The welter of “social media” and related discussions can lead us in several directions. One is an increasing din of tweets, retweets, hoots, hollers, youtube, hulu, facemask, linkedabout and hulabaloo. I use them all with increasing frequency. While social media can be trivialized, they express a powerful new paradigm with real utility in the proper time and place.
What is that time and place? In addition to growing legions of claimed experts, there are genuine masters of the media. People like Bill French at MyST Technology Partners (http://myst-technology.com) who bring social media to the enterprise — companies such as INTEL, Citrix, Vail Resorts and others. And to clarify the paradigm, one of the best minds is that of Dr. Michael Wesch, Professor of Digital Ethnography at Kansas State University (mediatedcultures.net).
If you decide to enter the New Year of 2010 in a thoughtful frame of mind, you can take a half-hour to watch below his presentation “The Machine is (Changing) Us” given at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York City this past June. It follows Wesch’s remarkable (1,261,915 views) earlier discussion in June 2008 at the Library of Congress concerning “An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube.” (Be sure not to miss “how Charlie bit my finger … see the photo evidence above.)
If, on the other hand, you want to enter 2010 in pure high spirits, take a look at the following energetic meme (unit, gesture or symbol of a cultural idea, transmitted from mind to mind) exemplifying Wesch’s discussion. Turn the sound up! Enter the New Year the way this wedding party enters the church!
Happy New Year to you from MINDWEST Strategies!
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