Sociology of Social Media

Today, I have 809 followers. But does that really mean something? For all I know most could be spam bots and keyword hounds, but who’s counting, aside from Twitter. This post isn’t about me; it’s about our natural habits to follow those with glory and “spotlight.” Once again, we show our weakness as a society to care more about those in the limelight than those really making things happen. So, with that said, who really does matter?

“Thought Leaders”

Who is a thought leader? What makes them one? Do they have to be a CEO, Principal, President or some high standing figure, right? Or to be a thought leader you must be someone of high stature, make tons of money, be a Harvard grad, know someone, or a combination of those mentioned and other things not attributed in this post? Are they a thought leader because they get book deals and have hundreds upon thousands of followers? It is all a big pile of nonsense.

“Thought Leaders” should be more like Brian Solis. In my honest opinion I believe he is a thought leader in the communications industry.

• Regularly postsing about “new media,” “social media,” PR, communications on his blog.
• All compelling pieces; studies and things of that nature.
• He is the author of multiple books.
• Does incredible work speaking with people.

He works. He writes. He is pushing the industry forward. Kudos, Brian.

Leaders

105+ million users power Twitter. Facebook, 500 Million. Who really pushes those platforms? The users of course, but a certain group I call Leaders. A few names come to mind immediately: David Spinks, Lauren Fernandez, Sydney Owen, Ted Rubin, Andrew Norcross, Jenny Blake, Nate Erickson, Samantha Ogborn, Denis Crowley. Why? I’ll tell you:

• Built a strong community of friends and “followers” from the ground up.
• They have always interacted through the mediums with EVERYONE.
• Write thought-provoking pieces.
• Push the envelope in a multitude of areas.
• They aren’t just social media whores!

The Rest of Us

We are the though leaders, too. We’ve innovated through these social mediums to use them outside of their intended purposes:

• Twitter chats.
• Social reforms through Facebook.
• Growing our network.
• Connecting others.

Things become “trending topics” because we make them. On the same token, we make these “though leaders” who we decide. We should re-evaluate who the thought leaders really are and thank those in our community for presenting valuable information instead of automated links upon links and affiliated content.

More on why I think those listed are awesome here.

Toy Story 3, technology, and the crap hole we are heading in.

We have cell phones that are computers. Facebook is the ultimate platform for internet consumption, and Google searches finds results for queries you haven’t even thought of yet. We no longer are living creatively. We are living adaptively. Which isn’t bad but it means the end is near.

This post stems from the movie Toy Story 3. I hope you’ve seen it if not jump ahead to the Toy section because I give the idea of the movie here. Andy is grown up. He is forced to ditch his toys because the social norm says he is too old to play and needs to do grown up things. He adapts rather than creating a new idea, taking toys to college. For me the movie is more than that. It shows where and when we are torn from our creativity. The day we are given electronics and depend on them is the same day we drown our personal imagination and creativity.

Technology = Adaptology

Yup, I just made a new word. Adaptology. Quote me. We learn how to adapt in life, we make changes for the better or worse and do what we can. Technology is guilty of harboring the adaptivity as a lifestyle. We know think through adaptation versus thin air. We, as humans, think to make something better rather than making something brand new, which isn’t bad, just tiresome. I’ll elaborate through toys.

Toys- Here is where my Toy Story idea circles back.

How many of us had G.I. Joes or Barbies? They were plain and basic, we could change their clothes or accessories and that’s it. How much fun did we have with these toys? We created the scenarios that they narrowly escaped from. We made the most ridiculous things out of table and chairs. We made forts with sheets and pillow cushions. Both, for the record, are neither sturdy nor stable. But we made do. Point blank. We made the best with what we had, yes we adapted, but our creativity and imagination took us further. G.I. Joe adapted to having Barbie as his wife and the fact that she was taller. But we created the wedding on the North Pole of Mars. Yes, the North Pole of Mars. The benefits of these toys were not that they were intuitive and told us when crap needed to happen. It was because they were plain, we decided what happened and used that to our biggest advantage.

We cannot create with creativity, hence the root word in there. I am going to make a bold statement and say that this mashup of tech and social will slow down soon. The general publics attention span is only so big and adapting only lasts so long. Let’s stop making feature and start playing with boring toys.

If you think otherwise, tell me. I’d love to hear your side/opinion.

By the way, I LOVEEEED the Toy Story 3 movie. I cried like a baby.

How To Be Awesome

Believe in yourself, and go.

How To Explain Twitter to non-Twitter-ers

Do you get weird looks when you say you’re on twitter? Do your friends mock you sometimes? I’ve had both of those, and more, happen to me recently. People always ask, what is it? what do you do? It’s hard to make it stick to most, but if you relate it to a bar/networking event, they get the picture.

