Scotland will gain its independence as a nation; when that is what the people of Scotland know they want it.

I believe, that is what the people of Scotland want.  However, I don’t know for certain.  It seems intuitively right.  However, I gravitate towards people with similar views – so that does not really help much.

Some people may say that the majority of people in Scotland prefer to be part of the United Kingdom.  I don’t think that is truly known yet.  Not wishing independence does not seem intuitively correct, but again that is just a view.

If you are reading and you voted NO in the referendum on 18 September 14 then you may be inclined to dismiss this as nonsense because the result of the referendum was a NO vote.

This is where it starts to get interesting.  Did everyone who voted have all the relevant quality information available to help them decide.  If they did have that information, did they fully understand it?  When we voted were we able to set aside the prejudices that we humans carry around with us and make a totally impartial fact based decision?

What about the people who did not vote.  There were 635,000 of them.  Had they voted, this may have changed the outcome either way – we will never know.  We have yet to motivate them.

Most people don’t have time to consider what information they need to truly make their mind up.  If they were able to get that information they would have to digest it and hope they fully understood it sufficiently to help them make their mind up.  Logistically, this would be pretty much impossible.  Instead, we must take or select the information that is dished up to us.  We may even take information from areas we have previously felt were reliable.  It may be that we take the information that is easiest to come by and simple enough to understand.  Whatever route we chose, we can pretty much guarantee that at best the information is incomplete, inappropriate, insufficient or simply irrelevant – worse still, someone elses’ prejudice.  But we don’t have the time or the inclination to do a better job so we do the best we can in the time we have available and HOPE that it works out.

So here’s the thing.  This approach is fine if the referendum question was ‘do we hope that Scotland should be an independent country?  Because, that just about sums it all up.  We know we don’t really have all the right information.  We know that we simple don’t have the time or inclination to do anything about it so we HOPE we get it right – But we don’t know.

This is not a great way to decide a nations future – but it is all we have!

ACTUALLY, AND MORE SINISTERLY – ITS ALL THEY HAVE – ITS ALL THEY NEED!

Whoa!  that was quite a leap.  Yes it was, but sadly it is absolutely true.

So how do we become more informed?

We can’t go back to school for an education – that ship has sailed.  We certainly cannot depend on the powers that be and their media lackeys to provide us with information that may conflict with their best interests – and if they did, we must view that with deep suspicion.

As if by magic, the solution is at hand.  But a good analogy would be someone has to get somewhere quickly.  They discover a car outside with the keys in it – but the don’t know how to drive.

The car is social media.  We don’t know how to drive it.  Social media is certainly the best vehicle for information we have and arguably the best communication tool imaginable.  But, we must recognise that we simply don’t know how to drive it.

The three main social media mediums in the UK; Twitter, Facebook and the multitude of Blogs were very much in presence during the referendum.  They gave us a voice, they gave us information we would otherwise never have attained, they glued us together and gave us a unity.  The also gave us a united forum to challenge the establishment, the traditional media and the main political factions.  Unfortunately, because we don’t yet know how to drive these technologies, we lured ourselves into a false sense of security.

It certainly appeared that we totally dominated this new medium.  We were aware of the power of social media and that gave us a great sense of confidence that we had a power on our side.

But, we did not have as much power as we thought.  Unless we really understand the limitations of social media it will fool us.  In its current form, social media is introspective.  It looks inwards to its proponents.  It gathers together all its supporters and allows them to congratulate each other.  But it is a CLOSED MEDIA.  Social media only works for its participants.  The pensioner in his or her house who watches ‘Corry’, maybe gets the Daily Record and sometimes mingles with their other pensioner pals probably does not have a computer.  If they did, they are probably not on social media.  When their family come around and talk about current affairs and what they are doing on Facebook and the great Tweet they just read, they probably thinks that is OK for the young ones.

