Blunt – The Conversation Agency

Maybe it’s the recent holiday period that has made this topic come up quite a bit. There’s a strong connection between holiday time spent with family, and frustration on my part to convince the luddites that the computer, the Internet and social media are not the downfall of man and all things sacred.

Richard nailed it in a previous post; the clear generational gap that exists between us and our parents (us being children of the 70’s and our parents being post depression pre baby boomer era). I find myself getting into frequent debates with the ‘elders’ on how the web and especially the social movement is / is not negatively impacting our society and most of all our youth.

Mike Laurie works at London Agency ‘Made by Many’ and recently wrote an article in Mashable called ‘How Social Media Has Changed Us’. I strongly recommend reading it (if you haven’t already – my reader is backed up), but incase you don’t, here are some high level takeaways. I’ve sent (by email mostly, 2 by snail mail) a copy to the naysayers to ponder over before the next set of holidays.

Over the last 10 years, we’ve seen social media galvanize thousands over politics, create as many industries as it has destroyed, and offer an abundance of visual and audio entertainment. But has all this incredible change actually changed us, or just the world we live in?

On Child Literacy:

“Last month, The National Literacy Trust released the results of a survey of over 3000 children. They observed a correlation between children’s engagement with social media and their literacy. Simply put, social media has helped children become more literate.”

On Re-Inventing Politics:

“A recent report by PEW found signs that social networks may be encouraging younger people to get involved in politics. You only need look at Twitter’s recent impact on the Iran elections, the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, and even the election of Barack Obama to see that more and more people are getting involved in politics and are feeling they can make a difference.”
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On Advertising and Choice:

“Marketing and advertising is transforming itself from an industry reliant on mass market channels to one which must embrace the power of the consumer and (attempt to) engage in conversations. The traditional approach of wide reach and repetitive messaging is now being replaced by many much smaller, niche and people-centric activities. Advertising isn’t dying, it’s merely changing form. We now have more power and more choice.”

On News as Cultural Currency:

“We’re no longer lazy consumers of passive messages. Instead we’re active participants. We now get news through the network we’ve created, and the news we pass to one another says something about us. It tells others what we’re interested in and what’s important to us.”

Laurie says it beautifully: “We are more engaged with friends, we are more literate, more connected, more open to creating new relationships, and generally more interested in the world around us.” …So there Grandpa!

Jonathan Levitt

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