UPDATE: Eric Qualman, author of Socialnomics has now produced a full refresh (and much better) video promoting his book: Social Media Revolution 2 (Refresh). I am happy to report that in the true spirit of social media, he has taken the criticism from his first video to heart, listened to the community and addressed the issues by producing a new video that now represents the best in social media, respect for intellectual property; factual accuracy, and the integrity to present information in a compelling, but responsible manner. As a result, his role in the social media revolution has changed from propagandist to evangelist. His new approach itself provides an excellent example of social media’s power to effect change.
I am as big a social media evangelist as anyone – I sincerely believe the growth and impact of social media has been transformational on global culture. Because of these convictions, it drives me crazy when this genuine phenomenon gets spun into hype. Case in point – Socialnomics.net has produced a fairly popular YouTube video (328,000 views & counting) to support the sale of its book Socialnomics: How social media transforms our lives and the way we do business.
photo credit: Erica MarshallIf the subject is social media, are 'LMAO', 'ROFL' or '#FAIL' acceptable citations for some statistics?
Unfortunately, the video format is completely derivative of Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Jeff Brenman’s great “Did You Know” series, down to the same Fatboy Slim soundtrack. However, this disregard for intellectual property is not even what concerns me most about the video – It is the fundamental issue that several of the statistics presented are flat-out wrong.
One of the major gripes about social media is that its impact is difficult to empirically measure. This presentation does nothing to help dispel that criticism – in fact, it makes it worse by presenting some statistics that can only be characterized as unsubstantiated hype. While I can not fault the video’s obvious intent to promote social media as a revolution, the fact checking was abysmal. continue reading →
