

Changing the world via Twitter? Yeah, you should get out more - OoTheNigerian
http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/24/the-times-they-arent-a-changin/

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kyro
Yeah, I totally agree with Gladwell on this one. I'll go even one step further
and claim that many to most of the people you see joining these Facebook
charity groups do so almost involuntarily because their friends do. I was so
irritated by this when the Save Darfur groups started gaining traction, that I
created my own bogus group with the premise that we should recycle garbage and
feed all the rotten thrown-out foods that supermarkets discard to African
orphans. Within days I got several thousand members with some commenting about
how great the cause was. I even threw in some really bogus stats, like 30
orphans die in the time it takes you to exhale. Morbid prank, I know, but it
was an experiment that proved to me that most on Facebook don't give a damn
about causes and join these groups for purely narcissistic reasons.

~~~
aaronbrethorst
I must say, I think this is the first time I've ever agreed with Malcolm
Gladwell on, well, anything.

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_delirium
Dixon's claim that he's made strong ties through Twitter is interesting. I
haven't heard that before, even from people who use Twitter frequently (I use
it quite frequently too). I definitely believe that people can form strong
ties electronically, and I've done so on BBSs, IRC, forums, even mailing
lists. I've never thought of Twitter as a place for that, though; its
conversations are just too short and disjointed for me to feel much in the way
of personal connection.

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jeffmiller
I've formed some strong ties through Twitter, but as with Dixon's experience,
they only begin on Twitter--they don't evolve there. Conversations quickly
move to email, Skype and IRL.

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petercooper
Ditto, though I'd say only about half of mine "move" elsewhere and the other
half _do_ evolve on Twitter alone. I follow about 900 people and frequently go
through this list. At least half are people I now "know" through Twitter and
identify with and know a little about. Many of them frequently help me out
online, promote my projects, give me feedback, etc. This is very valuable to
me.

But I'm a cave dweller who hardly goes out and I've been on Twitter since 2006
and use Twitter _very_ proactively. I certainly sympathize with people who
can't make it stick, though, because it almost takes being quite antisocial
IRL to make putting the effort in worth it..

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bobz
So, the point is, it's not Twitter that matters, but the connection of the
humans behind Twitter? How is this news? Does anyone argue that a telephone is
responsible for major social good?

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pacomerh
Yes, I agree with you. And from now on we're gonna remind ourselves of the
very basics of being human, because we forgot how to do it. Now I see tons of
books on how to be simple again, and how you should use pen and paper to write
your ideas rather than a computer..., oh and how to avoid getting distracted
from the info clutter that surrounds us. This is what is happening now,
talking about being human again. Maybe i'm going too far but yeah nothing new
man

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maxklein
I agree. This sterile electronic communication is very fickle - people will be
there, then suddenly not. I've found that something like twitter is very poor
in building any kind of proper relationship, as mostly it's about people who
want something from the other person.

One could say that twitter is good as a way of introducing people, but I most
certainly could not identify enough with the people in any twitter or facebook
collection to join in a battle with them.

Let's say it were the 40s and we made a facebook group called "resistance
against the german occupation forces". Now, we all have the same interest in
mind, but if we actually meet together, it's very likely there will be varying
levels or intensity, varying agendas, varying personalities. We could not form
an effective resistance group.

If, however, I would do this with my existing friends, we would have a
cohesive and trustworthy group with which we could organise things and make
things happen. Offline inviting of people to the group would go through a kind
of vetting process where you actually get to see the whole of the person, and
not just a single sterile attribute like "dislikes the occupation."

My experience with twitter and other boards is that the relationship you think
you are building is very weak and fleeting. Most of the time, it's based on
what one person wants from the other - for example, entertainment,
connections, money, information. It's not based on shared interests or the
ability to connect on a more fundamental level.

~~~
aaronbrethorst
Relationships built solely on Twitter, Facebook and the like may well be
fleeting, but I have found them to be very effective tools for reinforcing and
extending existing, meaningful relationships:

My sister doing public health work in Africa shares her photos on Facebook and
Flickr.

My married friends doing research in China: status updates on Facebook.

My scattered high school and college friends: all on Facebook.

My 'In Real Life' software developer friends: all on Twitter. I have too few
opportunities to see all of them, so being able to connect on Twitter and
share the occasional note is extremely valuable.

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nkassis
I don't know if it's a good example but the mister splashy pants on reddit
incident was really cool and funny. Here's a ted talk about it:
[http://www.ted.com/talks/alexis_ohanian_how_to_make_a_splash...](http://www.ted.com/talks/alexis_ohanian_how_to_make_a_splash_in_social_media.html)

Most of the people who were part of that probably didn't do anything else but
even if 1% bought shirts, that's a net win for Greenpeace. You don't need
everyone to make an impact. Same with the facebook groups, even if only 1% are
hardcore activists, it's better than 0.

I'm sure there are other cool examples.

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JJMalina
I think everyone is missing the point here about using Twitter to form strong
ties or cause tangible social change.

Are people working for Greenpeace or some other org on the streets of NYC
harassing people actually more effective than tweeting or liking a cause?
Tweets for causes definitely aren't as annoying, unlike these people who
pester you every time you pass them by. If anything they're making you less
inclined to support some kind of cause.

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Tichy
I think most demonstrations are there to make the demonstrators feel better.
So changing your Twitter avatar can make you feel better - it works just like
the real demonstration?

Except that if you go to a real demonstration, maybe you can make some real
friends. You don't actually meet anybody by changing your Twitter icon. But
that is another side effect - the original "I want to do something" works both
on Twitter and on the street.

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joshklein
The question isn't whether or not social media activism is a powerful
replacement for "real life" activism. The question is whether or not the
people participating in social media activism would be doing anything at all
if it weren't so easy to participate.

Did the activist marching on Washington retreat to his desk, or did the couch
potato join the movement? I don't know the answer, but the difference is an
important one.

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AndyKelley
Does anyone else have a problem with those numbers at the end?

1282339 * 0.09 + 22073 * 0.35 + 2797 * 0.15 = $123,555.61

That's pretty impressive IMHO.

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david2777
What makes this NSFW?

~~~
edanm
NSFW is the name of Paul Carr's column.

It's meaning is not that the contents are not safe for work - it means that
Paul Carr himself is "not safe for work", having been fired from every job
he's ever had.

Amazes me that on every single one of his articles, the top-voted comment is
always "why is this NSFW????"

By the way, if you haven't read it, Paul Carr's book is really quite
excellent, especially for budding entrepreneurs; I highly recommend you check
it out.

~~~
stuhacking
I always open links in background tabs and since the first four letters of the
tab were "NSFW" I'm inclined to close it immediately.

So, at least for the folks who don't subscribe to every hip, new, social media
blog, these comments are useful.

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maeon3
What about the scientology protests? I think there was an element of social
media fueling that fire.

~~~
lsc
really? 4chan as an example of the positive power of social media? heh.

