The Social Contract

Last night, my daughter Erin called me for a bit of feedback on a paper she was writing for her International Scholars Program at Goucher College. The subject: the symbiotic relationship between Individualism and the social contract. As she recounted the writings of Benjamin Franklin, John Locke and Adam Smith, I couldn’t help but think, “what would these pioneers of democratic and free market thinking make of social networking?”

Here are a couple of links for those of you, like me, who have long forgotten learning about the concepts of Individualism and the social contract and stored them away in your brain for future cocktail party banter. 

As a parent, I was encouraged that my daughter was being exposed to ideas that had such an influence on the development of the fledgling American democracy. As a destination marketer trying to make sense out of the adolescent, yet burgeoning social networking space, I found great wisdom in Erin’s recounting of Benjamin Franklin’s words:

"Franklin argues that the virtue of silence would help him “to gain knowledge at the same time that (he) improved in virtue, and considering that in conversation it was obtained rather by the use of the ears than of the tongue, and therefore wishing to break a habit (he) was getting into of prattling, punning, and joking...”

"In his silence, Franklin stopped making trifling comments and jokes and thus, no longer wasted the time of other members of his society. In addition, he improved his individual self by gaining knowledge from listening to others in conversation. In consenting to be a part of his society, he granted himself the right to this knowledge. However, as an individual within said society, he was obligated to then give back and share that knowledge with the public."

In Franklin’s day, there were no online social networks where he could listen, and then share the knowledge he gained. So he went to meetings, pubs, parties and other community spaces where people discussed the matters of the day. And when he was ready to share his thoughts, he wrote them down and published them in an almanac, which he “endeavored to make both entertaining and useful.”

It seems to me that we destination marketers, and for that matter, all other marketers in the social networking space, could learn something valuable from Franklin: the concept of the social contract applies to marketing on social networks, too.

If we're smart, like Franklin, we will all embrace the virtue of silence a bit to listen and learn from those we want to network with. And when we have something entertaining or useful to add, we'll share it.

Lucky for us Franklin's words of wisdom can be found on the internet. If you run into them, don’t forget to tweet them.