The Cmr research centre led by sociologist Marini analyses the changes taking place in the north-east and identifies a quarter of the population that is \u2018vulnerable\u2019 because it has little support to fall back on<\/p>\n
Society is changing and is giving the \u2018zero-kilometre\u2019 network a go<\/p>\n
Who can you turn to when you need help? A survey of people in the Veneto region shows that the only real source of support is family and friends
\nHowever, thanks to technology, \u2018street-level\u2019 social media is emerging<\/p>\n
There is the vast technological network that connects us ever more closely to the whole world, but there is also the network of social relationships on which we truly rely in times of need \u2013 and this is shrinking ever further. And the two are intertwining in an unprecedented form of social innovation. \u2018Although it is developing quietly and behind the scenes, a new form is emerging, utilising precisely the new communication technologies such as social networks: it is \u201csocial welfare\u201d and \u201cdo-it-yourself\u201d.\u2019 This is how sociologist Daniele Marini defines it in the new study by the CMR-Community Media Research laboratory, of which he is the scientific director.<\/p>\n