George Couros (@gcouros) presentation was titled, 140 Characters of Kindness, addressing the issue head on. He shared a powerful moment when he put a video of his dog just before it died in cyberspace, and he got someone he totally didn't know asking him how he was doing, checking in - people he didn't know. I thought about the homeless guy down near Starbucks and how his face lit up when I stopped to ask him how he was doing. Same thing happens in cyberspace. It was interesting that just before Couros' presentation, Michelle Tarby (@tarbyM) talked about What Happens When Real Time goes Really Wrong - what happens when someone sets up a rumor site about an organization - can we make it stop? This happened at LeMoyne college and folks kept asking her to make it stop. To me this speaks of the pain that's caused when we get sloppy with our words online, when untruths are shared. This isn't totally a problem with those setting up the rumor site, it might suggest that people are trying to discover the truth or work out ideas online and that comes across as an attack. Tarby's advice was to be patient. Not usually a virtue that we find in great abundance! Jeff Pulver (@jeffpulver) had a very interesting recounting of his history with social media in his talk, Being Vulnerable In the Era of the Real-Time Web. First, the use of the word 'vulnerable' usually implies a lack of power in a negative sense, so it was refreshing to hear him speak of this as a desirable virtue. His history as a teenager looking for friends and how it brought him to social media was a gem of an insight because his social media technology was Ham radio, since Facebook et al had appeared on the scene. I remember my Dad using his Ham equipment and have never thought of it as a precursor to social media. I couldn't pass the code requirement! His simple observation in the power of someone repeating what you say was right on - how we crave to see our stuff retweeted, how good that makes us feel. His advice: be people first, be real. Again, our words matter and we need to be conscious that it's people out there reading our stuff.
Love and Hate: Mobilizing Social and Political Endeavors Through Social Media
Bob O'Brien (@ClevelandBob)
Okay, so given all of the above, we then had this presentation, here's the short story: O'Brien is pissed that Lebrone James didn't join the home town basketball team. The good news is that (1) O'Brien is passionate about basketball, and (2) he was able to extend his reach through social media to help his cause. Here's the bad news: he used social media to organize and coordinate the saying of hateful things against Lebrone at a home game. I'm sitting there thinking that Lebrone is a person who puts on his pants like the rest of us and probably likes to be respected just as much as the next person. I think the golden rule applies online too, right? I'm also thinking that when we come online to initiate some cause we need some sense of perspective - it's a guy playing basketball. Do we need to harness the masses of the internet to chant rude stuff at LeBrone? I know that people are passionate about different things - so I respect that, but, basketball? SOPA I can see, but LeBrone? I'm wondering if this goes back to an earlier point that we under estimate the impact of our words. I was really sad about this presentation and hope that O'Brien will use the 'success' of what he learned to do something kind and meaningful. Maybe this is an age issue: a young college student is more apt to bring his unrestrained passion online than someone who's been around the block a few times. That also brought up a question of how do we define 'success' on the internet.
Take away:
- We're people first
- Our words have impact
- We consistently under estimate the impact of our words
- We need a sense of proportion - is our issue worth fighting over?
- Retweet: people are really jazzed when you repeat what they say or flag your post
- Be patient
- People who we perceive as being super stars put on their pants like everyone else
- Be real
Kindness matters on the web
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