Sing along with the common people… The real power of social media (guest blog)
Sunday, May 23, 2010 at 9:28PM I am delighted to bring you a guest blog post from Claire Croft @cm_croft, New Media Manager at Durham University.
Once people discover that my day job entails all things web-based, I’m often quizzed on what this sudden social media frenzy is all about. Fad or future? - people ask.
I generally respond with a story.
I used to work with someone – let’s just call her ‘L’ for now – who often checked her Facebook account in the office at lunchtime. It was late 2007 and Facebook was exploding in a big way across the UK, rapidly becoming a great source of lunchtime banter in our office (as in many other offices around the country, I’m sure). Anyway, one particular afternoon, L logged in to her Facebook profile and let out a shriek (in a manner only other North Eastern girls could ever emulate). HE had sent her message. The Australian. The One Who Got Away. The boyfriend from years back who disastrously returned back Down Under. The love of her life. OMG - this was one lunchtime we would never forget. A few weeks of flirty messages back and forth ensued. He came to visit her, she went to visit him, and by the following June, L was wafting her Australian visa around the office and handing in her notice. Fast forward a couple of years, and she’s now happily settled in Sydney with Mr Right, a house and a permanent job.
Well, it’s a good story, the cynics generally concede, but was Facebook really so pivotal? Granted, he might have done a bit of cyber-stalking and located her email address. Or, dare I say it, found her postal address still written down somewhere. But hours spent agonizing over the wording of an email or letter could easily have left him wide open to silence and rejection. A short, spontaneous Facebook message via a mutual friend on the other hand, provided a space which was somehow less brutal, more casual and open.
Social networking is ultimately an experimental space where we can solicit feedback and exchange ideas without the constant fear of falling flat on our face. As such, its impact is far more widespread than the destiny of my friend L and her Mr Right. Take the recent general election for instance. Ok, so social media didn’t quite do for Cameron what it did for Obama, but it played a huge role in shaping public opinion. I’m not talking about Sarah Brown’s tweets, or the Tory take over of You Tube on election day, but rather about the things which the electorate (that’s you and me) posted and discussed. Compare, for instance, the 100,000 fans on the Conservatives’ official Facebook page with the 600,000 views received by the David Cameron ‘Common People’ video spoof on You Tube. Or, for that matter, the 300,000 people who joined a Facebook group entitled ‘I bet I can find a million people who DON'T want David Cameron as our PM’. The point is that people engaged more with each other through informal groups and threads than they did with the so-called ‘official’ channels. This election wasn’t won and lost by politicians using social media, but by the way in which the common people like you and me seized it back to debate the issues amongst ourselves.
In no other election have I become so acutely aware of the political stances of my friends and colleagues. Facebook profiles, Twitter feeds and blog entries between them debated the questions we were all asking – from minute policy details, to the impact of Gordon Brown’s infamous gaffe, to the colour of Nick Clegg’s tie. Few people are ever so forthcoming in ‘real’ life about political allegiance, yet social media provided us with a forum in which we felt comfortable defining ourselves as blue, red, yellow or green. As the election grew nearer, a surprising number of Facebook users went as far as trading in their profile picture for their choice of party campaign poster – my own news feed was awash with the likes of ‘Vote Labour’, ‘I agree with Nick’ and ‘Cameron for PM’ . This wasn’t the political apathy of previous elections – politics was alive and well in this new, non-judgmental, discursive space.
While the televised prime ministerial debates of old media were focusing on their own opinion polls and some obscure thing called the ‘worm’, what we were seeing via social media was something quite different. This was where the real debate happened, where absolutely anyone who wanted to could join in and sing along with the common people…
So to return to the initial question, recent events have left me in little doubt about the truly transformational power of social media. This is something which is capable of connecting us in ways never before possible, making the unexpected happen and turning debates inside out. Try it. I can’t vouch for exactly where it might lead, but you might be surprised.
I am very gratefull to Claire for this post and want to know if you agree or disagree? I would love to know what you think, please leave your comments.
social media in guestblog, social business
Reader Comments (11)
Claire I you're exactly right and use the recent UK elections example persuasively. We can also look at Greenpeace UK's successful campaign to get Nestle to improve their palm-oil sourcing.
