Posts Tagged sociology
if you don’t motivate the elephants, your circus isn’t going anywhere
image by wolfsavard, flickr artist
elephants are extremely interesting creatures. they can grow up to weigh 15,000 lbs, but still be afraid of a mouse. they’re massive creatures, and anything that large — you’d imagine — can have quite a bit of influence. they’ll shape their surroundings and modify their environment to suit them. if the fruit is too high, they’ll knock over the tree. if the water’s gone, they’ll dig a hole to find some more.
circuses are interesting in their own right. a collection of sights, sounds, and smells that you can’t find any place else. and with so many different performance acts, everything has to be perfectly choreographed — and the ringmaster is in charge of it all.
the revolution will not be tweeted? think again.
image source: treycopeland.com
i have to say this right up front: malcolm gladwell is my boy. i’ve read his books, i’ve watched his talks, and i’ve read his other pieces in the new yorker (his article on concussions in football is a must-read). so, with that being said, it pains me to say this but i think gladwell was wrong in his assumptions about the inability of twitter and facebook to rally people around an idea to promote social change.
in his recent article for the new yorker, gladwell states: “the revolution will not be tweeted”. i say, if the revolution will not be tweeted, ask gap how their new logo redesign efforts went.
now i know that malcolm gladwell is talking specifically about social activism more so than he is about anything else. he even mentions that social media can be used quite well for other situations that don’t really require people to risk much of themselves in order to do it. but if that alone isn’t a revolution, then i don’t know what is. because if there’s one thing that we’ve seen from gap dumping their logo redesign (and from facebook bending to the will of the user community and making changes to their privacy settings on multiple occasions), it’s that the authority is no longer the authority anymore.
organizations are responsible to more than their boardroom now. they’re responsible to their clients; they’re responsible to their people; they’re responsible to just about anyone that owns an internet-connected device. public opinion has always been important, but even more so in such a web-integrated world where one person’s tweet can turn into a meme that instantly spreads across the globe. it’s a lesson that organizations are going to have to learn, and learn quickly, if they’re going to be successful in this new world.
the revolution will not be tweeted? think again, gladwell.
it already has.
the value of a #fistbump
image by virtual sugar, flickr artist
i was reading my most recent copy of espn the magazine when i found a brief article about ‘touch’ in sports called “contact high.”
“berkeley social-psych researcher mike kraus, along with psych professor dacher keltner, decided to track the performance of nba teams by the amount of positive physical contact players made during the 08-09 season. their work — to be published in an upcoming edition of the journal emotion — reveals a strong correlation between touching and win totals.” … “kraus explains that fist bumps, for example, serve to improve team chemistry, spatial awareness and cooperation among teammates.”
i found this to be particularly intriguing because of my liberal use of the #fistbump hashtag on twitter and yammer. i fist bump people all the time — in real life and in virtual space. i guess i knew all along, on a certain level, that fist bumps had a secondary benefit aside from serving as the actual congratulatory action — but now i’ve got science to back me up!
if fist bumps and high-fives can help the boston celtics and la lakers reach the nba finals, why can’t they help bring together an executive brief or trade show presentation?
stay out of the @#$!!*
image by hugh, flickr artist
when i was team manager and assistant coach with the penn state ice lions, we had a saying that we used often:
“stay out of the @#$!!*” … i.e. — poop.
it was a simpler way of saying, when the game degenerates into a bunch of people trying to hurt each other — don’t get involved.
usually when people act out in aggression, it’s because they’re frustrated. they’re unhappy with the way things are going, and they usually act out in aggression because they haven’t the skills, abilities, or position of authority to change the situation to favor themselves. people will act out in aggression because it’s the only thing they can do.
the difference between cool and ice cold
(part 2 of 2)
in the first part of this post, i mentioned how younger generations are leaving twitter and facebook, and how the real growth of those services has been with the older crowd. part 1 talked about the reasons more older persons are joining social media sites; this next part focuses on why the younger population is starting to veer away from them.
the problem with being cool is the risk of becoming too cool. even fonzie (or “da’ fonz” as i like to call him) wasn’t immune to this risk. a cool drink is too cold and you get pain in your teeth. slurpees and icees and slush puppies — whichever of the 900 names you’d like to give those delicious frozen drinks that make your mouth turn colors — will give you brain freeze. and, lately, it appears that facebook and twitter have been spending too much time at the back of a convenient store.
the difference between cool and ice cold
(part 1 of 2)
photo by Cipi*VT*, flickr artist
my twitter stream in the last 2 weeks or so has been mentioning the change in times for online social networking. more than a few users i follow have pointed out some recent news that popular services of twitter and facebook are becoming very unpopular with younger folks, and more of the worlds’ older generations are starting to join the fold. and while many people seemed to share the same disbelief (“but that makes no sense!”), it actually seems to be perfectly logical to me.
the reason is that there’s a difference between being cool and being ice cold.
but before i get there, let’s talk about the reasons there are more older folks joining facebook and carving out their own space in the twitterverse.
push people beyond their limits
photo by Imapix - Gaëtan Bourque, flickr artist
you might say: “wait, what do you mean?! i thought this was a blog about good management? pushing people beyond their limits sounds entirely contradictory.” and to that i’ll reply: often times people set their limits before they know what those limits are. by pushing them beyond their limits, you’re actually helping them find out their true capacity for great things.
in sociology, there’s a concept called a “breaching experiment.” a beaching experiment is when you intentionally do something that may be considered taboo or otherwise go against — or breach — society’s generally accepted definition of what is ‘right’ or ‘proper’ behavior, with the intent to find out just how far someone (or some people) may allow you to push the envelope. for example, funny hats. it’s perfectly acceptable to go out in public on a regular basis with a baseball cap, or a beanie in the wintertime, even if that team is the oakland athletics or your beanie is a bright pink. some may question your choice in team or color, but they won’t question your choice in hat. if you, however, on a regular basis were to wear a baseball cap with clapping hands, or one of those hardhats with the beer cans on the side, people may begin to question your choice of hat. that all depends on the company you keep.
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