I’ve been meaning to post this up for a few months now, but somehow it got sidetracked until now. It’s a video by Mike Wesch, who is an anthropology professor at Kansas State University. I watched it for the second time today and realized that EVERYONE interested in social media, from any perspective (marketing, technology, sociology, law, etc…) should watch this.
Â
Anthropology, sociology and the psychology of humans, have all been subjects that fascinated me ever since I can remember. While I may have gotten my degree in business, most of my private reading revolved around these topics. Perhaps that’s why I’m so passionate about social media and how we can use it to improve government and society. Videos like this remind me why I write this blog, why I am involved in this community, and why I love spreading this viral knowledge to others. We are in the process of re-constructing the very nature of human social interaction and community building. Â This goes way beyond technology. In fact, as I often mention in my workshops, technology is simply the enabler. Anyone can use this stuff, not just the geek next door. Technology is no longer a barrier. It will be interesting to see how all of this evolves as we begin to be overwhelmed with content and the need to filter based on relevancy. Will we slowly regress back to controlled dissemination of content?Â
That was a great video Mike! Thanks for sharing it.
The following statement (stated about 12 minutes into the video) was interesting:
media is not content
media are not tools of communication
media mediate human relations
and as media change, human relationships change…and we need to rethink ourselves.
As this video demonstrates, social media introduce a whole new dimension to human interaction and dialogue. It’s not just about relaying messages – it’s about creating and strenghthening communities, building and deepening human relationships, and also developing ones own identity in new ways.