Social Salons

A Teams or Zoom or Google Meet Social Salon meeting

A live Social Salon with people in a circle

What is the Purpose of Social Salons?

Social Salons is a system to make it easy for people to get together in small groups (usually via video) where they will meet new friends and have lively, engaging conversations on any topic that interests them.

These small discussion groups of 3-9 people are called 'Salons' (named after the "Intellectual Salons" of Paris in the 1800's). Discussions mainly take place as Teams, Zoom, or Meet meetings, but can also be live, in-person meetings. An SS user can easily browse through scheduled salons to find topics of interest, join a salon, or schedule their own salons which others can join. The topics can be anything people want, but SS does provide a huge variety of topics to get things started.

Social Salons is completely free to use.

How Social Salons Works

Brief Summary:

An SS User can use the Search tool or browse the Topic Browser, Calendar and 'Upcoming Salons' lists to find topics of interest. All topics have a button. Topics already scheduled for discussion in one or more upcoming salons will have a button.

If the SS User is intrigued and wants to participate in an upcoming discussion, SS makes it simple to join a salon. SS will provide clear instructions on how to participate in the video meeting when the salon is scheduled to begin.

In many cases SS Users will probably want to schedule their own salons, on any topics they want: sports, cooking, personal experiences, philosophical questions, or anything else they want to select or create. With SS it's easy to schedule a salon, invite friends, and post it for other SS Users to discover.

Details on how to do these three basic things, and others, are provided on the How It Works page. Answers to common questions can be found on the FAQ page.

Note:

It's free to join Social Salons. SS makes no money from any of this
SS will not sell or pass on any personal information to anyone
SS will ask you for minimal info, just your name, time zone, and email for contact purposes (eg. a host will need it to invite you to a salon you've joined). If you want to share other info about yourself it's easy to do
The only goal of SS is to foster discussions among people by making it easy to schedule times and the means get together

Detailed Examples of Using Social Salons

Example 1: Mary has a specific topic she wants to discuss

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Mary wants to donate money to help people in Africa, but she can't decide whether to give to a fund that helps a specific individual or to an organization that uses the money to buy things like mosquito nets. She'd like to talk to people who have done one or the other, or who have insightful thoughts on the matter.

So Mary uses SS to schedule a video Salon on the topic "Best way to help African people?". Her posting says when the salon will happen, that it will be a "video Salon" via Zoom, and that she'd like to have around 8 participants. She adds the comment that she wants to know if she should donate to support an individual, or if it's better to support public health efforts such as mosquito nets.

SS users who are curious about the latest topics being discussed will come to the site to see what new salons have been scheduled. Someone who was an aide worker in Sudan joins Mary's salon. Another has experience giving to both kinds of organizations. Another has studied 'effective altruism' and wants to share what she's learned. Two others join because they wondered about the same question...

One more person searched on the topic of 'help African people' and found Mary's salon, so she joined too. Once Mary's goal of 8 people have signed up for her salon it will be closed. If more people want to discuss the same topic they can easily schedule additional salons on the same theme, and they will be open to new people. If people live in the same city they can even have a live salon.

As the time for Mary's salon approaches, Social Salons will send reminders to the SS Users who will be attending Mary's salon.

SS will also send instructions on how to install and use Zoom for those who are new to the experience.

At the scheduled Salon time, everyone will follow the instructions to join the group video meeting.

There are no rules on how to discuss the topic. People might take turns with their opinions, the group might divide into pro and con groups, or discuss it in any other way they want.

The discussion can go on for the scheduled time, or beyond, or end early. It's all up to the guests. And there's no rule about sticking to a specific topic.

SS's role is simply to make it easy for people to get together to have interesting discussions, answer questions, and provide help to people seeking advice.

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Example 2: John wants to explore topics and salons to find one that interests him

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First approach: Click on

to see lists of the most recently posted salons, all upcoming salons, what the current "hot topics" (most discussed) are, and recently created topics to be discussed in various salons. Clicking on a salon or topic will quickly lead to a
button, which will enable him to participate in the salon when it's scheduled to happen.

Second approach: Go to the Salons Calendar and see what salons are coming up today or in the next few days, and what times they are scheduled to start.
Clicking on the for any day will pop up the details of that day's salons. Clicking on any salon's Details button will reveal a button...

Third approach: Use the Topics Selector to explore subjects, categories and branches. For popular topics there may aleady be a salon scheduled to discuss a topic that he likes, and he can hit the "Join This Salon" button. If not, he can easily schedule a new salon on that topic via:

After doing that his salon will appear on all other SS Users calendars, "Upcoming Salons" lists, and in search results.

Fourth approach: Use the tool with a keyword related to the topic John wants to discuss:

This brings up three topics related to 'existentialism':

John can check out the topics by clicking on the buttons to learn more about each topic, and then either join or host a salon based on the topic that interests him the most.

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Example 3: Rodrigo wants to discuss his favorite football team

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Rodrigo clicks on:

which can be found at the top of every page.
This takes him to the Topic Selector, which he can use to get to any topic in four clicks.

On the Topic Browser page he clicks on the subject "Sports"

Next, he clicks on the category "Football American(ish)"

Then on the sub-category "NFL"

Finally, he clicks on the branch "New York Jets"
This takes him to the topics in the "New York Jets" branch.

There will always be at least one "General" topic in every branch. But in this branch there are also others, such as "Will the Jets make the playoffs this year?", "Should the Jets keep their coach?", or "Aaron Rogers: Will he get along with the team?"

