a mindful guide to social media

A Mindful Guide to Social Media Andr Klein

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IntroductionIt's no secret that the Internet in general and Social Media in particular have changed our daily life to such an extent that we barely remember the way it was before. Especially if you depend on it for your daily work. The moment we turn on our devices we are instantly flooded with a neverending flow of information. This flow is very powerful. Possibly addictive. Raw information is like a wild horse. Ride it or be ridden by it? This book is not a 12-step program for Infoholics! Neither will it tell you any secrets about how to annoy people more effectively with so-called Social Media Marketing strategies, the popular euphemism for SPAM! So, what's it about then? If you google Social Media you will get 143,000,000 results. There is a lot of hype about apps, devices, changes of features, company gossip, advice how to exploit and game the systems for financial benefits. But information that reflects our usage of Social Media on a deeper anthropological level is very hard if not impossible to find.

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I wrote this book as an open exploration of the effects Social Media has on our working habits, social behavior and general mindset. While my primary aim is to stimulate reflection and encourage readers to reach a more thorough understanding of the topic at hand, I also present possible tactics and practical antidotes against potential side-effects. Instead of focusing on the many differences between various Social Media services, portals, etc. we will focus on what they have in common, here. Too many people today are speaking about Social Media as if it were absolutely clear what it meant. But if you listen to various people talk, you'll quickly find that they mean very different things. This is why we have to go a bit deeper and lay out a general framework first that fits the subject of our conversation. Please note that the following definitions are not meant to be final. This is simply a way of making sure that we go off on our journey from the same starting-point. So, let's make it quick & painless:

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Definitions & TermsSocial MediaThe term Social Media, as used in this book, captures a general principle of collective exchanges of information based on individual connections and does not refer to any specific manifestation thereof. Put simply: When I speak about Social Media I don't mean specific services like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. - Instead I speak about what they all have in common: Individually powered conversations plugged into a public sphere of (free) sharing and communication.

ProfileThe term profile does not refer to any specific feature of a website but here expresses the idea of a personal, customized node within a network. A profile in the Social Media world is equivalent to your face in Real Life, your appearance, your physical front-end which may or may not reflect what's happening in the psychological back-end. 1

1 Here's an interesting related study about photo-posting.

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Status-updateThe term status-update refers to the digital expression of an idea or piece of information (in written form). It could be a reply to someone, it could be a political observation or an explanation of why you like the Pizza at Enzo's, next door. The content, here, is irrelevant. The power of the status-update is contextbased. One individual says something, either to himself, to no one in particular, or to a specific person. And everyone who wants can plug themselves into the conversation either passively or actively. That means you can silently eaves-drop or play the role of Excuse me, I couldn't help overhearing that... or simply relay the message by duplicating it.

to post (verb), or: the post (noun)A communicative act within the Social Media world, as in I posted pictures of my cat, I posted a link., a video, an article, etc. To post means to send a message with mixed media content. The post is the content, the message itself.22 Compare Marshall McLuhan:The medium is the message.

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Motivation: Why Bother?If you've downloaded this book you probably have first hand experience of using various aspects of Social Media regularly, if not daily. Nevertheless, you probably also have met people who are very suspicious if not openly anti-Social Media. We have to note in favor of those people that they might not have adequate understanding, experience or skills of reaping the benefits. Also, it simply doesn't work for everyone. Whatever the reason for not liking Social Media, the arguments may be as follows: It's profane. I don't want to know what my ex ate for breakfast! People who use Social Media are ego-maniacs with no social skills. It creeps me out to expose myself. Plus, it's dangerous! A stalker's candy store! I don't want my social life to be replaced by hours of staring into a screen. etc.

