9 thoughts on “News article about Facebook social norms”

  1. Great point and yes, lets all keep in mind that just as every terminal is connected to the whole of the digital world, every being is connected to the whole of the human one.

    Pleased to share in the Godhead experience with each of you. I’ll commit to the penance of making a baby laugh tonight:).

  2. Ian, wow that’s a smart argument! Really enjoyed it 🙂

    It’s OK, people. We can listen to Matt at 2 levels:

    – the argumentation level, which does not need involvement, so let’s stop here;

    – the emotional level – what feeling(s) is he communicating? -which again, cannot really be helped with our responses, but only with good thoughts. I wish he finds joy and healing, and I’m sure so do you.

  3. Matt, you express an unreferenced, unscientific and entirely disrespectful viewpoint. So for one, you are using social media at the very moment you express disdain for it. For two, you do so without validating any claim. For three, you do so in a manner that is obstructive – entirely perpetuating your statement.
    Now here is where it gets interesting: 3 intelligent, capable professionals with plenty of things to do on earth are taking the time to post constructive replies and tweet about it. They could be doing a lot of things that are positive for the world but instead, they have fallen into your trap. They are taking great effort to not insult you or otherwise “stab back” because they value the antithesis of not only your viewpoint, but also your attitude.
    And it is a trap. A trap is something you can’t get out of. It is very difficult to get the ego/mind out of a provocation such as your own without a route to remedy which of course you don’t provide. With little effort you have catalyzed an emotional response and drawn energy towards yourself – energy that serves no one but you and yet, you have no sustainable direction in your efforts to communicate.
    I’d say that’s pretty close to being a social media virus… or plague, if you prefer.
    So here is a scenario where, indeed, social media is a plague – a downward spiral emerging from a single source that affects the health of the whole for its own gain. It’s also a fad – a momentary waste of time that occurs because the participant is emotionally invested in the urgency of the opportunity at hand, without considering the value of such a proposition from a long term perspective. In the end, in fact, within just days, this entire communication will wither away and have no meaning. A fad.
    So you fulfill your own prophecy. Social media is a fad – yes, within the construct of its use in this discussion it is a fad. Social media is a plague – yes, within the wasted life, energy and lack of purpose that this discussion has.
    If social media is to endure as an empowering force (which it will, sorry kid), then those who participate in it need to grow the skills necessary to recognize that social media is a systematic framework with formal and informal structures, as well as passive users, active users, power users and destructive users (often called viruses). Plagues and viruses and fads and crap-talk emerge from users, not the system itself. To call social media a plague is unintelligent because it in no way behaves like one. But users within the system do behave as such and do engage social media in a manner befitting the term “fad”.
    So I ask everyone in this dialogue, who are you? And if you are not a plague or a fad, let this post die. Its irrelevant.

  4. Some social media will certainly fail. Some will not. Web 3.0 will arrive, and there will be trolls like Matt still lurking in their parents’ basements.

    At least some trolls now know how to use comment fora, instead of driving around drunk on back roads and dragging people by their hitches. Small steps, but progress nonetheless.

  5. Christina, Wendy, Matt, thank you for sharing your points of view.

    Matt, I’m sorry social media is not the fad you thought it should be… it sucks when the world doesn’t work according to our wishes. Let’s assume you’re right and that it is a plague. So is cancer, but would we want cancer research to stop?

    In your experience, it seems, social media has been a plague. Your comment seems to come from a lot of pain and anger. I hope you’ll take good care of yourself and be happy.

    For a second, I thought your parents might be Amanda and Brian… but their logic is usually stronger than this.

    Be well, all!

  6. I would love for those who hate social media to forget that it exists and go on their merry way. It’s a tool and like any tool, the outcome depends on the user.

    Clearly Matt gets all his information from talking heads who don’t understand it either.

    #justsayin

    @itswendylou 😉

  7. Matt,

    I am a Clemson grad making tremendous use of social media as a tactic in communications for my clients. It has become standard practice for our clients to engage their audience from the top down, bottom up. It’s word-of-mouth, viral, and grassroots at the speed of the internet. Communications has made huge steps in accessibility. A PR lesson here, would be to address negative and positive feedback head on. Keep your negativity to yourself unless you can provide an educated defense your sentiments. Social media work, obviously, is not useless as it is profitable for those in the PR industry, like myself.

    Cheers!

  9. Social Media should be a fad but is instead a plague. Your work is useless and an embarrassment to my Alma mater.

    Get out of school and get a real job.

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