Social media takes my breath away

by Lee Hopkins on September 6, 2009 · View Comments

G'day! Thanks for returning!

Courtesy of my colleague in arms Michael Seaton comes a breath-taking video on the pace of social media and social networking.

You may have seen the ‘shift’ video (I play it all the time in my workshops) but this will be the follow-up (and same music, too!)

Technorati Tags: social media, social networking, michael seaton, speed of change, pace, digital media, youtube, lee hopkins, business communication, word of mouth

Tagged as: business communication, digital media, michael seaton, pace, social media, social networking, speed of change, word of mouth, youtube

Stilgherrian

I'm tempted to say that if there are still businesses doubting that Something Really Really Big is happening to the way people communicate, and that they need to take that on board, then we should just let them drown.
.-= Stilgherrian´s last blog ..NSW offers $100k prizes for application development =-.
Lee Hopkins

I totally agree with you on that, Stil, but I'd prefer to phrase it to them in a less curmudgeonly manner :-)
Lee Hopkins

LOL - come off the fence, Stil; what are y0u trying to say? [grin]

I agree with you -- it is one video too many in a stream of copycats of the 'shift' video (using the same soundtrack is just pure laziness] BUT it *does*, I argue, make a point for those enterprises still yet to dip their toes in the conversation pool that time is rapidly running out for them if they wish to remain relevant with their customers and other stakeholders.

Besides, not many people can afford a Tufte book, even if they are one of the fortunate few to have heard of him (and I hadn't until @allanjenkins clued me in).

Despite its extreme copycat nature, it STILL presents compelling numbers, no matter if they be big or small. Western humans are a weird species: they believe that personal testimonies are more than likely sponsored or otherwise tainted, but believe absolutely in the sanctity and virginal nature of numbers. As Paul Simon sang on his wonderful album 'Hearts and Bones', "numbers are serious."

Of course, you and I and every other thinking person knows how malleable numbers are; even physicists are loathe to trust unreservedly in them.

Stephen: I totally agree with you and your excellent post. I too totally subscribe to Clay's view that the technology only becomes interesting once it becomes ubiquitous. Tis funny, but for the last month I have been itching to write a post along the lines of 'social media sucks', or 'social media is dead - you can all go back to work now', with the underlying thought above that you, me and Clay share -- that soc med is here to stay, is now a permanent part of the landscape and so we should stop focusing on it (the shiny new bauble syndrome) and get back to work, using soc med as a natural extension of our communication channels.

But I figured that if I wrote such a post, not many people would take the time to read past the controversial [?linkbaiting?] headline to the core of my diatribe. I worried it may scare ~~the horses and the servants~~ the newcomers and the potential clients.

You have encouraged me to write it anyway. Thanks
:-)
Stephen Collins

Lee, I find the video interesting enough, but as I pointed out at my blog , it's the right revolution, wrong revolutionary.
.-= Stephen Collins´s last blog ..Culture in the New Order =-.
Stilgherrian

Gosh, Lee, I find that video as annoying as sixteen farts in an elevator. It's strikes me as very poor communication -- the opposite of what you usually try to encourage.

Mostly it's numbers. But instead of presenting those numbers in ways which are easy to compare and comprehend, they're in English sentences which you have to read. They're presented so quickly that there's no time to comprehend each one before the next appears -- from a random direction in a random style, so you can't prepare your eye for its appearance.

The music is a cliché.

The music-while-text-flips-across-screen is a cliché.

What on earth is wrong with a voiceover? What on earth is wrong with presenting numbers in ways which can be compared? Has no-one ever heard of Edward Tufte?

Yes, it's breathtaking -- because it leaves you no time to breathe and consider. The emotional response might be "Wow!", but the real result is confusion. It's just a propaganda piece. The Relentless Barrage Of Big Numbers (RBBN) scrambles your head before delivering the final "Are you ready?", leaving you suitably softened up to accept whatever the speaker tells you.

Sorry, Lee. I've seen a few too many of these videos now and I hate them I hate them I hate them I hate them I hate them.
.-= Stilgherrian´s last blog ..NSW offers $100k prizes for application development =-.