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As tempting a rebuttal of all these arguments may seem, let's just acknowledge them for now. There's no need to convince anybody of anything. These arguments can simply be understood as integral parts of the mental landscape surrounding the world of Social Media. Picture them as roads leading up to and away from those platforms: Spaghetti Junctions of introspective complexity. Whether you're a self-described Social Media addict or at war with digital socialization, we all travel those roads. In the same manner there seems to be a great promise implied in using Social Media, which might even be largely unconscious. People are flocking into various Social Media portals all over the planet. The phenomenon is more or less independent of geographic location, language or culture of origin. Everyone with an Internet connection participates. In other words: Why are hundreds of millions of people creating profiles and posting status-updates in social networks as if their life depended on it? What's driving all those people to digitalize their social lives? Here are a few answers that we might come up with in correspondence with the arguments above:

Social Media is about sociology and psychology more than technology.Brian Solis

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I can have access to all kinds of interesting and stimulating information that I wouldn't otherwise have access to. I can express myself and get in touch with people who have similar interests, do networking and create new business opportunities. I can get to know people I know from Real Life in a completely different light, or simply stay in touch with old friends. In addition to my daily social encounters, I can even communicate to people in situations or places, where normally I would be confined to boredom or solitude. etc. But, as with the arguments against, let's not get hung up on the details but go one step further and ask: If we can condense all the various reasons why people are flocking into the entrance gates of the Social Media world into one comprehensive motivating factor, what would it be? Here's what I believe: Human beings always had a relentless drive to discover new worlds, to sketch the shorelines of distant continents, to learn about ancient pasts, to map out the constellations of stars, galaxies and even the universe itself. In other words:

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There is a fundamental, unfathomable need within humanity to be connected. Far from sentimentalism, this is the drive of innovation. Nothing symbolizes this better than the umbilical cord we are all born with: The moment we enter this world the chord gets cut, but our belly buttons are a constant reminder of the connection to our mothers. Also, our brain cells don't flicker in and out of existence as fast as other cells in the body. Instead, from the moment we are born, our brains are just becoming more and more wired. This is how we learn & grow. To be human means to be connected. The thinker connects thoughts and concepts. The explorer connects distant places. The scientist connects research and data. Put in this light, Social Media is not really such a novelty, it's simply another step in an ongoing evolution of human beings to connect to each other, to connect to the world they live in, to their past, their future and even further into the deepest reaches of the infinitely unknown.

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Distraction: Whatsit y' sayin'?Hey, you're still here. Great! Not many people make it to this chapter. And the reason for that is not that they disliked the last part. Ok, some people are simply put off by any notion of a grand narrative of connection as a driver of innovation. I don't blame them. But you know what's far more detrimental than that? Yes, distraction! This publication is an ebook which means you are probably reading these lines off some kind of screen, be it an ebook-reader, phone, notebook or your desktop. Here's why you're more prone to distraction than while reading a book made from paper: In addition to the everyday distractions of your surrounding (pets, family members, televisions, phone calls, washing machines, doorbells etc.) you are prone to being distracted by:

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that application running in the background informing you about new email the notifications from your instant messenger status-updates from friends discussing yesterday's party, etc. that browser window you left open and are checking every few seconds for what, actually? Did you know that many companies nowadays have rules and regulations specifying exactly what kind of amount and in which manner their employees are to engage with Social Media services? Did you know you can buy special software that the undisciplined use to block themselves from using certain addictive websites and services, or from net access altogether? In any case, if you use Social Media or even email for that matter on a regular basis, you probably know what we're talking about here. It's great to be connected. It's fun to share your life with others. It's exhilarating to make new friends. But if we're in a perpetual state of distraction, how can we possibly get anything done, not to mention enjoy our life?

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When we're distracted, our breathing changes. Our heart beats more rapidly. We want to stay in touch so desperately with what it's happening that we turn into stressed-out robots. Now, again. The desire to be connected is not only natural, it lies at the heart of our human condition and constantly pushes us further. But, if in its digital expression it comes at the price of not being able to fo cus on anything anymore, what's it worth? This is a critical point where many people start withdrawing from online communication. Who can blame them? Others, painfully aware of their condition, start burrowing themselves even deeper into more click-orgies of mindless multitasking, for distraction can also be a kind of consolation, losing oneself in the endless drifts of information. Here are some simple suggestions: When working on something important, turn off ALL applications and little gadgets that make little notification bubbles pop up on your screen. If you can't turn them off completely for whatever reason, at least turn off the notifications themselves. You

