Don’t Underestimate the Power of the Tweet


[tweetmeme service=”tinyurl.com” tweetmeme source=”jodyfisher”]

The news of Osama Bin Laden’s death was the most tweeted event in history.

More than just a set of information sharing platforms, the impact social media had on the events of Sunday night and Monday made the news intensely palpable and personal. Social media – even more than traditional news outlets – fundamentally changed how the news broke and spread and even what was said and felt.

It goes without saying that word travels fast over twitter and facebook. We’re plenty familiar with the power of these still new platforms and their ability to help share information at the tap of a button.

But for the first time in a uniquely American scenario, people had the ability (perceived or real) to participate in this breaking news event and to secure a sense of their personal place in a global community witnessing something monumental, impactful and intensely important.

With details emerging at a jackrabbit’s pace starting even before the President’s speech Sunday night, social media inserted a new dynamic into the way we heard and reacted to the news and what we ultimately thought of it.

Social media also compressed the news cycle to the point where, as I write this on Tuesday morning, less than 36 hours after the news was officially announced, we’re even starting to turn our attention to other issues, including the 2012 Presidential race and the floods in the midwest. This never would have happened just 10 years ago, before facebook and twitter. There would still be new content emerging for days and making it into the American consciousness through traditional, filtered media channels.

Social media allows us to access and process all this information faster. It’s like drinking water from a firehose.

Social media’s presence in the information spectrum had direct impacts on the platforms themselves:

– Did twitter expect to beat out the cable news networks – combined – to be the number one way people learned the news that Bin Laden was dead? They were.

– Did facebook expect to be the organizing outlet around which breaking news and in-depth coverage was shared? It was.

– Did foursquare ever think they’d need to shutdown “Osama is Dead” parties? They did.

– Did a quiet recluse who unknowlingly moved into the town where Osama Bin Laden was hiding out ever think he’d live tweet the military op of the century? He did.

And there were those who took to social media to rhetorically ask that – even though the most evil man on the planet was no more – whether our reaction should be one of celebration, as though we had just won some big game?

(Editor’s note: I’m glad Bin Laden is dead. He was a mass murderer who isn’t worth the spit on his watery grave. But don’t think for a second we can rest on the achievement. There are thousands more terrorists bent on the destruction of worldwide modern civilization that need to be dealt with. People saying the troops can now come home are fooling themselves.)

For all the good, there were remarkable instances of failure too: media organizations moved fast to keep up their web and social media content, even as the story evolved in real time. Some moved too fast and made horrific mistakes, in one case killing the President himself (for only a split second before correcting the error).

So what’s the takeaway?

This event is confirmation – even for the naysayers – that social media is the most powerful information-sharing platform on the planet, and has impact beyond just what is being said to how it is being recieved. And when used correctly and then unleashed to work its magic can be a powerful tool to spread your messages and organize action. It changes the game at the ground level and allows those who might have once been shut out of the conversation to have a voice and connect with others and drive a conversation.

So… when are you creating that new profile?

“The Not-So-Neutral Net”


[tweetmeme service=”tinyurl.com” tweetmeme source=”jodyfisher”]

It’s Friday, and in a growing tradition, I’d like to share something I came across that I hope you’ll be interested in, too.

The Net Neutrality debate is a topic that can make one’s eyes glaze over just from the name of the issue. In reality, anyone who uses the internet (or a telecom provider like Verizon or AT&T) needs to be very concerned about its implications, laid out in fine fashion here by my friend and former colleague Jenn Ettinger of Free Press, a nonpartisan nonprofit in Washington DC. The piece was featured in Yes! Magazine and referenced by PBS’ Bill Moyers in a recent keynote he gave on the issue.

I’ll let Jenn do the talking on this one. Check out here article here. Great job, Jenn! And happy weekend everyone!
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