Blog Assignment 1- Social Media- Fancy or Foundation?

One of the questions I was asked in my Social Media and Society class
was
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"What is your perception of social media, do you think it is a fad or
the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?"

My answer? Neither. I see social media as merely the foam on the tip of
a much larger, broader and more profound social revolution taking place
behind the scenes, involving not how we do things as the last one did,
but why.

In the book I’m reading currently, Drive- The Surprising Truth of What
Motivates Us, author Daniel Pink reveals that people who are doing
something they like, such as needlepoint, woodcrafting, creating
websites and reading to the elderly, are more likely to do it if they
are not getting paid, because getting paid turns it into a job and
takes autonomy away from the person.

This impacts social media in a profound way. Without this motivation
(Called the Intrinsic drive by the scientists who discovered it in the
1970’s), there would not be many of the social applications we use on a
daily basis. No one gets paid to post on Wikipedia, yet on Hallowe’en
2009 Microsoft closed Encarta, the encyclopedia software they had spent
14 years producing because Wikipedia had outpaced them by millions of
pages and hundreds of languages. And had done it all for free.

Facebook did not start because Zuckerberg charged his schoolmates to
use his software to connect to each other over the Internet. Napster
was not initially a paid service, and torrenting does not require
payment, only asks for donations. In fact, Gary Fung, owner of Isohunt-
an incredibly popular Canadian torrent site, is going to court on his
own dime to fight the CRIA for the right to torrent. Every one of these
people worked on a personal passion without any thought of a monetary
reward, creating or facilitating some of the most powerful social media
on the planet.

Social media as it exists now is not going to be a fad like mood rings
or pet rocks- it will be more like the Commodore 64 from the 1980’s. A
good start, but a stepping stone that will be laughed at by future
generations nonetheless.

Testing- Is this thing on?

Hi there! This is a test post to see if my new blog is operational.

This is to showcase, discuss, debate and review the books I have read in topics ranging from marketing to science fiction and fantasy with prospective employers and the public at large.

After I ensure the blog is working, I will start posting at least 3 books/week. Got any suggestions? Please email me and if I have read it, I will post it! If I haven't, it will go on my list of 'To be read'- and I'm always looking for more to read!

Cheers,

Kyle Pearce.