Multi-tasking arises out of distraction itself.Marilyn vos Savant

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can still reply later and not worrying about missing something is all you need to do. Separate periods of focused concentration from blissful timeouts of distraction. It takes some discipline but can be done. Example: Work one hour on your project, then reward yourself by watching a funny video your friend posted and reply with a goofball comment. Alternate the two with periods of rest and time away from the screen. If you don't have any serious work to do in front of the screen, all is done or you've already been enjoying a while of idle distraction: If you're starting to notice that you're getting sucked into your statusupdate streams or keep reloading and checking windows without anything happening: get moving! This is the most difficult part for it takes a certain amount of discipline and honesty regarding one's inner sensations. But if you feel you're wasting your time, admit it and move on! There's a million things you can do. If you feel up to doing something useful with your time, there's

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always something to do around the house. Cleaning the dishes can be a very relaxing way to balance periods of hard mental work. Seriously! But even if you don't feel like working and you just want to have a few hours of lazy pleasure, why not go and read a book, sit on the couch and stare out the window, take a walk, call someone you haven't talked to for a while, etc. These are a few of the strategies I found to be helpful. Nevertheless, those are simply ideas to get you started coming up with your own ways of using Social Media to reap the benefits and stay sane at the same time. Now, here's a tough one: But I need Social Media to do business. I constantly have to update my company's many profiles on all those different sites, reply to questions, shake virtual hands with potential business partners and be engaged with my customers! In this case, it is not so easy, indeed, to separate. Nevertheless, the same principle applies. The fact that your ability to make a living by using the Internet is somewhat dependent on keeping connections alive and forming new ones doesn't have to be an excuse for being constantly distracted

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and not getting any real work done. It can be so exhausting to be distracted all the time. Also the satisfaction you get from focusing on developing a new idea, finishing that article you wanted to write or to start making storyboards for that viral video you always wanted to create is far higher! If you're doing business online it helps to look at your Social Media engagements like mini-press-conferences, micro-symposiums or nano-advertisement campaigns. Even as an offline entrepreneur you don't want to be bugged by news reporters all through the day. Instead there are certain days and hours, where people from the outside can come, ask questions, etc. In the same vein you can't run a sustainable business if you're only running around on symposiums, giving talks and harvesting Vitamin B. You will neglect building core value of your product or service. What to do? Here are two suggestions:Robert Bloch

Hutchinsons Law: Any occurrence requiring undivided attention will be accompanied by a compelling distraction.

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Don't mix your personal pleasure time using Social Media with writing status-updates for your business or replying to customer requests. If you alternate working periods with Social Media periods, you can try further dividing your Social Media time into one part idle distraction and one part business. This is not at all easy. If you work online, it's two times more difficult than if you just use Social Media after a hard day's work or as a way of distracting yourself while in transit. But it can be done. And with a bit of practice, it's not that hard, at all. One rule to always keep in mind is that nobody really knows to handle the latest technology that everybody is already using. Ever thought about it? Neither do we have long-terms studies analyzing what extensive use of Social Media does to people or what approaches are most helpful. It's an anthropological gray zone. We have to learn how to deal with being wired and set the standards ourselves. There are no secrets here.

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Patience, PatienceThe digitized world has bred a mindset of immediate gratification. If you thought the microwave generation of 1-2-3 had a short attention span, this new digital form of one-click-only doesn't even have steps. It's a completely different breed: Here, it's either instantaneous, or worthless. Just a reminder: Great artworks and businesses were never built over night! The fact that we have modern tools doesn't change the process: Quality is built by perseverance and patience. When you post a link to your stuff in a status-update you expect people to care. Otherwise you wouldn't post it. But, always expecting a reaction the moment you hit send is just not realistic. Do yourself a favor: Post your stuff and then disappear. Do something else. Check back in after a few hours. If then there's still no reaction, don't sweat it. Only the passing of time reveals true value. Some of my most popular articles or projects were things that didn't attract any attention at all the moment they were posted.

