Comments on: The Social Media Revolution

By: Ryan Hardesty

Ryan Hardesty — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 01:35:40 +0000

This is a fascinating video and definitely underscores the importance of Social Media in advertising, and these trends are only going to increase as Social Media matures.

By: Matthew Sharritt, Ph.D.

Matthew Sharritt, Ph.D. — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:33:22 +0000

Thanks for your comment Jeff. You raise a good point about information retrieval. Many of us can remember the old days of digging through library card catalogs or scanning microfilm to get information for a report. These days, with social media and future Web 3.0 technologies, information is going from being instantaneously available to finding us. The nature in which we find information has gone through a paradigm shift. It makes you wonder if our old-school information foraging skills are useless these days? Are they?

I’ve had classmates that are library science majors, and they’d say that librarians still exist for a reason – because people still need help searching for information. Even though it’s much more accessible to all (Wikipedia, etc.) – there’s still some complexity to searching online databases and finding good primary sources for research papers. But again, it seems to be improving and becoming easier (better tools and usability) every day, which seems like a good thing.

By: Jeff D.

Jeff D. — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:47:23 +0000

I’ve been around since the time of dial-up acoustic couplers and BBS’ and you might have had an amazing opportunity to see how quickly online communication has gone from geek to chic to commonplace. The speed at which social media has infused itself into society should be a wake up call, the platform is no longer mac/PC, it’s Social Media. Build a solution on the Social Media platform (Facebook, SalesForce) and with a little “luck” (usability planning) you can ride the wave to success?

Thank you for the article on the accuracy of Wikipedia, I have often wondered about that myself. It’s a great resource, my kids do not know how fortunate they are to have all of this information at their fingertips, and it’s finding them w/o them even realizing how this is occurring. Information they are interested in learning more about is becoming as seamless as breathing.

Is this a good thing?

By: David McDermit

David McDermit — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:48:01 +0000

It is always surprising when I see this video played at talks about social media and the replies from people thinking social media to be a fad. Sure does get the topic rolling.

I am surprised to find that a large number of Grandparents are getting more involved online, especially when it was not that long ago they did not want to get an email address.

By: Matthew Sharritt, Ph.D.

Matthew Sharritt, Ph.D. — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:16:24 +0000

Good points. While I couldn’t cite Wikipedia or any other encyclopedia on a dissertation or research paper (only cite primary sources, not third-party summaries), I know what you mean – if you were writing a research paper in a college course or something similar it might not fly. I can remember teachers having an issue with Wikipedia citations in years past, but that was when it was fairly new. While Wikipedia generally improves with time, the same logic applies as before: the author isn’t clear, there is less oversight in comparison with traditional encyclopedias, and the accuracy may or may not be there.

You’re right about not taking anything as gospel. Just because an article ranks high in search (and has been clicked / read many times) doesn’t mean it is infallible. We should always maintain a critical eye and keep the source in mind. Even peer-reviewed, academic research papers often contain some obvious errors.

By: Rachel K.

Rachel K. — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 17:59:58 +0000

Haha–can you imagine citing ANY Wikipedia sources on your dissertation bibliography? Considering that I used to occasionally update or add information to various pages of interest, you really have to question the authorship and/or authenticity of some of its articles! I suppose ultimately my skepticism may not matter, as I continue to encounter a growing number of (mostly young) individuals whose research process/information gathering technique consists of Googling a subject or term, clicking on the Wikipedia entry displayed near the top of search results, and interpreting its contents as gospel…

By: Matthew Sharritt, Ph.D.

Matthew Sharritt, Ph.D. — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:34:42 +0000

That statistic caught my eye too. Wikipedia most likely has way more authors by taking advantage of user-generated content, but there’s probably less oversight on their credentials (just peer-reviewed moderation). I found some studies (on Wikipedia, ha ha) that talk more about its reliability: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia#Comparative_studies

By: Rachel K.

Rachel K. — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 17:17:49 +0000

Wow–it’s almost terrifying to comprehend the full impact and depth of the social media age in light of the data and statistics shown on this video. I’m also kind of surprised by the statistic about Baby Boomer women being the fast growing Facebook user population–I always assumed this demographic in particular would be less open and more cynical of FB participation. However, the academic snob in me is going to take issue with the claims made regarding Wikipedia’s accuracy and validity… Anyone want to take me to task on this one?

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 00:26:07 +0000

Excellent sound track and great way to get the point across that social media has truly taken over and really has to be considered by companies because one bad customer experience can go viral very quickly and effect them. However they can take advantage of this by tapping into foursquare and provide even better customer experiences for their customers.

By: Hardy Janson

Hardy Janson — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 06:55:03 +0000

Very engaging video and I couldn’t agree more. Social media is here to stay and then some. It’s no longer a kitsch thing. It’s become ubiquitous in our culture today and companies who refuse to acknowledge that will find themselves in the exact position newspaper publishers today do. Just ask Iran. With social media’s help, the voice of an entire nation finally got to be expressed. If we were still in the age of traditional media, we never would have known about it because they couldn’t be there.

By: Derek

Derek — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 21:37:10 +0000

Excellent use of motion, video, and music to present a fascinating set of statistics.
We have become a more connected world.

What do you think…is it time to revise that old saying about 6 degrees of separation?

By: Ronella McGregory

Ronella McGregory — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:20:37 +0000

Until I looked at the stats presented, I didn’t realize how much social media has taken over our everyday life.

By: Denis

Denis — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:07:20 +0000

An excellent example of how people and businesses are using Social Media to interact.

By: Rick Remmers

Rick Remmers — Wed, 26 May 2010 19:31:02 +0000

Great video showing the rapid evolution of how we use, interact and consume media\advertsing differently in a digital world.

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:45:55 +0000

Excellent video on the importance of Social Media.