At a bar there is a room, or eco-system (twitter) at that location. You have the opportunity to talk to anywhere in the room. But sometimes that can be daunting. So what most people do is find a common ground. You hear people next to you talking about a recent game or event and you chime in. BAM, a conversation starts.

Another example

Your friend invites you to a networking event but you don’t want to go because you won’t know anyone. But you go anyway in an attempt to “break out of your comfort zone.” While there in the eco-system, you meet tons of people through your friend. You leave the event feeling refreshed because you’ve met new people, in new industries, and overall new friends.

Twitter isn’t some weird status update, it isn’t telling people what you’re doing. It brings people together. It helps you find new friends, new networks and new opportunities.

When you have to tell a friend what twitter is. Just tell them its one big conversation and any one can join.

Those mentioned in the picture are people I’ve met through Twitter. They are all great friends today. Thanks everyone!

Photo Creds- Its from Flikr. Bear with me I’m trying to find the link since I grabbed the picture so long ago. Holler to @nishachittal for being in the pic. It’s from Social Media Club DC

3 Ways Teachers Can Better Educate Our Youth

Last night I was reading this article. It discusses the ban of laptops in college classrooms across the nation and how computers are distracting students, and ultimately, ruining the teaching process. I politely disagree. We currently are flooded with information from various social sites. Why aren’t educators taking advantage of this?

Meet Them In The Middle

Instead of saying no to electronics, information and technology, educators should learn from them and embed them into their teachings. Everyone uses Facebook, Twitter and a new and upcoming service, FormSpring, so why not implement them in the way we interact and educate students. Here are some ideas.

Facebook

These articles, one and two, mention the usage of Facebook. From 2008 to 2009, Facebook usage increased 700% from 1.7 billion minutes to 13.9 billion minutes. Again folks, that is BILLIONS. Why aren’t teachers using this medium?

Example

Mr.Doe teaches English II, for 10^th graders. His class is comprised of a lot of reading and writing. Mr. Doe creates a Facebook group for his 1^st period English II class. In that group updates the page with reading and writing assignments.

Since students already use this medium why not utilize the platform for education? I mean, they are already on it for 13.9 billion minutes. Why not?

Twitter

Since the Chirp conference, Twitter released their company stats. The biggest one, there are 105 million registered users. Why don’t teachers use this medium to talk with their students, or engage in conversation with them

Example

Mrs. Smith teaches Intro to Public Policy at a University in Awesome. She has a class of 100 students and it’s hard to curate conversation in class. As an assignment, she puts together a twitter chat and assigns a hashtag. She narrates this chat with questions, ones would be too difficult to cover in class, to engage with students, to provide information and to see what they know.

FormSpring.me

This one is a stretch, I’ll admit, but the possibilities are great. On Formspring.me Any one can ask a question, if you a registered user, then your name appears in your question, if not it’s private. The user has the right to answer or delete any question.

Example

Mr. Kersh has assigned a paper due in three weeks to his class. The only problem is the class meets once a week. Instead of students flooding his inbox he creates a FormSpring. He gives out his public URL and tells students to direct any question to the given assignment to this medium. He can then answer the questions, post it to all, and decide which questions to answer and not answer (since 30 students ask the same question).

We are educating our future, so why not keep their attention though current mediums instead of boring them to death with PowerPoint and lectures.

Flikr Creds: Here

The 3 C’s. What Kind of Person Are You?

Since leaving SXSW I’ve realized that there might only be three types of people in the world: a creative, a creator and a combination. Think of new media and social media start ups none were founded by one person.  Companies have a tandem or team of people, a mixture of creative’s and creators, helping to reach a goal of fruition.

Creative

These are the folks that continuously pour out ideas. Their brains are incubators for what will be the next big thing. Whether onto napkins in restaurants, in a word document or to telling their friends over coffee, they always have ideas. Some stupid and some genius.

These are the folks that come up with the concepts or purposes for tangible and intangible things. Not to say these kinds of people can’t develop or build their own idea, but this is where root ideas and concepts are born.

Creator

Here are the people that take your ideas concept to reality. It could be a web dev

eloper if you have an idea for an online community. Maybe even someone who understands how to start a small business. It could even be someone who is great with strategy and planning. These are the people who can take your idea and put it in the right path to create a real product or community. These creators also help grow an idea into something bigger and better or smaller and more niche.

Combination

This could easily be a blessing and a curse. They can dream up crazy ideas and bring them to being. They can also help innovate or build on a current product or existing idea. One can make amazing things happen but could easily be overwhelmed with too many on going projects.They have the creative spark and organized mind to make great things happens.

There is nothing wrong with being one of these. As well as transcending from one person to another while mixing attributes, which would make you a combination.

A group of people with a mixture of types is probably best. It helps to bounce ideas off of one another to create something that is #awesomesauce.

What kind are you? What kind do you want to be?

Photo Creds: Pic 1- Google Images Pic 2- Flikr