The entire beginning section of Howard's last chapter was very interesting and educational for me. Not only does he talk about how social media has the power to effect change for people, governments, and more, but he gives a real example. Looking at the twitter feed for hashtag #gr88 was very informational. I was able to see how the RIBS principle was at work during the 2009 Iranian election protests. The use of hashtags creates a community, like an underground society where everyone knows the same code to use. #gr88 brought protesters together even if they were far away because they could communicate. Even more interesting, was the outburst of RTs. Howard explains how rapidly people were tweeting so it was difficult to keep track of what everyone was saying. Retweeting helped people see the important statements if they missed the original post.
On another note, the foresight Starr Hiltz and Murray Turoff is amazing. They knew how rapidly technology was bound to change, and their predictions were correct. They are like modern day psychics, or to be even more realistic, they are like stock analysts-- predicting huge jumps.
I enjoyed how Howard took a look back in time and showed us how history is basically repeating itself. This boom of technology has happened in the past, with books. The invention of the printing press created a huge flux of books and, more importantly, literacy. The invention of free, accessible social media is doing the same. More and more people can put whatever they want on the internet and find pretty much anything. The more popular that it becomes over the next few years, the more we struggle between control and creativity. What is okay and what isn't okay to post? Where do we draw the line? Do we draw a line?
We have got to make sure that, like books, the internet and social media is improving our intelligence. It should be a place, like Howard said, to be able to think and discuss critically and therefore, make smart decisions. Beauty pages and celebrity gossip posts are not what is important to social media's future and our's, it is whether is can host an area for smart decision making.
I think you wrote a very thorough overview of the chapter, here, and I liked your focus in the last paragraph on the importance of making the internet an intelligent place for conversation and critical thinking. While I didn't focus my post this week on this particular notion, I think it is a very important one from the chapter. The internet can so easily become a place for gossip, mean spirited argument, and superficial subjects. It's essential that we also use this expansive tool to our advantage as a means of creating important discussions and pushing our world views. I think you highlight this well and that it is an important notion to keep in mind.
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