Since none of these is quite what Rodrigo wants to discuss, he clicks on:

This takes him to the "Schedule Salon" page, where he can specify a date and time when he will host a discussion on the topic "Will Aaron Rodgers be good for the team?"
When his salon is scheduled to start SS will automatically provide him with a list of all the people who have joined, and by following a few easy steps he'll invite them to join his Zoom meeting and a lively disccussion will soon follow!

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Example 4: Michelle has followed an SS link in a podcast

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After watching a Modern Wisdom podcast, Michelle clicks on a link in the notes section that looks like this:

When she clicks on that link, it takes her to this branch on the Topic Selection page:

To join a salon discussing this topic she clicks on:

She selects the salon that is scheduled at a good day and time for her and clicks on the 'Join this salon' button.

Finally, she gets a notification that she has joined the salon, and that instructions on how to participate when the salon begins will be sent to her by email.

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Finally, to see over 150 examples of topics discussed on Social Salons, go to:
Examples Of SS Topics to Discuss

What makes Social Salons different from typical social networks?

Social Salons is literally a social system

This is not being social!

Most other social networks are like bulletin boards with Post It notes

Post It filled bulletin boards are not really social events

This is being social!

Social Salons involves meeting real people and having live conversations

These days when people think of "social networking" they think of sites like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Pinterest. But if you think about it, none of these sites are very social because they are all based on posting brief comments or images which are then seen by dozens, hundreds, or even millions of people. In fact, many of the posts are even done by automated "bots". This is like a "party" where people write brief comments on post-it notes, stick them on a bulletin board, then walk away and wait for others to read their notes. That can hardly be called "social" - especially when many of the notes are so nasty! In fact, many of these networks are now considered ANTI-social.

Social Salons is completely different because it's based on face to face (usually via video) conversations with small groups of people, where every person can be heard and contribute. THAT is truly "social"!

Polite, "face to face" conversations

Common social media experience

On other social networks people get bombarded with negative comments

A typical Social Salons conversation

On Social Salons people have live conversations with other friendly people

Live conversations are good for many reasons

It's well known that people can be much more rude and obnoxious on the internet than they will be in more personal interactions.

Social salons brings out the kinder, more understanding side of people because, whether by video or in person, people are much better behaved when they can see who they are talking to and how they are reacting during the conversation.

Not anonymous, and therefore more civil

This is anonymity!

On other social networks anonymous people can make nasty comments

Anonymity brings out the worst in people

This is not anonymity!

On Social Salons you see people, they cannot be anonymous

People behave much better when they are seen face to face

Anonymity makes internet communication even worse! When people can post comments without anyone knowing who they are, their darkest side can emerge.

Of course, you can't be anonymous when you engage in a Social Salon discussion.

Provides time for thoughtful exploration and discussion of topics

Typcial social media "conversation"

On most social networks comments are brief and superficial

Brief, superficial comments do not lead to good conversations

SS provides time to think

A Social Salon takes an hour or more, giving people time to think about what they want to say

Although many people are in a hurry these days, there are a lot of people who appreciate having the time to fully express their thoughts, to allow others the time to fully express themselves, and then to explore a topic in depth.

Salons on SS are encouraged to last at least 30 minutes, with a standard length of 90 minutes, and no upper limit. This is consistent with the modern interest in long-form podcasts and YouTube discussions. And it also gives enough time for all members of a salon to fully express themselves.

Not compulsive or addictive

Social media addiction

Most social networks encourage addictive checking and other unhealthy behavior

Addiction to social networks is a bad thing

Looking forward to a scheduled discussion

Social Salons are scheduled at a specific time, not constantly sending out notifications

Scheduled meetings do not distract you with constant notifications

Social media's endless notifications and short, trivial comments leads to obsession with checking for posts, likes, and approval.

Social salons are scheduled events which people will engage in with deliberation, not obsessively.

Can foster genuine friendships

Social media is isolating

Ironically, most social networks are actually quite isolating

People get to know each other on SS

People get to know each other on Social Salons

One consequence of long discussions is it provides the opportunity to reveal much more about people's range of beliefs, experiences, and emotion. This is the kind of experience that helps people develop closer connections and, in many cases, friendships.

Can be used by people of all ages, interests, and cultures

Young people obsessed with their accounts

Most social networks are focused on younger people

Older people are discouraged from using most social networks

Happy Social Salons users

Social Salons appeal to people of all ages

Older people who are used to long, extended convserations will appreciate Socail Salons

Many people (especially older ones) aren't comfortable with using their phones for texting, taking selfies, and making tik-tok and YouTube videos.

But people of all ages and cultures know how to have a convsersation! Fortunately Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet make it very easy to start and join video meetings. Once people overcome that one small technical hurdle, the rest is easy - just talk!

What Next?

Registration

If you want to join a Salon, schedule your own Salon, add new topics, and more, you will need to be registered. Registration requires only your email (for notifications, if you want them), a login ID, a password, and a nickname.

Edit Your Profile

Your profile lets you provide more info about yourself, such as a brief bio, links to your website, social media, and more. You can also set preferences such as what profile info will be visible to all, only your favorite guests, or no one; what your favorite topics are; whether you want to be notified about various upcoming salons; and more.

Exploration

Browse the topics, browse the categories, scan the calendar, learn more about How It Works. If you find a topic of interest (or if you want to create your own) you can join a Salon or schedule one of your own.