro­pol­gist and Jaiku foun­der, Jyri Enges­trom.]

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Comments

  1. David Brain says:
    December 31, 2007 at 1:06 AM

    Hugh I think peo­ple will enjoy these exam­ples … the thing I love about exam­ples is that you have to go through the fil­ter of ima­gi­na­tion: what does this mean (if anything) for people

  2. c5 says:
    December 31, 2007 at 2:06 AM

    …like this post about social objects is now the social object.. :)
    nice.

  3. Jeff says:
    December 31, 2007 at 2:10 AM

    Social Object = Com­mon Ground. Non?

  4. Sue W says:
    December 31, 2007 at 2:42 AM

    Ah yes…the “l” word again.
    Isn’t it all about love?

  5. Jane says:
    December 31, 2007 at 2:47 AM

    On the flip side of the above exam­ples, you have the odd situa­tion where someone you don’t get on with likes the same things as you do. For some rea­son, we seem to find it a little dis­con­cer­ting when a dis­li­ked acquain­tance has the same poli­ti­cal views, taste in music, fashion sense and other sha­red social inte­rest as we do.
    Online social net­works make these simi­la­ri­ties way more obvious, which is another way in which they’ve chan­ged the way peo­ple see each other.

  6. Lea de Groot says:
    December 31, 2007 at 3:01 AM

    and, humans being human, we can turn it around — that young man will pro­bably quickly rea­lise that that “girl who’s into not just Saul Bellow, but also into bow­ling and cellpho­nes and Star Wars and swish Cha­rity Balls” is really, really cute, no mat­ter what the first impres­sion ;)
    Social objects in com­mon make rela­tionships. :)

  7. Rachel says:
    December 31, 2007 at 3:02 AM

    As much sense as it makes, if that’s all a social object is, then how exactly do you make such a thing indes­pen­si­ble? Or get over the hump how to get the first per­son to like it (and then the second)?

  8. Robert Scoble says:
    December 31, 2007 at 3:30 AM

    I can attest to a baby being a social object. One of the stron­gest ones I’ve ever encoun­te­red. Stron­ger, even, than an iPhone. Heh.
    Seriously, what is it about babies that gets ever­yone to go nuts?

  9. Jon Husband says:
    December 31, 2007 at 3:59 AM

    I think I’d amend that.
    Social Objects are for­med around pur­pose, or are crea­ted by peo­ple acting on pur­pose. Social net­works (that thrive) are built by pro­vi­ding the means and the field for peo­ple to address that pur­pose.
    Social net­works that do not have pur­pose will wither and foun­der … after all there’s an infi­nite mar­ket for mea­ning, not mes­sa­ges, as some wag once put it.

  10. Meg says:
    December 31, 2007 at 8:29 AM

    Who can ever get enough of Bow­ling for Bellow?

  11. coco_beans says:
    December 31, 2007 at 8:38 AM

    My favo­rite social object to hate: blood relation.

  12. Richard Millwood says:
    December 31, 2007 at 10:04 AM

    It would be easy to con­si­der the qua­lity of the social object in terms of its sti­mu­lus, pro­vo­ca­tion, aesthe­tics or even bling, but in truth far more deri­ves from its capa­city for peo­ple to be crea­tive around it and par­ti­cu­larly to invent jud­ge­ments and opi­nions as a basis for debate with others. The ensuing delight deri­ved from con­vi­via­lity & con­tro­versy is a heady mix and without dis­coun­ting bow­ling, is pro­bably stron­ger with the bible.

  13. Rachel Clarke says:
    December 31, 2007 at 10:07 AM

    Of course, for the English, the default Social Object is the weather ;)

  14. Mark E says:
    December 31, 2007 at 11:49 AM

    Genius. Just what we all nee­ded: a sim­ple clear expo­si­tion of the idea

  15. Tom Hopkins says:
    December 31, 2007 at 12:26 PM

    Good luck with the ‘Jesus Christ is a social object’ line :-)
    It does seem to beg the ques­tion about whether social objects can be enti­rely abs­tract, and whether they need to have com­mon (socially defi­ned) mea­ning.
    Inte­res­ting also to think of the subc­las­sif­ca­tion of such objects on a con­ti­nuum of human needs. Pre­su­mably, the hunt is more pri­mal than the social objects around sha­ring and family, which is still more pri­mal than the needs around self-expression and growth.
    Does the guy with the fancy phone buy it in part because he can sees it as a poten­tial social object around self-image and prestige?

  16. Brent P. Newhall says:
    December 31, 2007 at 1:27 PM

    Rachel wrote, “if that’s all a social object is, then how exactly do you make such a thing indes­pen­si­ble?“
    Who says it must be indis­pen­sa­ble? At the kitchen at work, I inte­ract with peo­ple over dis­pen­sa­ble social objects all the time – maga­zi­nes, a tub of soup, etc.
    Rachel further wri­tes, “Or get over the hump how to get the first per­son to like it (and then the second)?“
    Ahhh, there’s the rub. I think that’s the most impor­tant ques­tion. And it’s the ques­tion all mar­ke­ters face, isn’t it?

  17. Mark E says:
    December 31, 2007 at 1:50 PM

    Re: Tom’s sug­ges­tion of phone buying moti­va­tion.
    Think the guy with the fancy phone buys it because others around him buy it (or want to, or he thinks they do).

  18. Scott Smith says:
    December 31, 2007 at 2:04 PM

    I had my own social object moment this Christ­mas. My wife’s sister’s boy­friend and I have nothing in com­mon. Every holi­day or other times we meet, we say hi and he falls asleep on the couch.
    They recently purcha­sed a 10 acre farm (my wife and I purcha­sed one a cou­ple of years ago), and they have two hor­ses. He repai­red the barn and put up fen­cing. We wal­ked the pro­perty and tal­ked fen­cing.
    It was the best visit with him after all these years.
    They were kind enough to get us gate latch for a gift, like the one they have, like the one I had admi­red as we ins­pec­ted the fencing.

  19. Andrew says:
    December 31, 2007 at 2:58 PM

    Happy Dow­nun­der New Year from Aus­tra­lia..!
    Please let me be the last to con­gra­tu­late you on a great 2007 blog. And the first to con­gra­tu­late you ahead of 2008’s. I love it.
    Really, I chec­kout read your blog most days and it give me a link back to sanity.
    As a Brit moved dow­nun­der to Mel­bourne we’re the first to get New Year.
    So Happy New Year from here. The Syd­ney fire­works were ama­zing, check out the pic­tu­res.
    All the best for 2008.
    –Andrew

  20. Sam Freedoms Internet Marketing Controversy Blog says:
    December 31, 2007 at 3:31 PM

    Ok, so if I kick you in the butt because you’ve just tur­ned “social objects” into social objects, hoping to get you away from the com­pu­ter for a while so you can make things like FRESH AIR, MOUNTAINS, HOT DOG STANDS, COFFEEHOUSE FILMS, and things you have to live, eat, breathe, drink and touch, into social objects, would my “kick in your butt” become a social object, as well?

