Most of us (individually if we're over 40 years old and organizationally) are already running to catch up with this new thing. The learning curve is steep because it's not so much about the technology (we've survived new technology before) as it is about a new world view. If you've been thinking that you can ignore Social Media for a few months and it, too, will die in popularity like salad shooters and mood rings, then you're going to wake up in a few years more confused than ever.
Sometimes I'm already confused.
If you're needing to get a sense of just how powerful and how widespread this revolution has already spread, then the video below is a good place for that conversation to start. (Thanks to Lynn who posted this on Facebook from YouTube where I saw it and grabbed it to post on my blog. Next step? I'll Tweet it. Crazy.)
Completely agree, Ruth. An important thing for people to consider is that anything social takes lots of time to learn. This is why ethnographers spend at least a year in a culture before they begin publishing. Social is complex and context-dependent. Though people try to write them, there are no definitive textbooks which will allow me to instantly throw parties, have great conversations or effectively maintain collective vision, etc. These things can only be understood by enacting them within a particular context over time. Technology has become social, follows social rules, and because of some of its new peculiar properties, is playing a role in a changing world.
ReplyDeleteSo folks who are putting off jumping in and actively working to understand this world view will probably have a hard time catching up.