Was Malcolm Gladwell Asleep in 2008?

A video response to the Malcolm Gladwell critique of Social Media's impact on Social Change: http://tinyurl.com/264pr4t

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• social media
• gladwell
• new yorker
• activism
• change
• obama

[dearbrandmanager]

After reading the article, I can't say its really an attack on social media. Gladwell says that, Obama did both; organized grass-root efforts while also utilizing the immediacy of social media. It seems to me that he is really arguing against the idea that social media has created a new model for social change. A model that disregards real world grass root efforts.

[rebecky]

The dynamics of US society to some extent have changed, but American political institutions for the most part are still in tact and the average American's way of living hasn't changed much. The point I think he's trying to make is that real social changes have happened before twitter and if it were to happen again, it wouldn't be because of twitter itself, but because of the people that use it. In that respect I think he acts against the hype of social media and rightfully so.

[rebecky]

Perhaps Malcolm Gladwell saw change from a more fundamental standpoint, that is a radical transformation of society. He might look at change in terms of its impact on the micro/macro levels of society (i.e. Civil Rights Movement or any revolutions in history). In that case, social change came about through lots of organization, mass mobilization, and sacrifice. Obama's candidacy is more or less US's democracy at work in this day and age with the help of social media, not exactly a revolution.