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Reaction vs. ActionHere's something closely related to the above chapter: Social Media fuels our state of constant expectation. Expectation of what? We don't seem to know, really. Maybe we're expecting some nice virtual back-rubs or being quoted by influential people. In some cases, even a bad review seems better than no review at all. Put in a nutshell: We expect a reaction! In itself this is not problematic. You can see this with children. If they feel or see something important they will keep bugging their parents until they get a complimentary nod, a sound... something, anything! But the mindset of immediate gratification created by the Digital Age completely short-circuits this basic need. The distance between your cause and the expected occurrence of the resulting action are shortened to zero in digital communication. There is a recommendation in communication training not to react to

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everything which is being said, but to listen, interpret and evaluate first. 3 Not reacting in this case does not mean ignoring. It means not reacting automatically. The ideal case is that person A says something and instead of person B jumping the gun and immediately responding reflexively, there should be some kind of space in which an adequate reply can be deliberated upon. This way you turn reflexive patterns of speech into autonomous acts of communication, leading to more understanding and clarity which in turn give both parties a sense of being heard, even if there's disagreement. Defusing the circle of reaction reaction reaction, etc. with autonomous acts of communication is what makes the difference between an enjoyable conversation and a nightmare of social awkwardness. This is no less true for communication on the Internet than it is for everyday encounters. Again, Social Media in itself doesn't fundamentally alter the way we com3 See also: Active Listening

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municate. It's simply a tool which accelerates and magnifies certain aspects of it, both positive and negative ones. So, in the same way people get frustrated by not receiving replies immediately, not reacting automatically to what others are saying is equally important. Social Media makes it look so easy to write a quick answer to what somebody on the other side of the planet is saying. You can instantly plug yourself into 10 different conversations, even at the same time. But it doesn't mean that communicating effectively becomes easier. In fact, many times you can find threads of comments online that seem totally devoid of any kind of depth or conversational sensitivity. The good thing about using the medium of written communication, be it a letter, chat, comments, forum posts, status-updates, etc. is that there's actually a lot of space and time to apply communication strategies like not reacting automatically. Especially people that feel pressured by face-to-face communication report feeling more at ease when writing. Ironically, I have also observed that people who are at ease with public speaking do not always excel in

Its not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.Hans Selye

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online communication. Instead, they have a tendency towards monological broadcasting, but more about this later. Now, just to make sure: The idea of communicating with space as suggested above is of course idealistic. Sometimes, the sparks fly. When heads and hearts get heated up, there is little to no time available to form careful replies, neither in online nor offline communication. Nevertheless, the conversational ideal proposed here is more like a compass that can help to avoid escalations, defuse communicational conflicts or even better: prevent them before they can happen. Especially if you do business online, one impulsive reply by your business persona can ruin your brand's image, leading to ridicule and mockery that spreads like a wildfire. This is why most companies have Social Media policies these days, forbidding their employees to post private status-updates that might harm the company's PR in any way. Also, the cases of people being fired because of what they tweeted are piling up. This is the augmented effect of Social Media. What you say behind closed doors might take years before the public gets wind of it. If you say it on TV, it's a matter of hours. If you post something stupid on the Internet,

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the repercussions are instantaneous. The same principle applies to an increase of popularity, of course. If you find that missing piece of information to a puzzle everybody has been desperately trying to solve, and you put it in a status-update, your name will spread like a wildfire and potentially create instant fame. Both of the scenarios are extreme examples and highly unlikely, nevertheless they happen. Far more important than fearing the first and eagerly awaiting the second is noting the common principle they reveal: Social Media augments traditional communication. More than a qualitative enhancement, it is simply a surge in quantitative reach and propagation speed. In other words: Communication via Social Media magnifies everything. This is a powerful effect. But how you handle yourself communicatively is far more important, for it determines what will be magnified.

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An Offer you Can't RefuseHave you ever thought about why Social Media can become so addictive? Once you get hooked on it, it can become a real time sink. We already spoke about the perils of distraction that are resulting from an over-use of Social Media. But, why is it more addictive than reading a newspaper or researching stuff on the Internet by using search engines? The answer to this is very simple: peer-pressure. Companies who use Social Media to engage with the masses know this. If I see a mediocre clip advertising some kind of beverage next to an article I'm reading somewhere on the Net, it doesn't have the same effect on me as if when one of my friends, colleagues or family-members posts this said clip somewhere with a personal comment. Instantly I feel the urge to watch it. Paradoxically it doesn't matter if I like that said person, or even if the clip is worthwhile to watch.

