Finally Someone Put the Answer to "Why is Social Media Cool?" into (non-stupid) Words

I’ve recently been doing a bunch of work with my good friends at ArgyleSocial, a player in the social media management space.  As anyone who finds themselves directing chunks of their resources to building what could pejoratively be described as “a Twitter app” must, I find myself now having to talk to my friends about why I think social media is important.  

This conversation is tired.  It seems like my generation’s version of a hippy credo—in that it’s best said in a stoner accent while making deep, meaningful eye contact.

Which is why I’m so appreciative of Clay Shirkey’s Cognitive Surplus.  I now feel like I can convey my excitement about the space in a non-proseletizing, non-insider-baseball way.

For those of you who have not read it: do so.  The most interesting thought I took from the book was this:

There are three primary human endeavors with regard to expression: consuming, producing, and sharing.  Starting in 1940 with the advent of suburbanization and television, we became a society of consumers—our culture was dictated by those with the ability to “push the publish button”.  With the dramatic fall-off in production and sharing of expression, people became more disconnected from each other, and therefore more individualistic and zero-sum.  

With the advent of social media, people are relearning how to express themselves and to share their expressions with others.  They are discovering their own individual power and the joy of engaging in a collective to achieve something larger than themselves.  This is not only culturally significant because we get the direct byproducts (wikipedia, open source software, etc.)—it is significant because it represents a change in how we relate to the other people in our society.  Our relationships are now mutually beneficial, non-zero sum.