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Missouri Takes Aim at Facebook: Who Are We Protecting?

August 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Gun-sight-facebook

Social media and Facebook in particular are an emotional powder keg these days.  From anxieties over stalking and child abuse to the potential for terrorism and social unrest, social networking is the new poster child for fear.  The state of Missouri has even gone so far as enact legislation severely restricting teachers online interaction with students. Gov. Jay Nixon signed Senate Bill 54, or the "Amy Hestir Student Protection Act" into law on July 14. There is a political and emotional appeal in artificially suppressing something you're worried about, in this case how teachers and students can communicate and connect.  You can either feel like you're doing something (or show your constituents you're doing something), and/or you don't have to see it when it does happen, so you don't have to worry about it.  But I guarantee you that there are already geeks inventing new ways of communicating that this law won't touch.  Unless, of course, you don't want teachers talking to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Education, Psychology Tagged With: ,

Social Media Did Not Cause the London Riots

August 14, 2011 By 8 Comments
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After four days of looting and rioting across the UK, people are looking for answers. The violence that started in London, spread rapidly across not only Greater London, but most of the country, not as single oozing mass, but more like an outbreak of the measles. Its speed and range is attributed to the rioters' use of social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Blackberry Messenger. Information and disinformation alike travel fast in social networks. As people try to make sense in the aftermath, an emerging theme is the culpability of social media. Focusing blame on social media is akin to killing the messenger and is both naïve and dangerous. Social media is just a tool. It's a powerful one, but a tool nonetheless. It can be used in good ways and bad ways, just like a hammer or a baseball bat. While the riots raised legitimate questions about social and government systems, it has also put social media squarely in the sights of the politicians. Social media is an easy target. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Psychology Tagged With: , ,

The Psychology of Social Media that Fuels Social Change

February 10, 2011 By 2 Comments

Whether or not Egyptian President Mubarak steps down as protestors demand, it's clear that Egyptian society has undergone a cataclysmic shift.  Much of this shift is due to the connectivity from new media technologies, such as Twitter and Facebook.  Malcolm Gladwell has gotten a lot of flack for writing that social media isn't really powerful enough to create real social change.  As I (and many others) argued, that is patently wrong (See PT blog post "Four Ways Social Media Is Redefining Activism").  Egypt and Tunisia are excellent examples of why. Social change isn't about the tools and it isn't about how the relative "strength" of weak ties compared to other social movements.    (Note:  It's important to point out here that, contrary to popular interpretation, "strength" related to weak ties is not a descriptor of emotional engagement or attachment between ties like it sounds.  In the context of weak ties, strength means the powerful impact on the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cognition, Culture & Society, Social Media & Networks Tagged With: , , ,

Five Things to Remember about Social Media

December 1, 2009 By 1 Comment
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If you had any doubts about the impact social networking tools and social media have on the world as we know it, watch this Advertising Age video of Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz talk about the changes they've made in their approach to reaching skiers and snow enthusiasts. While this is a great example of responsive and proactive marketing, it reveals bigger trends about how social media technologies are changing the way people interact with information and how that impacts their behavior. Five Things to Remember About Social Media A picture is worth a thousand words but a video says it all. Video is a powerful communication tool. That seems obvious, of course. Humans process information from images far more efficiently than words alone. Video is an image on speed-it engages different sensory inputs and delivers an image stream. Social media allows for the distribution of videos to be immediate, targeted, personal, and accessible on-demand through YouTube, emails, mobile … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Psychology, Social Media & Networks Tagged With:
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