WHERE DO WE MEET?

Do you have my number?

……if our social platforms disappears …

Once upon a time, we lived in a world where we were not bombarded,at least not to the same extent as today, with unstable and constantly shifting messages. Messages that, frankly, leave many of us either immune and mildly indifferent, or uneasy, distrustful, and confused.

THE SCENARIO

We would never advise our children to stay in relationships where trust and mutual respect are absent, neither in physical nor digital spaces.

..and yet, we do exactly that ourselves.

Broadly speaking, we are heavy users of digital products and social platforms that do not necessarily reflect our values.

We enter into relationships, communities, and dependencies that are practical, efficient, and often indispensable. At the same time, we have gradually become more critical of the physical products we buy and the countries we trade with.

• We openly discuss boycotts and the safeguarding of essential supplies such as electricity, gas, and water.
• We prepare for shortages and protect our own backyard.

But do we apply the same level of skepticism to our digital social lives?

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Isn’t it thought-provoking that for years we have willingly outsourced both our relationships and our knowledge archives to social media platforms that we neither own nor truly control?

“Our social capital has become efficient, but also fragile.”

We have become highly dependent on a relatively small number of primarily American tech actors who control the digital infrastructure and, by extension, also influence the value of our social capital

Is it not legitimate to ask whether we truly have trust, continuity, or any form of sovereignty in the digital social infrastructure on which our communities rely?

TRUST IN A COMPLEX WORLD

Despite a history shaped by openness, inclusion, and trust, we are experiencing a world that has become more complex, polarized, and exclusionary.

This should prompt us to take a more critical stance toward the digital structures we participate in as frequent users and not allow the narrative of social media as a digital paradise to erode our curiosity, empathy, inclusivity, and critical thinking.

We know there must be distance between governments and tech providers, and we largely take it for granted that this separation is upheld.

But do we still trust it—one hundred percent?

A SHARED GLOBAL MEETING PLACE

LinkedIn is undeniably a unique global professional networking platform. A place with enormous potential for knowledge sharing, debate, communication, relationship-building, and recruitment.

A showcase through which we share a great deal, often implicitly assuming continued access to global expression and free connections within the framework of the platform.

Personally, I greatly appreciate the potential and global reach of this social medium.

…but

EUROPE’S BLIND SPOT

Europe still lacks genuine digital infrastructures that enable network mobility and communities without monopolistic dominance, yet with democratically anchored governance that reflects our values and societal model.

It is uncomfortable to acknowledge how dependent we have become on the digital solutions of a single country. A country many have historically placed on a pedestal, but which does not necessarily represent the same value framework we once assumed.

A CONCEIVABLE ALTERNATIVE

With full respect for existing solutions, many of us,especially in light of growing global tensions, would likely be ready to switch tomorrow if a real alternative existed.

An alternative that would allow us to bring our networks, relationships, history, and content with us without losing social capital. Particularly if such a platform were built on a different cultural and value-based foundation, with a clear democratic, transparent, and broadly owned structure, anchored both internationally and within Europe.

AN OPEN COURTSHIP

Alternatively, “perhaps naively” but one  might wish that the admirable actors of Silicon Valley would open themselves to a more democratic and clearly international structural outlook, ownership, and anchoring.

That they would be fully transparent and able to guarantee that no ties exist between tech giants and political power.

And that we, as users, would retain free digital social borders and global freedom of expression independent of national power shifts.

A HYPOTHETICAL RED FLAG

What do we do if the platforms we take for granted today disappear tomorrow?

The consequences would be immediate:

• Our networks would fragment instantly.

• Our social capital would become illiquid — relationships without points of contact.

It can be debated whether the social platforms we use are vital resources. But the fact remains: they helped open the world that is now fragmenting and must reassemble itself.

So if the unthinkable were to happen:

• Where would we meet then?
• Do you have my phone number?

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Concern about losing something always contains potential.

Like me, are you curious about what might emerge if media, brands, and organizations began thinking more in terms of communities rather than audiences?

If so, I’d be happy to share a few ideas with you.

You have my number:

📞 +45 25 44 25 44

NB

Isn’t it reassuring to remember that the generations before us managed just fine,without digital social networks