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But I need to be in the know! One might argue that this is some kind of pack-animal instinct, but what matters is that it works. This is the Social in Social Media. It's people who create connections between you and unrelated bits of information. Suddenly you feel obliged to read things you wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole, just because you're friend posted that he doesn't agree with the author. And, in all seriousness: Do you really care about what random person X ate for breakfast this morning? Do you really need to know how many times a day your colleague who hasn't been to work for a week needs to empty his bowels? It's the power of human connection that turns infinitely irrelevant facts into the headlines of your Social Media experience. This, like most principles in this book can be used either for good or for worse. What matters is the awareness one approaches the topic with.

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Personally, I prefer reading a carefully pruned stream of status-updates instead of a daily newspaper. Why? Rather than having an editorial board meeting decide what information is important to me based on market research and their established image, I'd rather have a group of independent individuals decide what is important to them. Together they create a torrent of information and opinion that is relevant to me. And by participating and re-posting what appeals to me, I become a node myself in another one's stream. And this is truly an offer you can't refuse, for the information you allow into your head and heart takes on a different quality. It's far more diverse than any newspaper in the world. It's less opinionated, or more! In any case, it's not one unified, monological direction or school of thought - It's many! If something or someone infuriates or bores you too many times, you don't need to skip pages or wait, just cut the connection !

if you set it up right, its probably the most powerful novelty aggregator that has ever existed.William Gibson

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Pruning and FertilizingIn order to get the most out of your Social Media experience you have to take full responsibility for the information you allow into your house. It's the antithesis of watching TV, where you are just slouched passively in an armchair, complaining about bad quality, zapping, falling asleep during a program you don't really want to watch but do anyways because there is nothing else on. In the world of Social Media you are the Absolute Monarch. You cannot control the information that certain individuals post but you can get rid of them instantly if they don't comply to your worldview. There's lots of politics involved, of course. If you cut the connection to a co-worker because of his biased status-updates and he or she gets wind of it, there might be repercussions in Real Life. Not to mention the power politics happening within the frame of love relationships. It might take a bit of getting used to, but if you can't stand person X and don't want to let him or her know you cut the connection, there

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are ways of simply hiding or filtering out the bugger without that person noticing anything. It's the opposite of spying: Instead of secretly listening, you secretly stop listening! As you can see, it's not at all a passive endeavor. Here are a few basic suggestions: Creating more and more connections is great. But if you don't do your pruning, your stream will degenerate into a massive soup of random data that is impossible to digest. Easily accept new connections and new people into your stream, but be just as ready to get rid of them. Cutting a connection is sometimes a difficult choice. So you should take some time to observe first. Keep in mind the invisible filtering or hiding to avoid awkward moments around the dinner table or water cooler.

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The Monological BroadcastersOnce in a while you will see people following or friending tens of thousands of people, seemingly only adding new ones without pruning. This is always a good sign that those people aren't really interested what the persons on their stream have to say. Instead, they are mainly interested in posting their stuff! Those people are what I call the monological broadcasters of the Social Media world. Monological, as opposed to dialogue! Broadcaster, as opposed to listener! Again, everybody wants to have some attention. It's only natural. Otherwise, why even bother posting something? But there has to be a balance. Some people think the Internet is a massmedium and they can use it in the same way dictators used TV and the radio: A one-way communication of one person speaking to a multitude. This is a complete misunderstanding of online communication, for here

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we have a communication of anyone speaking to everyone in a multitude of different ways. In an article posted in November 2010, I wrote: We are moving from an oligarchic media world where a few produce the content and the many consume it to a world of user-generated content and participatory spheres of interconnected media. The age of monological broadcasting and teaching is over. Using digital technology with a pre-digital mindset does not make you a pioneer. Youre simply trying to copy what you saw on TV. Modern communication technology changes our values, affects our priorities, the way we do business and the way we go about our daily lives. Those broadcast people usually have an agenda. Mostly, selling stuff. Which is fine. But if they'd listen and engage as much as they hoard new connections, they could do far better business by establishing trust on a personal level and letting their reputation spread, which in turn creates a positive peer-pressure of interest in their product or service.

