People nowadays are starting to say that social media is going to change the world; nothing could be farther from the truth. The Times had an article recently on 10 ways that twitter is going to change business (at least I think it was the times), again not true. Nothing in this world is going to change unless WE make it change. The responsibility for change does not fall onto technology but onto people. We can have all the greatest tools and gadgets in the world but if we don’t use them for change then gues what, change isn’t going to happen.
In San Francisco Mayor Newsom announced a new way for people to use twitter to report and access city services. Now, when San Francisco residents find and report city issues, they can be addressed by the city 24/7. In my opinion this is a very unique and innovate use of twitter, but the idea and then implementation came from people and not from technology.
Let’s remember that social media and technology gives us the ABILITY to make changes happen, but it’s ultimately up to us to use these abilities to make change happen.
Social media isn’t going to change anything, WE ARE
I agree wholeheartedly Jacob! This “wave” that we are going through has the power of PEOPLE behind it. That is what is driving everything. If the people aren't in it, the market soon dies away and is never heard of.
So excited by this post, thank you! I feel like this is one of the hardest battles to fight when it comes to informing others about social media. Everyone is obsessed with the concept and the tools and gets lost in the language, but so few people realize their own potential to interact in the space. Instead of going out there and trying, they judge and comment as a spectator, become cynical and never contribute positively to the discussion or the continued brainstorm of new possibilities for how we can connect better through technology around the world. It's nice to hear words like this sometimes!
Great point Jacob! The existence of technology alone means nothing. It’s how people use it and contribute to its development. I’m sure Mayor Newsom’s initiative will have a significant impact on the improvement of existing technology and perhaps creation of new.
hey taylor,
thanks man. i think this is an important thing for us to remember.
thanks justin. completely agree, there have been several article in the past few weeks talking about how technology is going to change things but nobody is talking about people and the ideas that they have. THOSE are things that are going to change things, technology = tools.
thanks for the comment!
hi ali,
thanks for commenting and stopping by!
No problem at all 🙂
No problem at all 🙂