  21. hugh macleod says:
    December 31, 2007 at 3:42 PM

    Sam, are you being CONTROVERSIAL again? Dang!

  22. Phil says:
    December 31, 2007 at 4:08 PM

    Social objects don’t even have to be real things. Christ­mas, New Year’s Eve etc. are also social objects. In a way, anything two peo­ple can talk about because they know something about it is a social object, and this can be as sim­ple as the weather. And if you think about it like this, it beco­mes OBVIOUS that we need social objects for rela­tionships to other peo­ple, because if we have no social objects, we just have nothing to talk about. Apart from that, I bet the chan­ces to meet a hot young woman at a party whose favo­rite author is Saul Bellow are somewhere around zero.

  23. Rachel Bellow says:
    December 31, 2007 at 4:16 PM

    There’s something about the social object con­cept that makes me think we’re mis­ta­king the fin­ger poin­ting at the moon for the moon itself. (I haven’t read Enges­trom, just your own help­ful illu­mi­na­tions of the con­cept). Social objects are the par­ti­cu­lar mani­fes­ta­tion of sha­red mea­ning, right? So that sug­gests there’s a drive underl­ying all these manifestations.…that the social object is not, in itself, the drive. The need for meaning…specifically sha­red meaning…is a deep human impulse that will, inva­riably, mani­fest in some form or another. If not this social object, another. Social net­works like Face­book are simply evi­dence of that quest. Aren’t they simply forums where the quest for sha­red mea­ning can coa­lesce and result in mani­fes­ta­tion (social objects)? Peo­ple tend to be cons­cious of the social object more than they are of the underl­ying impulse that led them to it. The search for mea­ning – a pur­pose that radia­tes beyond the limi­ted con­fi­nes of the self – lies at the cen­ter of all human inte­rac­tion. It seems to me that iden­tif­ying the nature of that impulse, what sort of mea­ning is in play at any given time, is really important.…and helps us create bri­lliant social objects to express it, spe­ci­fi­cally. I ima­gine that what attracts you to Saul Bellow is the way he expres­ses his own cons­tant, ago­ni­zing quest for meaning…a way of expres­sing that angst that is simi­lar to your own, that allows you to join him, rather than simply watch with admi­ra­tion. And so the woman who likes Bellow too must want to soak in that par­ti­cu­lar bath of mea­ning as well…which is what attracts you to her. It’s the underl­ying taste for that par­ti­cu­lar form of mea­ning that being an SB fan indi­ca­tes, and to which you res­pond. Hen­der­son the Rain King isn’t the point. Neither is Saul Bellow. What is the point is that you and this woman share a taste for that par­ti­cu­lar world­view. That sha­red taste pro­mi­ses more social object crea­tion bet­ween you two in the future. What I’m saying is that I think it’s worth unders­tan­ding at all times what form of mea­ning a social object is indicating.…so that future social objects can can be crea­ted in its wake. Good Lord. This is the lon­gest post I’ve ever writ­ten. Over.

  24. Dennis Freire says:
    December 31, 2007 at 5:13 PM

    Well, yes… just what I nee­ded. I appre­ciate your taking time to cla­rify the con­cept of social objects. As you know, I was off the mark seve­ral degrees. Happy New Year.

  25. Cheekier MeSly says:
    December 31, 2007 at 6:47 PM

    Great post, Hugh.
    Spea­king of Social Objects, one of my favo­ri­tes is Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. In the Ender series, OSC posits that we’re con­nec­ted to other peo­ple and things in this uni­verse by way of phi­lo­tic twi­nes: invi­si­ble yet tan­gi­ble con­nec­tions based on the mutual love we share for each other or for, as you put it, social objects.
    Rachel Bellow’s com­ment was fan­tas­tic, desc­ri­bing the year­ning to find in another that which we our­sel­ves grok. As C.S. Lewis put it: “Friendship is born at that moment when one per­son says to another: What! You, too? Thought I was the only one.”

  26. Tom Hopkins says:
    December 31, 2007 at 7:32 PM

    If social objects are actually the indi­ca­tor of a search for sha­red mea­ning — as Rachel sug­gests — can we revi­sit what sha­red mea­ning means in the age of the net­work.
    Witt­gens­tein thought that lear­ning to take part in social inte­rac­tion was about lear­ning a com­mon lan­guage of mea­ning (lan­guage games).
    What does that mean in a world where mea­ning can be sha­red bet­ween peo­ple anywhere in the world ins­tan­ta­neously? And peo­ple can simul­ta­neously belong to mul­ti­ple tri­bes? Surely this is another exam­ple of how the inter­net isn’t democ­ra­ti­sing but rather is decen­tra­li­sing — allo­wing groups to form free-form around com­mu­ni­ties of mea­ning, whe­re­ver they are?
    So now we’re not all lear­ning one lan­guage game but mul­ti­ple games across dif­fe­rent com­mu­ni­ties of inte­rest.
    And with that, over to the most abs­tract of social objects: happy new year!

  27. Michael says:
    December 31, 2007 at 7:38 PM

    With these defi­ni­tions face­book itself sucks as a social object, not so bad (if you can weed throught the crap) as a place to share social object and the­re­fore for­ming social net­works.
    Tom Hop­kins– My only thought on the Jesus Christ is yes “he/it” is a social object, merely a social object I don’t think so. This requi­res more thought on my end though.
    Rachel Clarke — the weather is a social object in most areas in most cul­tu­res I have been in.
    Happy New Year all! Enjoy some good friends and wine! Maybe ’08 I can get some Blue Mons­ter ship­ped to me! Cheers!

  28. Steve Sherlock says:
    December 31, 2007 at 7:58 PM

    Nicely done, even bet­ter with all the con­ver­sa­tion around this. Which is indeed the social part of the blog object isn’t it? It is also a Wes­tern thing to make objects and defi­ni­tions.
    Happy new year!

  29. Linda Sherman says:
    December 31, 2007 at 8:25 PM

    Great dis­cus­sion. I have recently been splashing the word “Social Object” all about because a lady I res­pect very much, Leah Jones wrote in her fabu­lous blog on Dec 18th that Sin­gel­rin­gen is a “Social Object”: Leah in Chi­cago. Leah lin­ked your name. So I endea­vo­red to look up your pre­vious posts on Social Objects as I find the topic fas­ci­na­ting. Thank you for the further cla­ri­fi­ca­tion here.
    For those of you who haven’t heard of it yet:
    Sin­gel­rin­gen (“The Sin­gle Ring” in Swe­dish) is a uni­sex ring that ser­ves to remind the sin­gle wea­rer that they are already com­plete; while open to pos­si­bi­li­ties. This dis­tinc­tive tur­quoise and sil­ver ring is worn on the right hand or neck chain and is easily iden­ti­fia­ble from across a room. Each ring has a uni­que regis­tra­tion num­ber that pro­vi­des access to the Sin­gel­rin­gen Glo­bal Com­mu­nity. First intro­du­ced in Scan­di­na­via in 2005, Sin­gel­rin­gen is now worn by more than 150,000 sin­gles in over 20 coun­tries around the world. I am the agent for North and Cen­tral America.

