Photo provided under Creative Commons License by Anthony Mooney
PLUR – Peace Love Unity Respect
I started going out to parties at the tail end of the US “rave scene” in the late 1990′s. The parties were held in warehouses, in dive bars, in fields and in ritzy establishments with the snooty doormen and overpriced drinks to prove it. People from all walks of life came to enjoy the music and meet people. Bankers, artists, musicians, marketers, real estate agents – you name a profession and one of those ravers would raise their hand to claim it.
I was still a student at the time and remember feeling so welcomed and loved by the people I met off the local message boards and out at parties. I was never into the drugs – I always came to enjoy the music and hang out with people who eventually became my friends. I can’t remember a time where someone was purposefully unfriendly, or hesitated to smile and welcome me into the fold.
As I was chatting with Jeremy Meyers a few nights ago, we started talking about how raves, and PLUR, were “the original social network”. I take a slight spin on that and say that PLUR and social media principles are one in the same. It may be a different decade, but things haven’t changed.
From Wikipedia:
PLUR or PLURR is an acronym that stands for “Peace Love Unity Respect”, a credo or mantra of the rave culture. Many in the rave scene have heard this term at some time or another, although its common usage is relatively recent. Early 1990s and mid-1980s ravers often followed similar principles, but did not use this coinage to describe their belief. It may be interpreted as the way that a raver believes he or she should live his or her life, and how people are expected to behave at a rave. This philosophy of the rave culture theoretically takes precedence over any chemical aspects of the rave scene.
Peace
To ravers, this means being respectful of others. Keep the peace and respect people’s opinions, dancing space, clothing, and ideals. We all may be different, but we have the music in common, and because of that, the rest deserves respect.
To social media marketers, this means respecting people’s opinions. You don’t have to agree with everything they say, but there’s a difference between disagreeing and being disrespectful. Social media is gaining traction and the community has a responsibility to itself to keep the peace internally. Certain voices stand out, but we’re “all in this together” and everyone deserves respect… at least in the beginning.
Love
Again, from Wikipedia:
Acts and feelings of goodwill towards all others are a moral imperative with their own rewards. In the raving community, it is an encouragement to form bonds of friendship between dancers.
Replace “dancers” with “comrades”, “colleagues”, or “other social media people” and the same principle applies to social media. No editing needed.
Unity
I touched on this earlier, but in both social media and the rave scene there is a sense of “we’re all in this together”. Social media people view sharing knowledge as a best practice, and the people working in social media are constantly talking to others trying to improve upon the way things are done, come up with a solution for a problem, or answer that pesky question of “How do we measure social media”?
We’re all in this together, whether that means bonding over music from all walks of life, or bonding through communication and the sharing of knowledge about your chosen path in life.
Respect
For many ravers, this means not doing drugs, being safe at raves if you use glowsticks or other equipment to dance and making sure that everoyne is having a good time – not just you.
To people in social media, this means respecting the opinions and practices of others, even if you disagree. Disagreement is often an invitation for a dialogue about different methods or practices, but these dialogues are still respectful of both parties. It’s about connection, even despite (and sometimes because of) the differences.
Moving from “the rave scene” to “the social media scene” has been a natural progression. I was posting on message boards before they were part of social networking platform offerings. I was meeting people I met online out at parties and events long before they were called “tweetups” or “meetups”. I connected with people online, I shared what I knew, I shared my opinions, I shared my personality and I received far more than I ever could have expected in return.
When I made the move into social media professionally I was already there personally. I was active on social networks, I was a blogger (my personal blog, which I now keep private) for 8 years, and I was connecting with people in person that I met online.
The locations and situations may have changed, but the sentiment has stayed the same. Respect others, acknowledge their opinions, share what you know, learn what you can do better, and have fun. Share, learn, respect, acknowledge and enjoy.
Respect, Enjoy, Acknowledge, Learn, Share – REALS.
Social Media – Keepin’ It REALS
It kind of has a ring to it…