What is Social Technology?

The term Social Technology was first used as the title of the book Social Technology by Olaf Helmer, Bernice Brown and Theodore Gordon, from the Rand Corporation. It has acquired an expanded range of meanings as a result of Facebook and other Social Utilities. In current usage social technology is technology for social purposes, but originally it meant applications of the social sciences for various purposes, especially the selection and exploitation of experts for decision making. Social Technology includes Social Software which is not confined to computer software but also includes Social Procedure. It also includes Social Hardware which began with the telegraph and telephone, long before those utilities used computers. Social Technology also includes old technologies such as the postal system and other means of interpersonal communication which long predate telephones, computer networks or social networking tools.

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