  30. angela penny says:
    December 31, 2007 at 9:24 PM

    So when two peo­ple first meet at a party and they don’t have anything to say to each other they ask stu­pid ques­tions trying to find something IN COMMON to talk about?

  31. Rebecca Caroe says:
    December 31, 2007 at 11:37 PM

    Hugh, of course one of your favou­rite social objects is the foun­tain pen! nudge.
    Rebecca Caroe

  32. Dave Armstrong says:
    January 2, 2008 at 2:36 AM

    Hugh,
    Dis­co­ver pho­to­graphy as a Social Object. You have an undis­co­ve­red talent for it. nudge.

  33. Dave Armstrong says:
    January 2, 2008 at 2:39 AM

    I for­got to men­tion — start with pho­to­graphs of women you have just met. They love it. You will make new friends. nudge.
    Best Wishes,
    Dave

  34. T says:
    January 2, 2008 at 7:05 AM

    Great con­cept. I’m gonna have to go into your archi­ves and dig up some posts about social objects now that you’ve pro­vi­ded this intro.

  35. Kris Fuehr says:
    January 3, 2008 at 12:21 AM

    Inte­res­ting as always, Hugh.
    So let’s try it on with say, Holly­wood Actors. Are they social objects them­sel­ves or simply set up to be pur­ve­yors of social objects? And, with the advent of deep social net­wor­king, (which bet­ter con­nect social clas­ses), will we see the demise of Holly­wood addicts…er…actors –to be repla­ced by con­nec­tions to peo­ple we are more likely to res­pect and like? I guess my friends on Face­book won’t likely be fea­tu­red in a block­bus­ter but I’m nearly as enter­tai­ned for twice as long watching them on You­Tube clips as I am in the movie thea­ter paying $29 for pop­corn. Then again, well-written story­li­nes rule, don’t they? So, does all this mean that “story­li­nes” are the fabric for all social objects?
    (in which case, we need to get the WGAE Wri­ters Strike resol­ved! All hail the story wri­ters!)
    PS: It’s so cute that Robert Sco­ble is so smit­ten with his baby. (per his com­ment above)

  36. Sean Cayton says:
    January 3, 2008 at 4:29 AM

    Object or cons­truct? Just scan­ning the remarks and there seems to be some con­fu­sion here.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_constructionism
    And I think it’s an impor­tant dis­tinc­tion. An object must be inter­pre­ted and mutually agreed upon. We may all agree an iphone is an ama­zing object to be dis­cus­sed and mulled over.
    But what if you don’t recog­nize it to begin with?
    Then perhaps there is no rea­son for inte­rac­tion. No dis­cus­sion. Or maybe a dif­fe­rent rea­son to inte­ract.
    ’You’ve never seen one of these? Well then let me show you!‘
    The cons­truct, it seems to me, is the thing. If you can cons­truct a rea­lity that is gene­rally agreed upon, then there would be plenty of social objects (pho­nes, babies, books) that are worth while.
    A more power­ful mar­ke­ting stra­tegy it seems to me, is to create an object worthy enough to be intro­du­ced into already agreed upon social cons­truct.
    The cons­truct pro­vi­des a con­ve­nient rea­son for the social object to be dis­cus­sed.
    My per­so­nal expe­rience: This Christ­mas was EXACTLY the right social cons­truct for the intro­duc­tion of the iphone, the ipod and a myriad of other ‘objects’ to a wider audience…including my parents. Power­ful stuff.
    It’s sort of like a marriage pro­vi­des the rea­son for a baby to be intro­du­ced? And baby without a marriage is asso­cia­ted with an alto­gether dif­fe­rent kind of construct…

  37. Mari says:
    January 3, 2008 at 6:37 PM

    AH! I unders­tand now! Thanks for this post. ;D

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    February 10, 2010 at 9:45 AM

    […] social objects for begin­ners | gaping­void (tags: social expe­rience design object) […]

  9. SiliconANGLE — Blog — The Future of Social Networks: Ideas says:
    February 10, 2010 at 12:50 PM

    […] Mac­Leod prag­ma­ti­cally notes, “The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the rea­son two peo­ple are tal­king to each other, as […]

  10. Social objects for dummies :: Zengestrom says:
    February 12, 2010 at 5:42 PM

    […] ball when it comes to social objects. He has a witty post up today on gapingvoid.com called “Social objects for begin­ners.” Through seven short exam­ples, he shows how social objects bring peo­ple together by giving […]

  11. Why Ideas Are Core to Enterprise 2.0 | CloudAve says:
    February 15, 2010 at 5:51 AM

    […] Mac­Leod prag­ma­ti­cally notes, “The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the rea­son two peo­ple are tal­king to each other, as […]

  12. Embracing Social Media in a Non-Profit/Charity Org – Colin Gilchrist « says:
    February 17, 2010 at 9:11 AM

    […] (fans / follo­wers) to evolve and grow, they need something to get exci­ted about – the ’social object’ or as Simon Fran­cis (CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi) calls it ‘love­mark’. A social object […]

  13. Our Links from January 8th through February 19th | Socialsquare - we make participation happen says:
    February 19, 2010 at 12:40 PM

    […] Andreas L: social objects for begin­ners | gaping­void — The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the rea­son two peo­ple are tal­king to each other, as oppo­sed to tal­king to some­body else. Human beings are social ani­mals. We like to socia­lize. But if think about it, there needs to be a rea­son for it to hap­pen in the first place. That rea­son, that “node” in the social net­work, is what we call the Social Object. […]

  14. Just what role do conferences play nowadays? : peterme.com says:
    February 19, 2010 at 7:21 PM

    […] require the can­ned pre­sen­ta­tions. They pro­vide the seed for the ongoing dia­lo­gue. They’re the “social object” around which con­ver­sa­tion and community […]

  15. Kicker Studio: Content: Not Always King says:
    March 20, 2010 at 3:00 PM

    […] what is the role of con­tent in this pro­duct: is the con­tent filled with mea­ning to be con­su­med, a social object, or a con­tai­ner for mea­ning? How you ans­wer that ques­tion is the first step in deter­mi­ning what […]

  16. Conversation Pins As Social Objects - PSFK says:
    April 15, 2010 at 1:29 PM

    […] simi­lar pins on each other and use the com­mon as a rea­son to intro­duce them­sel­ves. This ‘social object‘ idea wor­ked very very well and the cof­fee and lunch breaks were full of buzz as peo­ple met […]