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Connection & InnovationIn his book Where ideas come from Steve Johnson takes us on a tour of the history of innovation, hunting down behavioral patterns and environmental settings that create new ideas. What he found is that the classic Heureka moment of the lone thinker sitting at his table contemplating something until suddenly the big picture comes together might be a concept that needs to be updated. 4 Behind the stories Johnson tells about historical innovations we see a larger pattern: Instead of the individual that comes up with new ideas alone, we see networks in which innovation is emerging. Remember our first chapter about human beings striving to be connected? Steve Johnson's findings not only support this point. They give us another reason to connect because it favors the emergence of new ideas! Social Media is one of the most powerful ways available today of connecting people all over the planet instantly. If you're looking for new ideas, it's hard to find a better ground than this global growing network!4 For a summary, see also his talk on TED or his visual presentation on youtube.

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Copyrights & Dead Patent DreamsNow, if ideas are coming from networks of people instead of individuals, the culture of copyrights & ownerships needs to be revisited, as well. There's this notion in our (Western) world that when somebody has a great idea, he should get a patent for it in order to protect its value. This ensures that the innovator can make a living by inventing new stuff. And, of course this is the key argument by record labels not to download music off the Internet: The artist needs to make a living. I don't want to waste your precious time reciting the endless case-studies of musicians who manage to put out their music for free and live from it and of others who accuse their fans of theft. Google it! They both exist. The outcome of this conflict has already been decided and we're merely witnessing the death rattle of the music industry. The same is happening for the movies and books industry. In a world where people can make infinite copies of their songs, movies and books and share them with everyone for free, industries are failing to

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come up with comprehensive business models that adapt to the new situation. Instead, what we see is complaints and thousands of law-suits against 12 year olds who clicked a button and downloaded something. How can intellectual property rights exist in this open world? It's simple: They can't. As least not in the same way they used to. What's happening might be of great concern to those who used to make millions from CD sales, but it just shows that the notion of patenting and copyrighting things is not working anymore. We have two understandings here: New ideas come through connections and networks of people Individuals protect and patent ideas to maintain their value One problem is that people confuse value with money.5 Money is just a symbol, a conventionalized way of representing value! But what is value? This is a far tougher question. Here's one approach: Ideas, artworks and innovations are carriers of value. The pleasure that a5 See A Mindful Guide to Online Living for more information

Theyre in such a state of denial its impossible for them to understand whats happeningTrent Reznor about the music-industry

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Picasso or Beethoven has been giving to people in and beyond their lifetime cannot be counted or in any way quantified. So, if ideas are carriers of ever-increasing value their emergence should be encouraged. Here's what some people are not going to like: If you want to protect and maintain the value of your idea, you need to keep it accessible, so it can generate new ideas! Now, we are still left with the problem of the innovators or artists themselves finding a way to get their daily bread. But this is a rather small problem easily solved by more innovative business-models! Ironic? 6 The real problem here is that people can become very territorial. They don't really care about the value of ideas, because they keep them locked away in glass cages, making you pay to cast your eye on them. A locked idea is a dead idea. You can suck some juices out of it, but it won't last if you cut it off from the continuous flow of innovation cursing through connected networks.6 Example: Connect With Fans + Reason To Buy = Business Model See more, here.

