Friday, September 09, 2011

Social Meda Revolution

Last night I was honored to have shared at the SPEAK conference in Minneapolis. It was a conference about church communication, and I had the privledge of sharing about Logos and some of the amazing things Logos is doing to help in those areas.


The night was a reminder to me of the power and potential of social media. If you think social media is just a passing fad, then you need to watch the below video. It's been out for awhile, but it shows in a powerfully visual and concise manner how social media is here to stay. I would say for the better:


4 comments:

Jessica said...

That is CRAZY. Personally, I have a lot of trouble seeing the good in social media. Mostly I see how it separates people rather than connecting them (TRULY connecting them), how it allows people to present false impressions of themselves and believe false impressions that others give off, how it invades privacy and promotes such invasion, and how it alienates those who do not wish to share their entire existence with the internet or protect their children from doing so. I know there are good things about it and that social media has the potential to do good things, but my impression as a regular user (although not nearly as frequently now) is that it is doing ridiculous things to our society. My husband can't take a college class without some 19-year-old wanting to share her life story with him because she has no concept of privacy after spending the last five years putting her life online in status updates and Facebook albums. The amount of over-sharing that happens, even the minute details that people don't need to know and honestly probably don't care about, is insane. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer about it, but I'm pretty annoyed with Facebook as of late, haha. Perhaps I need to hear some presentations on the good things that people can do with social media instead of the time-wasting that they're doing now. :)

bobby moss said...

So as a counseling major - how would you advise someone such as yourself Jessica with some social media issues. =)

Someone give Jessica some social media goodness =)

Kim said...

I think *someone* needs some Facebook hugs, or pokes or whatever the kids today do now, haha! j/k

I think there's good and bad things about it. Like with cellphones being ubiquitous now... the good - way easier to change plans on the fly or pick up people from the airport, no screaming at concerts "WE'RE OVER HERE!!!", getting lost is not that scary anymore (if you don't have navigation, you can always call your SO or your mom, or someone who can probably help you).

The bad - talking/texting while driving unnecessarily, people being glued to their phones, a lack of separation on your work/personal life (I know there's differing opinions on this,) a growing sense of entitlement (Daddy I want an iphone! - i seriously witnessed this while upgrading Greg's phone at Best Buy) and dependence on the technology.

I think it's going to be similar with any new technology; and I think the video on the OP briefly portrayed that. It's certainly not a good thing that Facebook is involved in 1 in 5 divorces. But it arguably is good that online dating isn't so taboo anymore; people have more options now. You could go on and on with the pros/cons.

It's interesting to me now that we're older -talking to Jess, Bobby was already old :p that there is now a real generational divide between us and current 16-24 yr olds. We're always going to think some of the things they do are ridiculous, just like older generations think texting is ridiculous.

Final thought - I do think it's important for generations who grew up with technology to caution the next generation on oversharing and stress that "online is forever" I think Bobby posted something on this before. Basically your "online" life can have consequences in your "real" life.

bobby moss said...

I've always been older Kim, but you've always been shorter. =)

Pretty much agree w/ your pros & cons. Social media is a reflecting of the internet in general. When you consider the internet, social media was bound to happen. It won't go away, it's part of our society. So the question is - how to ID the good/bad, and speak of them accordingly.