  17. El Hilo Conductor » Lo que nos une says:
    April 19, 2010 at 2:09 AM

    […] Deta­lles y ejem­plos aquí […]

  18. Social Graph Series 1: Social Graph the Building Block of the Social Web « Curly Braces says:
    April 26, 2010 at 4:32 AM

    […] social graph in Web 2.0 extends this notion of social net­work into rela­tionships of social objects. These social objects can be peo­ple, events, or other web­si­tes on the web.  Let us take a look at […]

  19. Open Graph, Facebook e l’AD: il web semantico in movimento /  titticimmino.com says:
    April 28, 2010 at 8:38 AM

    […] pro­to­col face­book abi­lita l’utente a rela­zio­narsi con altre entità, i social objects, che Hugh McLord defi­nisce come segue: The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the rea­son two peo­ple are tal­king to […]

  20. Facebook’s Open Graph Protocol from a Web Developer’s Perspective « says:
    April 28, 2010 at 10:01 AM

    […] con­cept of social objects, Hugh McLeod wrote a great intro­duc­tory post on this con­cept entit­led social objects for begin­ners which is excerp­ted below The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the rea­son two peo­ple are tal­king to […]

  21. Strandh.DigitalPR » Blog Archive » En ny social metaweb says:
    April 28, 2010 at 1:01 PM

    […] på rik­tigt ska­pat det som till viss del tan­ken om den seman­tiska web­ben hand­lar om: att allt blir sociala objekt. Allt du möter kan du nu kop­pla till din använ­dare – dvs till din iden­ti­tet och om vi […]

  22. You Can’t Invent a Brand Personality, So Stop Trying | Really Simple Works says:
    May 3, 2010 at 5:49 AM

    […] of expe­rien­ces, actions and inte­rac­tions. We’ll grow our own cata­lo­gue of sto­ries and social objects for our cus­to­mers to share and pass along to […]

  23. I “like” the Internet | Eric Friedman - Marketing.fm says:
    May 4, 2010 at 1:27 PM

    […] but­ton on the ENTIRE Inter­net. What about stuff you don’t like? How long before every social object has at least one “Like” in the new […]

  24. I CAN HAZ SOSHILL OBJECTS? « Si Quando Dubium, Illic Est Scilicet says:
    May 4, 2010 at 4:25 PM

    […] Pic­ked up a pair of Luc­kies yes­ter­day, and found this in the poc­ket. A bri­lliant exam­ple of social object theory in practice. […]

  25. A small idea that could have a big impact. « ALL THAT IS GOOD says:
    May 14, 2010 at 3:33 AM

    […] It crea­tes social objects. Voice packs become gifts that lovers or mothers or friends can share. Each sha­red pack may only be […]

  26. Twitter…. mein Medium, mein Netzwerk, mein nix?? « says:
    May 23, 2010 at 11:28 AM

    […] ich die fun­dierte Gegen­behaup­tung antre­ten, wozu ich mir schon den einen oder ande­ren Leses­toff (z.B. und z.B.) zur Aus­wer­tung heraus­ge­sucht hatte. (Danke @heinz für […]

  27. The Objectification of people | Shooting at Bubbles says:
    July 2, 2010 at 3:25 PM

    […] we first have to know what a social object is and really there is no bet­ter desc­rip­tion that the one from Hugh Mac­leod, who pretty well inven­ted the term as far as I know. The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the […]

  28. What’s that blog post worth? says:
    July 8, 2010 at 1:35 PM

    […] is almost never about the con­tent. Com­men­ters engage each other, eskay’s pos­tings are the social object around which they con­gre­gate. As I’ve said to eskay before, no one actually cares about […]

  29. What does an ad agency Creative Technologist do? says:
    July 26, 2010 at 12:08 AM

    […] the stra­te­gists and plan­ners to define a client’s digi­tal stra­tegy. Lar­gely we look for the social object that the cus­to­mer will be attrac­ted to. This hope­fully will also be the emo­tio­nal con­nec­tion with […]

  30. 60 Ways to Increase Your Influence Online says:
    August 9, 2010 at 10:33 AM

    […] use other people’s stuff or other people’s con­tent to socia­lize. And your stuff’s either a social object or it’s not.” […]

  31. 60 Ways to Increase Your Influence Online « Chad Schomber: copywriter | idea guy says:
    August 9, 2010 at 11:14 AM

    […] use other people’s stuff or other people’s con­tent to socia­lize. And your stuff’s either a social object or it’s not.” […]

  32. viralsocialmarketing.com » 60 Ways to Increase Your Influence Online says:
    August 9, 2010 at 3:11 PM

    […] use other people’s stuff or other people’s con­tent to socia­lize. And your stuff’s either a social object or it’s not.” […]

  33. Increase your digital influence – the shortest marketing conference ever | DigitalFreak says:
    August 10, 2010 at 4:29 AM

    […] people’s stuff or other people’s con­tent to socia­lize. And your stuff’s either a social object or it’s not.” […]

  34. Bitesize advice from 60 Twitter Influencers « Wildfire Effect (WE) Consulting says:
    August 10, 2010 at 3:38 PM

    […] use other people’s stuff or other people’s con­tent to socia­lize. And your stuff’s either a social object or it’s not.” […]

  35. Do you have a social object? If not, how are people going to talk about you? says:
    August 12, 2010 at 3:02 PM

    […] Mac­Leod desig­ned these two prints based on my favo­rite WOM lines. Do read Hugh’s social object post to unders­tand one of the big­gest ideas in word of mouth: 1. Would any­body tell a friend? If it’s […]

  36. Spiraling up AccMan says:
    August 21, 2010 at 5:14 AM

    […] We did it 20+ years ago and it was always a tal­king point. In today’s par­lance we’d likely call that a social object. […]

  37. Collaborative Objects | Mark Bonchek says:
    August 30, 2010 at 2:37 PM

    […] to each other, they con­nect through a sha­red object.  As a result, accor­ding to the car­too­nist Hugh Mac­leod, “social net­works form around social objects, not the other way […]

  38. Copy Writing For Profit – Article Cash » Blog Archive » 60 Ways to Increase Your Influence Online says:
    September 3, 2010 at 1:13 PM

    […] document.write(String.fromCharCode(97)); social object document.write(String.fromCharCode(111,114)); it’s not.” […]

  39. Analyse sur les objets sociaux | Charbel Matni's Blog says:
    September 8, 2010 at 7:42 PM

    […] Je veux don­ner quel­ques exemples : […]