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Privacy: Can I haz some?One of the great concerns about Social Media is that it destroys our privacy. Living a (social) life online leaves traces. John Brunner wrote in his classic novel Shockwave Rider published in 1975(!): "For all the claims one hears about the liberating impact of the data-net, the truth is that it's wished on most of us a brand-new reason for paranoia." You don't have to be a collector of conspiracy theories to see this. Your boss can follow your status-updates to track what you do and where you are, far beyond the walls of your office. As a result the boundaries between work and family life are becoming increasingly blurred. 7 Everybody can take virtual tours through your neighborhoods and see your white picket fence, the basketball net over the garage and your wife sun-bathing on the lawn.8 It is a brand-new sense of uneasiness, for you can never know who is following what you do online and therefore knows what you know.7 New York Times, February 5, 2011 Who's the Boss, You or Your Gadget? 8 Of course this is not directly related to Social Media as used in this book. Nevertheless the increasing ubiquity of geo-tagging makes following people and places shockingly easy.

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But: Not using Social Media for the simple reason of being afraid that you can never know who knows what you know is like refusing to use a hammer because it might fall on your foot. In other words: The technology ( = tool ) is neutral. Learning how to use it will prevent you from feeling sorry, later. We already spoke about it in earlier chapters that people have to take responsibility for the mindset, the amount of time and expectation they approach Social Media with. If we talk about privacy we have to add one more point to this. Not just in coming information has to be regulated and dealt with. There also has to be a balance (or at least awareness) of what kind of information we post and in what frequency. Aside from the obvious extremes of exposing somebody else's embarrassing party moments (not cool!), you can ask yourself: Why am I posting this? What do I intend with it? Who am I posting this for? Who will benefit from it? If I can't answer either of those, why post it in the first place?

I think paranoia can be instructive in the right doses. Paranoia is a skill.John Shirley

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Social Media as Driver of Social ChangeIf we are taking everything into consideration that has been mentioned in the above chapters, our perspective on Real Life as it appears on this globe, begins to shift quite drastically: We aren't eating the propaganda melodies or prescribed opinion through one or few selected and controlled mediums anymore. The skilled user of information technology in general and Social Media in particular is far more knowledgeable than the average citizen. The individual per se is also more connected than ever before; Instant global communication is not the exception. It's the norm. The first two points have given individuals a new scale to measure the events in their local areas. By being able to compare historical data (obtained through the Net, books or magazines) with ongoing events from all over the world through Social Media, be it through the official channels of media corporations or through blogs and posts by individuals like themselves, the sense for justice has highly increased! Why? As long as you don't know about an alternative, it will be hard to perceive an injustice and stand against it.

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A person that is both well connected and knowledgeable is the ideal of a democratic society, as much as it is the fear of tyrants worldwide. It's obvious, isn't it? Once people become too informed it will become hard convincing them that your way of governing them is the best. And, here comes the power of Social Media, once your underlings have found what they don't like about the way you handle things, they will use their connections to vent, support each other and if necessary, organize demonstrations and other forms of civil disobedience. So, we have to be careful here. Social Media in and of itself doesn't change societal and political structures. Again, it's simply a tool that can be used for various purposes from posting pictures of funny cats to putting together your next government. It's up to you, really. Sascha Meinrath, director of the New America Foundations Open Technology Initiative said in an Interview with Wired, regarding the 2011 revolution in Egypt: Social media have become the pamphlets of the 21st century, a way that people who are frustrated with the status quo can organize themselves and coordinate protest, and [...] revolution. 99 Wired, 12. 02.2011 - Social Media Sparked, Accelerated Egypts Revolutionary Fire

If you want to liberate a country, give them the internet,Wael Ghonim

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The Dark SideIn his book The Net Delusion Evgeny Mozgorov paints quite a different picture. His thesis is that the Net is not helping at all in building freer and more open societies, but in fact, makes it even harder if not impossible. To back this perspective he collects stories and uncomfortable facts how modern dictators and oppressive regimes use Social Media in particular and the Net in general as extensions of their evil intentions. Whether you look at the Iranian counter-information agencies that are spamming the Net with false information or attempts of the Chinese Communist party to derail criticism those facts are all true. And while the position of Wael Ghonim above seems overly optimistic or even naive, Morozov's perspective strikes me as equally pessimistic. The truth, as so often, is somewhere in between: The net is not a magic bullet to freedom and cultural development. But it is spear-heading a wave of global change that will disrupt governments world-wide. The 2010 Wikileaks affair can be seen as a turning-point: When the dirty