While not everyone is going to use these tools and technologies with the same level of passion, it's fairly clear that many many people like to be heard, like to create their own 'content,' and especially like to act in concert with others on things they care about. And all the more so if it feels fun and trendy.
We can rail against those instincts that draw us to the shiny things, the new things, and what 'everyone else' is doing, or we can harness them for good as I think is happening more and more online.
Enjoyed your piece and hope to see you on one of my trips to the UK.
A.J.
Thanks - really good read. Whilst I am one of the 'early corporate pioneers' (not my words) of Twitter I'm the first to admit it's reach isn't as far as we might hope. Sure, I was one of the many people reading and commenting on the recent political debate but I am still part of a relatively small club.
Social Media is rapidly becoming the same as conventional media ie corporate and big business, but without the reach of other media.
The closest most of my friends and colleagues get to Twitter for example is the gossip page in The Sun. True.
Great piece! I love that Facebook story... *sigh*
Anyway, Mark, you know I unashamedly love social media, with a very strong leaning towards Twitter. I come at this from an 'ordinary user' point of view (nothing to sell from me - yet!!). Yes i have a little blog and have blogged for a little under 3 years now and i love that but in the past year i think it would not be an understatement to say that Twitter has kinda changed my life - for the better i may add. It has opened up inside me a whole new lease of life through meeting new friends (online & in real life), lit the candle of creativity that was hiding in a deep dark corner of my being and given me the confidence to go on a do something exciting in the next few months...
And how else would i have discovered that Lance Armstrong was coming to Glasgow one ordinary mundane Monday evening last August!!
Of course there are people who don't get it, or people who only follow celebs in the vain hope that they'll reply or even follow you back, but i just love the Twitter community and reading little tid-bits of people's everyday lives. I've always been nosey. In saying that i'm glad some people don't get it, i don't want a Facebook friend request from my mum or from that person at school who never looked the road i was on but now they suddenly want to prove to their other 763 friends that i'm their 'friend' too - no thanks! However if Mr Right wants to message me then that would be just fine!!... :)
Great post, sorry for this essay of a reply. :)
Ange
Really interesting piece.
I'm more of a twitter fan than facebook, just because the chance to meet anybody and everybody on twitter can lead to finding some jolly nice folk out there, whereas facebook seems to be only a tool to find out that your friends in the pub and nose through all the photos of the people you knew, but didnt really llike at school.
Having said that about facebook - I think you stress two really positive points of social media that fully justify why it should be used. The heart warming facebook story to twitters power to inform and promote current affairs is a power not been around before.
Interesting times ahead
Thanks very much
Ste
When Twitter stumbled a few weeks ago - #thedaytwitterexploded – it made me wonder about why people were there, what was important to them? Was it just the followers they lost temporarily? And it also made me question the engagement.
Would you remember everyone you were following to re-follow? It might be easy to remember those you communicated with every day, but what about the less regular conversations? Would you remember them? And more importantly, would they remember you? Given the choice, would you choose to engage with them again, and faced with the same choice, would they choose to engage with you?
Michelle
We need to care about what we are saying, we need to care about why we are saying it and we need to care about to whom we say it.
I think sometimes people get caught up in the how, rather than the why. The problem rather than the solution. The tools rather than the message.
Social media isn’t the conversation, it’s the facilitator for conversation. It will only ever be as good, as important, as influential, as life changing, as the people who use it to communicate, to share, to support, have fun, to make money.
The communications have to have a point. Otherwise why would you? For business, that is to make a profit, increase market share, improve customer loyalty, build a brand. For friends, it’s to keep in touch, to send love, to reach across borders and continents to share memories and build a future. For others, it’s about sharing the knowledge, wisdom and experience they have gained over the years, it’s about giving something for nothing other than the satisfaction that it was given.
Some people won’t get it. Some people will. And some might just use it to change the world.
First, great use of story. Claire and Mark, my I use your Facebook story (with attribution, of course) in upcoming speeches?
Second, solid analysis and keen point about social media and the UK elections. If ONLY our US politicians could ever get over themselves long enough to see the power is in helping OTHERS connect to OTHERS. US politicians are still stuff in message efficiency mode (i.e., how many messages can we deliver for the cheapest cost per thousand impressions).