  40. Spotify from a Community Perspective | Gloerich on New Media says:
    September 14, 2010 at 3:06 PM

    […] Every popu­lar social site has one or more social object. These are objects which are cen­tral to the expe­rience of that site and which you can share somehow, often via a URL. On Face­book the social objects are pro­fi­le­pa­ges and fan­pa­ges. You­tube uses video’s and pro­fi­le­pa­ges as social objects. Twit­ter uses pro­fi­le­pa­ges and tweets. More on Social objects on Andy Roberts blog, Hugh McLeods blog) […]

  41. Social Business Conference and Ericsson Labs » Artopod says:
    September 16, 2010 at 5:42 AM

    […] a recipe for his twee­ting lea­ding to mul­ti­ple “tweet-spins”. Also his unders­tan­ding of Social Objects helps a […]

  42. Social Media Marketing... Simplified says:
    September 20, 2010 at 11:34 AM

    […] The car­too­nist Hugh Mac­Leod puts it quite elo­quently in his dis­ser­ta­tion on social objects: […]

  43. The finest social objects in the Buddhist web | 21awake says:
    October 4, 2010 at 4:40 AM

    […] my own explo­ra­tion of this sub­ject, it’s the con­cept of social objects that I have found most inte­res­ting.  And cut­ting to the chase and avoi­ding any net­work theory […]

  44. How Facebook, Radio And Mimosas Saved A Local Restaurant says:
    October 5, 2010 at 10:20 AM

    […] Social Objects: Both the Bis­tro 17 dog­gie dishes and the patrons’s dogs are social objects – they make con­ver­sa­tions easier to start and they warm the heart. Smi­les are more likely. […]

  45. Social Network | Gadget says:
    October 10, 2010 at 8:32 AM

    […] the rea­son two peo­ple are tal­king to each other, as oppo­sed to tal­king to some­body else.” — Hugh Mac­leod This entry was pos­ted in Unca­te­go­ri­zed. Book­mark the permalink. ← […]

  46. Why Does The Government Keep Promoting Cigarette Smoking? at dissociatedpress.com says:
    October 16, 2010 at 1:41 AM

    […] for an already addic­ted smo­ker, the creepy war­nings used all over the world just become a sort of social object. My sug­ges­tion? Make all the pac­ka­ges white, with the requi­re­ment that all pro­duct names are […]

  47. How a restaurant effectively uses facebook, radio and mimosas « Marketing Watch with Kimberly says:
    October 18, 2010 at 12:45 PM

    […] Social Objects: Both the Bis­tro 17 dog­gie dishes and the patrons’s dogs are social objects – they make con­ver­sa­tions easier to start and they warm the heart. Smi­les are more likely. And […]

  48. Hudson Barton: Skype census growth slows « Skype Journal says:
    October 18, 2010 at 12:58 PM

    […] more folks are hol­ding con­ver­sa­tions in context-rich pla­ces like a band’s fan page or where social objects trig­ger talk. Hori­zon­tal tools like Skype and email are beco­ming backup […]

  49. We need Business Verbs in Social Software « Dachis Group Collaboratory says:
    October 21, 2010 at 11:26 AM

    […] sta­tes or wasn’t gea­red up for being the sub­ject of a business-like dis­cus­sion. We treat any social object as the focus for a verb, even a URL. Perhaps, verbs like […]

  50. Social (Objects + Analytics) = ? | Theresa Doyon's Enterprise 2.0 Blog says:
    October 27, 2010 at 9:42 AM

    […] The most intri­guing part of Gartner’s defi­ni­tion invol­ves social objects.  A social object is something tan­gi­ble that two peo­ple dis­cuss, share, or colla­bo­rate on.  As Hugh Mac­leod sta­tes: “Social net­works form around Social Objects, not the other way around.“ […]

  51. Hypothesizing about Social Objects | Theresa Doyon's Blog says:
    November 1, 2010 at 10:34 AM

    […] Hypothe­si­zing about Social Objects Pos­ted on Novem­ber 1, 2010 by tdo­yon| Leave a com­ment The rea­son why we speak to each other and form social net­works is to dis­cuss, colla­bo­rate on, and share Social objects. […]

  52. 60 Ways to Increase Your Influence Online says:
    November 4, 2010 at 11:15 AM

    […] use other people’s stuff or other people’s con­tent to socia­lize. And your stuff’s either a social object or it’s not.” […]

  53. The Death of the Guidebook? « Collections Spotlight NT says:
    November 10, 2010 at 5:05 AM

    […] was inte­res­ting about the door handle was it became a sort of social object when one indi­vi­dual men­tio­ned ‘how much they liked the handle’ it ine­vi­tably star­ted a […]

  54. Skype’s 25mm dialtone raises questions for investors « Skype Journal says:
    November 25, 2010 at 7:26 AM

    […] more folks are hol­ding con­ver­sa­tions in context-rich pla­ces like a band’s fan page or where social objects trig­ger talk. Hori­zon­tal tools like Skype and email are beco­ming backup […]

  55. Skype’s 25mm dialtone raises questions for investors | Ugli says:
    November 26, 2010 at 11:17 PM

    […] more folks are hol­ding con­ver­sa­tions in context-rich pla­ces like a band’s fan page or where social objects trig­ger talk. Hori­zon­tal tools like Skype and email are beco­ming backup […]

  56. AU 2010 – Day 1 says:
    November 30, 2010 at 7:39 PM

    […] try to imi­tate the real thing, ins­tead they show­case the beauty of the design – essen­tially social objects.  His gallery really doesn’t speak for the qua­lity of the designs he sho­wed at the […]

  57. 3 Concepts | Thesis Bucket says:
    December 2, 2010 at 12:45 PM

    […] by the idea around social objects and this rela­ted rea­ding I put the family in the cen­ter of that con­cept. I wan­ted to take under […]

  58. SocialObjects? | SocialObjects says:
    December 9, 2010 at 4:45 PM

    […] auf die­sen Punk­ten hat es Hugh Mac­leod eben­falls sehr prä­zise auf den Punkt gebracht: The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the rea­son two […]

  59. 365 Ideas: Make it Easy to Talk About (and stop bugging me) | Really Simple Works says:
    December 15, 2010 at 3:27 PM

    […] ins­truc­tions, sim­ple con­cise desc­rip­tions, busi­ness cards, and, if we want to get fancy with it, social objects, are all ways to make sha­ring easier for those who want to talk about us. […]

  60. What we’re reading « e245news says:
    January 19, 2011 at 5:18 PM

    […] Gaping Void — Social objects for beginners […]

  61. Personal Productivity, Social Productivity | A Beta-ful Life says:
    January 27, 2011 at 12:39 AM

    […] your car? Filing your taxes? These things can be made more fun by our friends. I think the true social object of social pro­duc­ti­vity is not (neces­sa­rily) the tasks peo­ple need to do. Deborah’s task to […]