Traditional media does not have these same limitations.  You don’t have to join their club to participate or be influenced.  If you go to the shops and walk past the newspaper stand, the front pages are well displayed.  If half a dozen national papers are all spouting that the YES campaign is in ruins, and this is their front page banner headline, who are they to dispute that; its in their face everywhere they look.  When they watch ‘Corry’ and the TV rolls over into the news; worse, if it’s ‘Enders’ that rolls over into the BBC News they are completely unaware of the subversive tactics of the BBC as explained by Dr John Robertson [read about it].  In this respect traditional media have things pretty well sewn up.  They are after all the BROADCAST media.  Even, the newspaper stands BROADCAST their main stories and push their messages into the the faces of those who would otherwise not go looking for it.  Whether you realise or not, your mind picks up these messages.  If you are unsure about that, ask yourself why the Health Minister has succumbed to pressure and removed the SIGHT of cigarettes from our gaze.  It is well known that this is an effective early deterrent – not perfect, but effective.

Probably the greatest power of broadcast media is the fact that it is ‘one direction’.  No, don’t be silly.  Uni directional.  If you totally disagree with their message or wish to question it, what do you do?  write them a letter? paper and pen, maybe a parchment or scratch a message on an old slate.  Whatever you do, don’t waste your money on a stamp – put it in your own bin – rather than theirs.

THAT IS WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA IS UP AGAINST – THAT IS WHAT WE MUST OVERCOME.

If we know and accept this challenge we can begin the work of overcoming it.  That, of course is immensely difficult.  However, if you look around you and see how other things have developed you may amaze yourself.  Your iPhone has more technology than an early space rocket, you car can take you safely to 100 MPH in about 20 seconds, your Sky+ box gives you total control over when you watch the tele.  The world around you is filled with amazing things.

Each one of these things was almost impossible, certainly very difficult before they happened – then they happened and now we take them for granted.

THE SAME GOES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA. IT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE TO REACH EVERYONE –

AND THEN IT HAPPENS.

So, happen it will.  We just have to find the ways.

I don’t have the answer.  However, I have some ideas and I am hooking up with others and trawling through forums for the best ideas.  It is actually very exciting because if social media could match or come close to the reach of traditional broadcast media then much of that media will die on its feet.

Of course, there will always be a need for good journalists and investigators regardless of the media.  However, many of these journalists are already extensive users of social media in their own right.

Here are a few ideas to assist the migration away from traditional media to social media.  First of all funds must be raised to cover the costs involved in any solution.

Idea 1:  Encourage young people to form a volunteer force across the country visiting old peoples homes, nursing homes, hospitals etc armed with a laptop.  Just like reading or telling stories introduce the old folks to social media.  Let them see the beneficial side and the political side of social media as opposed to the perception that it is more about young people ‘shoutin’ out to their bro’?  Many older people would welcome the company, welcome some new interest and often appreciate the company of young people.  Over time I would not be surprised to see older people – who often have quite a bit of disposable income – getting themselves iPhones, Androids,Tablets etc.  This may take pressure from the older folks and their families to insist that these homes are WiFi enabled.  Just think, with headphones, the old folk have personal audible TV, email, social media, internet service.  Before too long they will be Tweeters, Bloggers and Friends.  This could be a great revolution in ensurer and maintaining older people as functioning members of the community.  This idea may function quite well without much, if any, need for funding.  Remember, when I say older people I mean older voters!

Idea 2:  Search engines work well at finding things people are looking for.  However, they only work well on social media if you have the best techniques and deepest pockets.  That old saying, ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ gives us a big clue.  Instead of waiting and hoping to be discovered it is possible to employ traditional broadcast media to entice people and tell them exactly where to look.  This is one area where investment is needed.  Promoting social media as a powerful communication medium has been grossly underfunded and understated.  There are real opportunities to improve this weakness and scotch the myth that social media is all about spotty teenagers whingeing about puberty, homework and fact that their mum cleaned their room.  Social media is an exceptional tool for education, debate and social and personal advancement.  It is a tool that has seen young people as early adopters.  However, it has as much if not more life changing and enhancing capabilities for elderly people than youngsters.

I would love to hear more ideas from others that may speed up the process whereby social media overwhelms and replaces traditional and often State or Mogul controlled broadcast media that has suppressed peoples liberties, threatened democracy and corrupted public life for generations.  Happy to accept emails on hvds@btinternet.com