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Malcolm Gladwell Strikes Again – Will the Revolution be Tweeted?
By Paula Attfield on March 31, 2011
In October 2010, Malcolm Gladwell wrote in The New York Times of his skepticism of social media tools and their power to effect social change. I blogged about this in Social Media – Slacktivism or Social Good?
In the face of recent world events, particularly in Egypt where social media sparked a revolution which ended a dictator’s 30 year regime, has Gladwell changed his stand?
Seemingly not. He remains as skeptical as ever.
While he admits to being as “dumbstruck as everyone else” by the events in the Middle East, he continues to be unimpressed by social media.
In a recent piece on CNN, Gladwell can’t help but relate to the past. He cites East Germany in 1989 where the lack of cell phones didn’t prevent people from tearing down the wall. While he acknowledges that communication tools can help a movement, to his mind they don’t drive or create it.
Gladwell even goes on to suggest these new tools and technologies can potentially offer dictators new ways to crack down. And he poses the question: will these new technologies work in the favour of the oppressed or the oppressor? So far, they seem to be working in favour of the former, at least in Egypt.
Ultimately though, Gladwell argues, that success or failure in the drive for social change has nothing to do with Facebook or Twitter. The real work is elsewhere. He asks “have you done the 20 years of preparation to build a coherent movement?” Castro did it; the civil rights movement in America did it.
I would suggest that the world is a much faster moving place than it was in the fifties and sixties. Movements form quickly; ideas can be formulated and shared virally in a matter of minutes through the internet. And we’ve seen the virtual turn actual overnight.
I believe that social media will play an increasingly vital role in bringing about social change. I invite Gladwell to spend some time on Facebook and Twitter. Perhaps his opinion will change.
He can find me on Twitter www.twitter.com/paula_attfield or Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/paula.attfield
Simren Deogun wrote, on 17:13 at Mar 31, 2011
I find the issue of Malcolm Gladwell a particularly prickly one! On the one hand, I think him intelligent and strongly business-minded (having loved his book Outliers!), on the other hand, his harsh and unfair opinion of social media leaves me miffed and upset.
But, I think you’re right Paula, maybe he just needs to give it the good ol’ college try!
Laurie wrote, on 01:13 at Apr 01, 2011
I mostly agree with you, Paula. However, there is an ugly side to social media. We saw it most recently with the hubaloo over an author’s bad conduct. A bullying/mob mentality takes over people. Normally nice folks will pile on to bad behaviour and say things they wouldn’t normally say. Hurtful, ugly things.
More than that – there’s a highschool popularity mentality that also takes over. Once someone is seen as popular, they gain more notoriety. This is problematic for charities… particularly small charities.
The tool itself is neither good, nor bad. The real problem is the very flawed people who use it. There’s an anonymity that people online – both in real terms in hiding behind screen names and in being one of many in a crowd. Sometimes the mob repels an oppressor – but sometimes they become the oppressor.
I’m glad Malcolm and others speak up… I just hope we listen and self-police appropriately. So far, I’m not certain we are doing that.
Paula Attfield wrote, on 08:28 at Apr 01, 2011
I completely agree Simren. I’m a huge fan of Gladwell’s. Blink, Outliers… both informative reads. But his low opinion of social media is a prickly one indeed!
Paula Attfield wrote, on 12:22 at Apr 01, 2011
Thanks for your comments Laurie. Agreed that the mob mentality and popularity contests can take over internet communities. Cyber-bullying is another example of the darker side of this medium. Agreed also about the need for self-policing. So far by and large, it’s working. But time will tell what further steps may be necessary.
Claire wrote, on 14:58 at Apr 01, 2011
Team Gladwell! He’s totally correct, but social media evangelists control the message on social media … Hence the hilarious #GladwellLogic hashtag on Twitter.
Jim Martin wrote, on 16:16 at Apr 05, 2011
I haven’t read anything by Malcolm Gladwell, so I am doing a great disservice and commenting on comments about his comments, but I did want to share a thought.
I think we all learned that in the lead-up to and during French Revolution that the scribblers/pamphleteers/philosophe-wannabes wrote about every topic imaginable because the printing presses were freed up. It is tough to imagine the French Revolution without that written legacy, yet did anybody really care if Robespierre wrote about beets? (Hmmmm….was it Robespierre who wrote about beets or was it Danton?) With the wall, it wasn’t the cellphones that posed the threat to the regime, it was cassettes, videotapes and maybe cd’s. The Iranian Revolution occurred with a great debt owing to audio cassettes passed hand to hand or copied.
I have many skeptical moments about social media and maybe social media had little actual impact in Egypt. In the end revolutions and dissemination of ideas go hand in hand. Communicating the next event and following the people who inspire probably depend more on people talking to each other, than the other media available to them.
Paula Attfield wrote, on 11:14 at Apr 07, 2011
Thank you for your thoughts Jim. I do highly recommend Gladwell as a great (and fast) read. Actually his books are typically fast reads as compared to his New York Times article which is a bit of a slug to get through. In any case, in addition to what you’ve said, I’d add that social media (and the internet) have proven to carry information at a faster rate than anything else we’ve ever seen. Crazy, but I heard about the earthquakes in Haiti and Japan first on Twitter and Facebook (and yes, I do still get the newspaper and listen to the news on CBC Radio 1 religiously and yet, breaking news finds me first through social media).
Jim Martin wrote, on 13:41 at Apr 07, 2011
Thanks, Paula, for the recommendation. I agree about the speed of information being spread via social media. I heard about the Japanese earthquakes and the tsunamis on Twitter first. Same thing for Egypt.
Claire’s blue shirt doesn’t do tweets | Gingerheaddad wrote, on 09:02 at Apr 08, 2011
[...] [...]
Timothy Bingham wrote, on 08:07 at Apr 15, 2011
Paula, you may find this discussion from Foreign Affairs online quite interesting. Allow publics who were previously dispersed to develop stronger social binds, the ability to coordinate action and share information.
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/discussions/audio-video/foreign-affairs-live-digital-power-social-media-political-change
Paula Attfield wrote, on 16:57 at Apr 15, 2011
Thanks for the Link Timothy. I will check it out!
Paula Attfield wrote, on 16:57 at Apr 15, 2011
Gingerheaddad, the link to your blog disappeared so I’ll share it again. Thanks for the shout-out!
http://gingerheaddad.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/claires-blue-shirt-doesnt-do-tweets/