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laundry of governments is made accessible to the public and diplomatic secrets are becoming gossip quicker than you can say Watergate, the authority and integrity of our whole political and societal systems is at stake. It won't be easy for rulers and citizens but for the first time in history, the people have a powerful means to fight back injustice. And while many people are all too readily putting the Internet on the throne of a new Golden Age, it's not the technology which drives the change. Instead, the technology serves only as a way of people re-claiming their individual connections and taking a stand on their own. The original ideal of democracy was to elect representatives that can delegate the people's matters in a fair and transparent way. Unfortunately even the best democracies in the world tend to become self-serving systems of bureaucracy that have little to do with the public's interest. 10 What we are beginning to see now with the emergence of Social Media is a post-democratic style of governance where the citizen is not spoken for by representatives but instead speaks for him- or herself.

Revolution doesn't happen when society adapts new tools. It happens when society adapts new behaviors.Clay Shirky

10 Compare: Network Society Isnt Compatible With Democracy (video)

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ConclusionLet's take a look at what we've observed so far: 1. Human connection is a driver of innovation and exploration 2. Social Media is an extension of human connection 3. Constantly being connected can lead to distraction 4. Therefore, use Social Media without expecting a reaction! 5. When posting, don't react impulsively. You might be sorry, later. 6. If used right, it is the best way to receive high quality information 7. Sharing of ideas leads to more ideas 8. Don't share everything! Think twice. Especially regarding location 9. Social Media can be a driver of social change 10. The efficiency or irrelevancy of Social Media defined by its users. Obvious? Well, if you look at how people use Social Media, it's apparently not obvious to everyone. And is this all there is to say? . Definitely not! This book ends here, but the exploration of human life online has just begun. If you want to find out more, I am constantly publishing new articles that

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deal with both the topics discussed here and many others. If you want to stay in touch, follow me on Twitter or subscribe to my blog. Also you'll find a selection of recommended reading at the end of this book. Most of the linked content is written by myself. There are also links to external sources. But everything is freely available. No pay-walls, no affiliate links. Peruse at your leisure!

AppendixAs I am writing this, millions of people are posting status-updates, commenting, connecting to each other, deleting and hiding each other. It is a world in constant progress. While this makes it almost impossible to say anything final, it is important, nevertheless, to ask the right questions even now. Whether Social Media usage will increase or disappear, eventually, it is being used right now. More and more people are participating. And it is re-shaping the way we connect and communicate, setting the table for a close but unknown future.

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Thank YouI want to thank everyone who made this little book possible. Especially my wife who had to put up with me during the sometimes difficult phases and nevertheless was always ready to give constructive feedback and support. Also, I want to thank my family who always reminded me to dredge out my own path in life instead of mindlessly following prescribed opinions. Last but not least, this book wouldn't be complete without saying that I am very grateful to all the people posting great links and status updates from day to day, supplying me with novelties and rare curiosities.

Copyright StuffThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. All images used are in the Public Domain and do not require additional licensing (to the best of my knowledge) Please contact me if I'm wrong. Special thanks to reusableart.com and findicons.com

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Further ReadingRelationshipsHeres Why Online Relationships are Mostly Misunderstood Does the Internet turn us into Naysayers? Are Online Friendships Real? Social Change The Future is Here: Now what? How Social Media Leads to Social Crash Are You Greener than Your Grandpa? Tweets from Tahrir: Rare Record of a Revolution Technology, Media & Futurism Are You Ready for the 21st Century ? The Internet is not a Mass Medium. Or is it? Why play guitar when Guitar Hero is easier and so much fun? Din & Denial in the Digital Garden of Eden

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Distraction & Productivity The Art of Singletasking When Distraction is the Norm Digital Sabbaticals: Off is the New On The Age of Infovores, the Grazing Brain and Binge Processing Privacy When Your Phone Knows Where You Are Going How to Steal a Fake Account and Get Offered A Job for Using it Like a Pro Every Step You Take, Theyll Be Tracking You Studies Who Can Survive 24 Hours Without Internet? The Net Generations Needs & Habits in the Focus of Media Literacy The World Unplugged

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Documents

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