This is an article from the press, The New Yorker, written by Malcolm Gladwell in October 2010. I find it an excellent read and very interesting because it actually challenges the idea of true effectiveness of the digital instruments of social media/social networking that in general, are probably more thought of forming the future success for organizations, movements, actions and alike. It gives plenty of interesting examples, also from Germany. There are so many articles that support the theme we have been given for next weekend, so I found this article quite refreshing and standing out from the masses as opposing/refuting it.
Although this article has received some critics (as all thought provoking ones do) claiming that the writer gets social networks wrong, and even if the readers do not have to agree with everything that the writer says, and personally I am not sure if I agree with all his arguments either, it does inspire thoughts and gives also some other aspects to consider related to our theme.
So, hope this can offer you some new ideas and point of views, and assist in your process of coming to your own conclusion concerning our theme.
4 comments:
Excellent choice for starting our discussion, even though we're starting with the opposing view, as it were. I've actually been to debates between Gladwell and Clay Shirky, who takes the opposite view. Someone else should post one of his articles.
And, by the way, the revolution was tweeted. I have students going through 4.5 million tweets about the uprising in Egypt that were tweeted or re-tweeted during the 14 days until Mubarak resigned. I'll show you what they look like in class.
Thank you for the comments. Yes, quite intentionally picked an article expressing an opposing view even though it is not necessarily representing my personal opinion.
Great, looking forward to seeing the revolution tweets. And would love to hear more about those debates between Gladwell and Clay Shirky. Not sure if you are planning on mentioning anything about them in class. If not, I might come and ask during the breaks if you don't mind. I think that Gladwell has a lot of good studies and books about social science - truly inspires and provokes a lot of thoughts.
Hello together, I'm also looking forward to the course - it seems like it will become an very interesting and inspiring weekend!
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