For an example, keep an eye on US Congressman Bob Inglis of South Carolina's Fourth District. He's a popular incumbent who has yet to acknowledge and affirm his constituents on social media. For over a year, I've been suggesting he'll lose his seat (a fairly difficult thing to do for an incumbent) because he ignores people on social media. Unfortunately, none of his contenders do any better, but, since they are not yet elected, they won't be judged for ignoring constituents. I suspect he will. Sad thing is, he actually did a good job of engaging people a long time ago, before technology passed him by. The next hurdle for him is the 19 June 2010 Republican primary.
Excellent post and may I just say, I’m thinking that every single girl out there who reads that facebook story is now going to be checking her inbox with a enthusiasm now…just in case.
The general election via social media was fantastic wasn’t it? The blogs, the commentary and the banter. As you said Claire we’d never really experienced before. Before social media asking someone “Who did you vote for” was much like asking someone how they took home every month – off limits. But it was great to see people coming out, showing their allegiances and actually showing the passion they had for our country. Do we know the stats yet for how many people didn’t vote compared to previous years? I wonder if the stats will reflect the impact of social media?
In a non-political way social media can appeal to all aspects of society. Businesses who want to get out there and meet their customer bases, people who wish to chat and meet new and interesting people and of course people like me, freelancer who works from home and needs an outlet to stop myself from jabbing a pencil in my eye from cabin fever whilst having the opportunity to network, collaborate and pimp out my creative wares.
Much like google I think those of us who are “in” to social media now use it as a source of our information. As I’ve previously said for me the most important thing about social media is to keep it social. I’m not saying exclude business chat but use it in the way it was designed to be used, engage.
I love the story an dhow it outlines that social media is simply a door opener and facilitator for relationships - Business & Personal.
Nobody will be signing business contracts via update statuses, 140 character messages or blog comments but they will be forming new opinions and beginning to engage and collaborate with each other, with the outcome often being a positive one for all.
Businesses can now listen to new and old customers and form stronger relationships with them. People can connect much easier with communities and individuals at a keystroke. But it is only once we move passed the initial social media relationship that change really happens.
Personally I hope that when friendships are cemented and business partnerships are signed we all take a look back and tip our caps to social media, realising what it gave us, instead of looking at it as though it's a useless large chat room full of geeks.
Really enjoyed the post!
Two stories that capture the imagination and really hammer home what social media is all about. Like Trey, I fully intend to pinch them for presentations (with full attribution).
For me that first story about your friend and her Australian Mr Right is worth a million dull social media stats and celebrity tales. Skeptics need to hear how social media has changed real lives. Telling them there's 4 gazillion users on Facebook and that they can find out when Justin Bieber last had a crap is never going to win them over.
I hope all your guest bloggers are this good Mark.
There's no doubt that social media sites offered the chance to talk politics, fly your flag and debate the topics at length, without fear of recrimination. The air of discussion was passioned but very cordial with contributors willing to listen to and read opposing points of view. If only this was true of conversation in bars and workplaces. I am sure this openness will long continue.
What I was slightly disappointed with was the lack of higher party officials contributing to the discussions. They must have been warned, and in the strongest terms, to go very easy on the social media sites for fear of causing their party damage. I recall one This Morning on R4 where they were discussing this very issue "One tweet can sink a fleet" was the adopted phrase.
I hope that the politicians learn to embrace these sites so that we get the chance to engage with them, learn more beyond the dry, dull, repetitive words of the manifesto. We're not here to berate, but to learn, explore, debate. May be in time they will see what many of us already do - these sites are here to get in touch, grab an opportunity, just like your colleague and her Australian man. It's not a place to run and hide from, but to be welcomed to with open hearts, and more importantly, open minds.
A very thought-provoking post that I thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you.
Thanks for all the interesting feedback, everyone! And please do feel free to retell these stories - though they're by no means untypical. Social media changes lives every day - the proof is all around us. Only last week I was talking to an American colleague at the University whose husband came over to the UK to study for PhD. When I asked why they'd chosen Durham, she explained that it was all down to a particular blog authored by one of our academics. Without that blog and the ideas it exposed to them, Durham wouldn't have made the short list. Again, this unprecedented opportunity to engage on a truly global platform can alter destinies in a keystroke. It almost makes me giddy to think about it. No wonder so many politicians either side of the pond are more than a little nervous when faced with such powerful tools.