  62. Cool How To Get Gold In Wow images | World of Warcraft says:
    January 28, 2011 at 4:07 PM

    […] to such won­der­ful peo­ple like Joyce and Russ and whom I would not have met if it weren’t for my social object known as a camera! 7. I am thank­ful that this Satur­day 11 Sep­tem­ber 2010 will be the sixth year […]

  63. We need Business Verbs in Social Software :: Blog :: Headshift says:
    January 29, 2011 at 6:26 AM

    […] or wasn’t gea­red up for being the sub­ject of a business-like dis­cus­sion. We treat any social object as the focus for a verb, even a URL. Perhaps, verbs like […]

  64. Nice Email Marketing Best Practice photos | Email Marketer Software says:
    January 31, 2011 at 8:03 AM

    […] to such won­der­ful peo­ple like Joyce and Russ and whom I would not have met if it weren’t for my social object known as a camera! 7. I am thank­ful that this Satur­day 11 Sep­tem­ber 2010 will be the sixth year […]

  65. Tendance #11 : #brandcontent says:
    January 31, 2011 at 9:27 AM

    […] que d’un solide Com­mu­nity Mana­ge­ment pour l’exprimer. L’objectif : trans­for­mer sa mar­que en un objet social , et là encore pour uti­li­ser un rac­courci, il suf­fit de se rap­pe­ler l’excitation enfan­tine de […]

  66. Is Steve Jobs the Michelangelo of our times ? « #hypertextual says:
    February 4, 2011 at 12:28 AM

    […] While focu­sing on design and usa­bi­lity, he mana­ged to make tech­no­logy seam­less and natu­ral, to make it an exten­sion of man. It has trans­for­med the lead of unsexy geeky tech­no­logy stuff into the gold of social objects. […]

  67. Is Steve Jobs the Michelangelo of our times ? « Tech IT Easy says:
    February 4, 2011 at 12:48 AM

    […] While focu­sing on design and usa­bi­lity, he mana­ged to make tech­no­logy seam­less and natu­ral, to make it an exten­sion of man. It has trans­for­med the lead of unsexy geeky tech­no­logy stuff into the gold of social objects. […]

  68. gapingvoid cartoon #171 ‘Sisyphus’ September 15, 2010 | Tailfish says:
    February 4, 2011 at 3:56 AM

    […] bulle­tin board, around the water­coo­ler etc [The usual CC licen­sing terms apply]. Y’know, a social object to start a conversation […]

  69. Behind the social web scene at the museums | CisionUK says:
    February 9, 2011 at 7:41 AM

    […] more, social net­works tend to work when com­mu­ni­ties come together around con­tent (the fabled social object – think pho­tos in Face­book). The M&Gs are hardly short of con­tent, but even so, all of […]

  70. 20 sätt att marknadsföra din Facebook Fan Page: Del 4/4 | Sociala medier för beslutsfattare says:
    February 10, 2011 at 2:03 AM

    […] Sociala Objekt, kort sam­man­fat­tat, är anled­nin­gen två män­nis­kor pra­tar med varan­dra, istä­llet för att prata med någon annan. Män­nis­kan är social, men det måste fin­nas en anled­ning till att kom­mu­ni­cera till att börja med. Denna anled­ning är vad vi kallar “sociala objekt”. Oftast är detta ett gemen­samt intresse eller diskussion. […]

  71. An Experiment in Youth Work, Experience and Web 2.0 « Rich Huxley AKA TheHuxCapacitor says:
    February 23, 2011 at 8:22 AM

    […] groups of the par­ti­ci­pants. Plus, if we can get peo­ple tal­king about these things, they become social objects in their own […]

  72. Il fine del marketing è quello di generare conversazioni says:
    March 2, 2011 at 1:06 AM

    […] o meno lo stesso con­cetto è stato teo­riz­zato in maniera divina da Hugh Mac­Leod ed il suo Social Object: The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the rea­son two peo­ple are tal­king to […]

  73. Why Are Social Objects Important? | | GeekEstate BlogGeekEstate Blog says:
    March 17, 2011 at 2:44 PM

    […] Why Are Social Objects Impor­tant? Pos­ted on March 17, 2011 by Drew Meyers When star­ting a con­ver­sa­tion, fin­ding things you can relate to the other per­son is abso­lu­tely cru­cial. If two peo­ple have nothing in com­mon, then buil­ding a rela­tionship is going to be tough. Enter social objects. The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the rea­son two peo­ple are tal­king to each other, as oppo­sed to tal­king to some­body else. — Hugh Macleod […]

  74. Personal Branding & Social Objects ESM Exec Designs says:
    March 18, 2011 at 1:10 AM

    […] serious about buil­ding their per­so­nal brand should read up on social objects. And I just hap­pe­ned to write a post about social objects over at Geek Estate Blog. […]

  75. Color Labs (startup): What are the most interesting use-cases for Color? And how will the app change the way we currently experience those scenarios? - Quora says:
    March 25, 2011 at 9:02 AM

    […] the pho­tos are not what actually mat­ters; they, as Hugh Mac­Leod says, “social objects” http://gapingvoid.com/2007/12/31…7:02amView All 0 Com­ments­Can­not add com­ment at this time. Add […]

  76. My Web 2.0 Expo Conference First Day Take Aways in 5 Keywords « liquid blog says:
    March 28, 2011 at 8:17 PM

    […] your deve­lop­ment around them. Pas­sio­nate cus­to­mers will spread your pro­duct idea and make it a social object. 5. Speed Don’t get foo­led by the “the pro­duct is not ready yet” syndrome. […]

  77. Collaborative Books Create Communities of Interest | GoodBookery says:
    April 4, 2011 at 4:10 AM

    […] At the cen­ter of this com­mu­nity crea­tion pro­cess is your colla­bo­ra­tive book. By vir­tue of uni­ting you and your fellow con­tri­bu­tors the book is a social object. “The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the rea­son two peo­ple are tal­king to each other, as oppo­sed to tal­king to some­body else. Human beings are social ani­mals. We like to socia­lize. But if think about it, there needs to be a rea­son for it to hap­pen in the first place. That rea­son, that ‘node’ in the social net­work, is what we call the Social Object.” –Hugh MacLeod […]

  78. Nice Vegetable Gardening For Beginners photos | Amazing Azaleas says:
    April 12, 2011 at 1:43 AM

    […] to such won­der­ful peo­ple like Joyce and Russ and whom I would not have met if it weren’t for my social object known as a camera! 7. I am thank­ful that this Satur­day 11 Sep­tem­ber 2010 will be the sixth year […]

  79. Decade of Inspiration « Leadership and Management / Turning Adversity to Advantage says:
    May 5, 2011 at 7:31 AM

    […] blo­gosphere with his site Gaping­void. He pio­nee­red so many areas, but espe­cially the con­cepts of ‘Social Objects’ and using blog­ging to bene­fit busi­ness (ie. something other than tal­king about your break­fast). He […]

