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Posts Tagged ‘Malcolm Gladwell’

Malcolm Gladwell, still down on social media, and still wrong.

Written on February 24th, 2011 | Posted by Jim Breitinger

Despite the embarrassing article Malcolm Gladwell wrote last fall, he remains adamantly opposed to the idea that there is much of interest in new social media platforms. The title of his piece: “Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted,” was off in every respect.

The changes in how we communicate, because of social media are not small. And the revolution in Egypt was not only tweeted–Twitter and Facebook were important communications tools during the protests that brought down Hosni Mubarek.

This month as Mubarek’s rule was teetering on the precipice, Gladwell wrote that “people with a grievance will always find ways to communicate with each other. How they choose to do it is less interesting, in the end, than why they were driven to do it in the first place.”

As an agency devoted to finding better ways to communicate, this statement is of course objectionable. But on a broader scale, it’s simply a stubborn refusal to face reality.

Radio and television were hardly uninteresting innovations in communications–they changed the world. How much social media changes the world remains to be seen, but it is changing it. Egypt is one example, an important one, but one of many.

I have high regard for Malcolm Gladwell. He has written outstanding books including The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers. His usually excellent articles in The New Yorker are additional examples of his proud body of work.

It’s precisely because he is such an innovative thinker and writer that his queasiness with social media is especially notable, and odd.

It’s time for a new article from Gladwell: “Big Change: Why more revolutions will be tweeted.”

Tags: Egypt, Facebook, Hosni Mubarek, Jim Breitinger, Malcolm Gladwell, social media, social networking, Twitter
Posted in Books, films and ideas | No Comments »

Strength in weak ties: Tweeting the revolution.

Written on November 17th, 2010 | Posted by Jim Breitinger

February 11, 2011 update

Today President Mubarek stepped down after 18 days of protests that were fueled by social networking sites, including Twitter. This post was a direct response to Malcolm Gladwell’s article: “Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted.” The original title of the post was: “Strength in weak ties: Connecting with people through social networking.” Despite the revolution in Egypt, Gladwell is stubbornly sticking to his guns that things like Facebook and Twitter are worthless. Why can’t one of the great thinkers of our times admit he’s made a mistake and move on?

Amidst an explosion of communications channels, what is the best way to connect with people and really make a difference? This is a critical question at RIESTER, a company based on Brand Activism—for causes, products and services.

Are Malcolm Gladwell's "weak links" an adequate description of social network connections?

Are Malcolm Gladwell's "weak links" an adequate description of social networking connections? Photo by Pop!Tech on flickr.

Malcolm Gladwell, in a recent New Yorker article “Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted,” asserts that social networking connections will not drive activism leading to impactful change. But is Gladwell, one of the more innovative thinkers of our time, missing something? He refers to the kinds of connections people have on social networking platforms as “weak ties.” It’s true, social networking platforms make it easy to build connections with people you’ve never met. Even reconnecting with old friends and acquaintances is often an example of people you have a weak tie to.

While he emphasizes the limitations of weak ties, Gladwell also sees benefits to such connections. Crediting sociologist Mark Granovetter, he discusses some of the advantages: “Our acquaintances—not our friends—are our greatest source of new ideas and information. The Internet lets us exploit the power of these kinds of distant connections with marvelous efficiency.” He asserts, however, that the revolution referenced in the title of his piece still depends on more traditional tools to bring about real social change.

People lazily posting links and blathering away online won’t cut it.

Fair enough.

I often describe Twitter as an international cocktail party that is going 24/7. Even if you don’t drink, stick with the analogy. You meet someone at a party, you exchange chit chat. More often than not, you don’t establish a deep and lasting connection. But, sometimes you do. Think about it, most of the more successful people in this world—from many different fields—are those who are effective at turning weak ties into strong ties.

A relationship must begin somewhere. Gladwell bases his argument on a paradigm of either-or. His activists either rely solely on social networking via the Internet, or they utilize more traditional real-world organizing techniques based on “strong-tie connections.” This is a false dichotomy and it’s why his essay is incorrect.

As a tool for people working to bring about change (or communicate any message), social networking platforms offer new and unique ways to connect. What happens with those connections is what makes all the difference. That’s just as true today as it was in the pre-Internet era.

Social networking platforms are not just stand-alone communications channels. They are new tools that need to be leveraged in any contemporary communications situation. In Gladwell’s essay, with the either-or paradigm he provides, he is likely more correct than not. Social networks are not the be all end all and by themselves they are unlikely to change the world. Yet they don’t exist by themselves. As tools in a larger toolkit, they are potent new platforms.

In over a year of active engagement on Twitter, I’ve developed connections with many people whom I would never have become acquainted with otherwise. Some of these connections have already grown from very weak ties, to stronger connections.

Tomorrow I am going to introduce one new Twitter friend. His name is J.B. Hester. He’s an advertising professor from the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, one of America’s top universities.

Tags: Egypt, JB Hester, Jim Breitinger, Malcolm Gladwell, Mark Granovetter, Mubarek, revolution, social media, social networking, The New Yorker, Twitter, UNC Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina
Posted in Books, films and ideas, Marketing | No Comments »

RIESTER recommends Malcolm Gladwell.

Written on October 29th, 2009 | Posted by RIESTER

Malcolm Gladwell is one of the great writers of our times. Gladwell offers invaluable insights to both marketers and the general public in his fascinating explorations into why humans behave the way we do. Below is a lecture by Gladwell discussing how we are squandering human potential. He emphasizes that there is no lack of human talent, but far too much talent remains untapped.

Gladwell discusses research that was completed regarding the question of why, as a group, Chinese immigrants to the United States were outperforming white Americans in the U.S. The Chinese arrived with no money and limited or no language skills. They knew nothing of American culture, yet over time they were more likely to succeed (defined as achieving positions in high skilled and high paying areas) than the Americans.

He references a study that took a group of American ten year old children (any race) and Chinese ten year olds and gave them a difficult math problem to solve. The Americans gave up on average two minutes into their efforts. By contrast, fifteen minutes later the Chinese children were still working at the problem. The cultural attitudes toward persistence and effort are much different.

Gladwell’s books include Blink, The Tipping Point, Outliers and What the Dog Saw.

If you are interested in the development of human potential you will enjoy spending twenty minutes with Mr. Gladwell. That’s our challenge to you, to take twenty minutes to focus on Gladwell’s outstanding lecture. Keep in mind as you listen how he defines the term “capitalization rates.” In this lecture the capitalization rate is the rate at which a given community capitalizes on the human potential of those in its midst.