  80. turn your blog into a social object of desire | Justine Musk says:
    May 6, 2011 at 4:12 PM

    […] that can func­tion as a social object,with layers and edges and angles that allow for dif­fe­rent but related […]

  81. Organ Transplant | Diabetics – Learn How To Avoid Kidney Disease   says:
    May 8, 2011 at 2:36 PM

    […] me to these ama­zing peo­ple like Joyce and Russ and whom I would not have met if it weren’t for my social object ack­now­led­ged as a digi­tal camera! seven. I am thank­ful that this Satur­day ele­ven Sep­tem­ber 2010 […]

  82. Good day for practise leaning.. | Book Reviews says:
    May 18, 2011 at 12:03 PM

    […] to such won­der­ful peo­ple like Joyce and Russ and whom I would not have met if it weren’t for my social object known as a camera! 7. I am thank­ful that this Satur­day 11 Sep­tem­ber 2010 will be the sixth year […]

  83. Good day for practise leaning.. | Craps says:
    May 19, 2011 at 10:34 PM

    […] to such won­der­ful peo­ple like Joyce and Russ and whom I would not have met if it weren’t for my social object known as a camera! 7. I am thank­ful that this Satur­day 11 Sep­tem­ber 2010 will be the sixth year […]

  84. Ten Best Tips for Beginning Gardeners | Garden Tricks & Tips says:
    May 24, 2011 at 6:43 PM

    […] to such won­der­ful peo­ple like Joyce and Russ and whom I would not have met if it weren’t for my social object known as a camera! 7. I am thank­ful that this Satur­day 11 Sep­tem­ber 2010 will be the sixth year […]

  85. Vier Thesen zu politischer Online-Partizipation anlässlich des Politcamp11 | Too Bad You Never Knew Ace Hanna says:
    May 28, 2011 at 9:46 AM

    […] Inter­net drehen sich Kon­ver­sa­tio­nen nicht um Orga­ni­sa­tio­nen son­dern um Per­so­nen, Objekte oder The­men. Wenn poli­tische Kam­pag­nen im Netz Gesch­win­dig­keit gewin­nen, dann geschieht dies […]

  86. Arnold Waldstein's Blog » Closing the action gap on the social web says:
    June 6, 2011 at 2:55 PM

    […] MacC­loud of Gaping Void fame, sheds light on this in a great post defi­ning what he calls ‘social objects’. For him, con­text is dis­co­ve­ra­ble in a social object […]

  87. Optimise what? « MediaBriefing Experts' Blog says:
    June 27, 2011 at 3:35 PM

    […] does opti­mi­sing for the social web look like? It looks like crea­ting social objects. It looks like tal­king to your cus­to­mers. It looks like – put as simply as possible – […]

  88. Optimise What? From writing for Google to the social web « MediaBriefing Experts' Blog says:
    June 28, 2011 at 3:02 AM

    […] does opti­mi­sing for the social web look like? It looks like crea­ting social objects. It looks like tal­king to your cus­to­mers. It looks like – put as simply as possible – […]

  89. Beam Me Up Scotty! | Yes and Space says:
    July 1, 2011 at 8:03 AM

    […] and by the way, at con­fe­ren­ces we turn our lunches into a Social Object – HT to Nancy White for pos­ting this gem of an idea. And here’s a desc­rip­tion of TEDx […]

  90. Transformation further Distilled « Si Alhir (Sinan Si Alhir) says:
    July 2, 2011 at 4:55 PM

    […] fra­me­work is a social cons­truct, a social object that fos­ters a group’s social cons­truc­tion of rea­lity. For exam­ple, a fra­me­work may be an […]

  91. » Of Circles, sharing and discovery. says:
    July 8, 2011 at 9:12 AM

    […] Kohn is correct when he says that con­ver­sa­tion hap­pens around pie­ces of con­tent, or social objects. These social objects become the online equi­va­lent of topics dis­cus­sed during water-cooler moments […]

  92. So you think you ‘get’ social media? AccMan says:
    July 19, 2011 at 6:32 AM

    […] are con­ver­sa­tions.’ That con­cept has since been aug­men­ted by the idea that the ‘social object‘ is something around which peo­ple can rea­dily con­gre­gate. The one I see every day above my […]

  93. Good day for practise leaning.. | Canadian Daily Deals says:
    August 3, 2011 at 6:28 AM

    […] to such won­der­ful peo­ple like Joyce and Russ and whom I would not have met if it weren’t for my social object known as a camera! 7. I am thank­ful that this Satur­day 11 Sep­tem­ber 2010 will be the sixth year […]

  94. Do you have an app for that? | Designing Change says:
    August 23, 2011 at 3:08 PM

    […] ser­vi­ces, or expe­rien­ces for a “real” per­son. It crea­tes empathy, focus, and ser­ves as a social object in a way that’s impos­si­ble with the elas­tic con­cept of user. While the job reflec­ted in Gary’s […]

  95. For those who have heard Dan talking about social objects for beginners (and those who haven’t) | Death, Taxes & the Internet says:
    January 13, 2012 at 10:32 AM

    […] Read more […]

  96. Social Reading: Wie die Buchwelt und das Netz sich langsam kennenlernen » netzwertig.com says:
    March 7, 2012 at 2:31 AM

    […] ana­log: es denkt und ges­tal­tet die Inte­rak­tion zwischen allein sei­nen Nutzern, nicht aber sei­nem social object, dem Text. Die­ser bleibt ganz eigenstän­di­ges Werk mit klar defi­nier­tem Anfang und Ende. Und […]

  97. Social Reading: Wie die Buchwelt und das Netz sich langsam kennenlernen | Die Galaxy Not(e)fallseite says:
    March 7, 2012 at 3:50 AM

    […] ana­log: es denkt und ges­tal­tet die Inte­rak­tion zwischen allein sei­nen Nutzern, nicht aber sei­nem social object, dem Text. Die­ser bleibt ganz eigenstän­di­ges Werk mit klar defi­nier­tem Anfang und Ende. Und […]

  98. 60 Ways to Make Yourself Influential Online « technocreate.wordpress.com says:
    May 2, 2012 at 2:17 AM

    […] use other people’s stuff or other people’s con­tent to socia­lize. And your stuff’s either a social object or it’s not.” […]

  99. Taller de generacion de contenido en el ITESM Koers— Koers IdeaCenter says:
    May 4, 2012 at 1:03 PM

    […] Objects: http://gapingvoid.com/2007/12/31/social-objects-for-beginners/ http://gapingvoid.com/2008/01/02/why-the-social-object-is-the-future-of-marketing/ […]

  100. Generación de contenido de valor Asalgado— asalgado.com says:
    May 4, 2012 at 4:50 PM

    […] Objects: http://gapingvoid.com/2007/12/31/social-objects-for-beginners/ http://gapingvoid.com/2008/01/02/why-the-social-object-is-the-future-of-marketing/ […]

  101. No Comments Please! says:
    June 26, 2012 at 3:24 PM

    […] such plat­forms where bare bone dis­cus­sion groups for­med around com­mon inte­rest topic areas or social objects where you could make your­self heard without worr­ying too much about iden­tity, reputation, […]

  102. Venn Zen – Between Stimulus And Response There Is Freedom « Disrupting Retirement says:
    June 28, 2012 at 7:18 PM

    […] stuff is just so cle­ver and ori­gi­nal – real ‘social objects’ as Hugh McLeod would […]

  103. Franzen and my ‘social object’ hit and miss « The Paradigm Shuffle says:
    June 28, 2012 at 9:30 PM

    […] object’ – a la Hugh McLeod –  on Twit­ter or Face­book or any other social media of me mee­ting Jonathan Fran­zen. It seems […]

  104. How to Network for Music Success Part 1 By The Maniac Agenda {X__^} - Future Producers forums says:
    July 29, 2012 at 2:20 AM

    […] be about you at first unless they talk to you first (see how to do that below). Look for a SOCIAL OBJECT that makes the per­son uni­que. Maybe they have a really cool camera or a piece of jewelry or […]

  105. Cómo plantear un proyecto de Gamification (1) | ideonomia | marketing y comunicación digital says:
    August 8, 2012 at 9:49 AM

    […] con la teoría de los obje­tos socia­les una parte fun­da­men­tal del pro­ceso es la defi­ni­ción de los ver­bos que defi­nen las accio­nes que […]

  106. ‘Sozial ist im Web immer an eine konkrete Formation gebunden.’ — neunetz.com says:
    August 10, 2012 at 7:22 AM

    […] Soziale Objekte. Nen­nen wir es für spät zum Thema Gekom­mene die Diaspora-Lektion. […]

  107. 60 Ways to Increase Your Influence Online « Talal Shakeel says:
    August 24, 2012 at 1:08 AM

    […] use other people’s stuff or other people’s con­tent to socia­lize. And your stuff’s either a social object or it’s not.” […]

  108. Philosophy The Birthday Girl Gift Set (5 Piece) | gift baskets says:
    August 29, 2012 at 6:53 PM

    […] to such great indi­vi­duals like Joyce and Russ and whom I would not have met if it weren’t for my social object iden­ti­fied as a camera! 7. I am thank­ful that this Satur­day 11 Sep­tem­ber 2010 will be the sixth […]

  109. 60 WAYS TO INCREASE YOUR ONLINE INFLUENCE says:
    October 14, 2012 at 9:41 AM

    […] use other people’s stuff or other people’s con­tent to socia­lize. And your stuff’s either a social object or it’s not.” […]

  110. The Artful Manager | Let’s give them something to talk about says:
    November 6, 2012 at 9:06 AM

    […] Hugh MacCleod’s post about ‘Social Objects for Begin­ners‘ is many years old (like an ancient rune in web­time), but I keep going back to it. It’s […]

  111. 60 Tips from Influential Web Marketers to Increase Your Influence Online » Society of Revellers says:
    January 10, 2013 at 11:25 PM

    […] use other people’s stuff or other people’s con­tent to socia­lize. And your stuff’s either a social object or it’s not.” […]

  112. Predicting The Next Social Network | Terence Eden has a Blog says:
    January 13, 2013 at 10:20 AM

    […] years ago, the next big term was “Social Objects”: The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the rea­son two peo­ple are tal­king to each other, as […]

  113. Kicker Studio | Content: Not Always King says:
    January 24, 2013 at 12:10 PM

    […] what is the role of con­tent in this pro­duct: is the con­tent filled with mea­ning to be con­su­med, a social object, or a con­tai­ner for mea­ning? How you ans­wer that ques­tion is the first step in deter­mi­ning what […]

  114. 07.3 La soluzione alla crisi « pacheramanda says:
    January 25, 2013 at 9:35 AM

    […] sui Social Net­work  e quindi mi è sem­brato oppor­tuno appro­fon­dire l’argomento tra­du­cendo  Social Objects for Begin­ners. Io credo che per risol­vere la crisi in atto e tagliare i fili con i quali i banchieri ci guidano, […]

  115. Pourquoi tenir un blog professionnel ? | Carnets RH 2.0 says:
    February 23, 2013 at 11:15 AM

    […] par les réseaux sociaux, inter­nes ou exter­nes à l’entreprise. Les objets sociaux qu’ils véhi­cu­lent per­met­tent d’y tis­ser des liens : sta­tuts, articles, […]

  116. The quickest way for a business to fail on social media says:
    February 27, 2013 at 9:25 AM

    […] second school of thought is object-centred socia­lity (OCS).  Led by Jyri Engeström and Hugh Mac­Leod, this school says that the con­nec­tions bet­ween peo­ple don’t mat­ter nearly as much as the […]

  117. Fans, Bloggers y videojuegos | bulevardavid says:
    February 28, 2013 at 10:41 AM

    […] nue­vas divi­ni­da­des de las mar­cas olo­ve­marks. Así, el fan de una marca encuen­tra un espa­cio, un objeto social como nexo de unión con otros fans, una comu­ni­dad de inte­re­ses y pasio­nes a la que per­te­ne­cer y […]

  118. Use sketchnotes and graphic recording to spread your speech's message | Social Signal says:
    March 22, 2013 at 2:52 PM

    […] that peo­ple will share and talk about online. (Jyri Engeström first coi­ned the term, but car­too­nist Hugh Mac­leod has done a lot to put it into prac­ti­cal terms.) For your speech, that social object could take […]

  119. Use sketchnotes and graphic recording to spread your speech’s messageRob Cottingham says:
    March 26, 2013 at 10:25 PM

    […] something that peo­ple will share and talk about online. (Jyri Engeström first coi­ned the term, but car­too­nist Hugh Mac­leod has done a lot to put it into prac­ti­cal terms.) For your speech, that social object could take many […]

  120. Social objects: searchable, snackable, shareable « Conversity.be says:
    April 1, 2013 at 7:19 AM

    […] his 2007 blog post Social objects for begin­ners car­too­nist and social obser­ver Hugh Mac­Leod popu­la­ri­sed the con­cept of social […]

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His work acknowledges the absurdity of workaday life, while also encouraging employees to respond with passion, creativity, and non-conformity...   MacLeod’s work is undeniably an improvement over the office schlock of yore. At its best, it’s more honest, and more cognizant of the entrepreneurial psyche, while still retaining some idealism.

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Lydia Depillis

Last year my State of the College address was 76 slides loaded with data. This year it was 14 cartoons that were substantially more memorable.

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Hugh MacLeod is a genius.  Genius.

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In moments of indecision I glance at the wall for guidance.

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@copyblogger
 
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