Kathleen Peterson

Social media is getting some great press as a tool for revolution - in its true form. Across the globe “flash mobs” have transformed from dancers in a train station to people protesting in the streets! There is a kind of genie force at work, like a “medium”, predicting outcomes far greater than the ability to hook up with old friends, keep up with family, or market yourself or your products and services (and of course being slammed for your poor performance in this regard) on the world wide web.

Just as companies have begun to recognize they no longer “control” all of their PR; recognizing customers have hijacked the dialogue, governments (perhaps more accurately dictatorships) are looking down the barrel of social media, while it shoots information to a constituency long unheard, and bolstered to action by the deeply felt prediction that revolution, freedom, and change are in fact possibilities when the citizens are able to communicate en mass, via channels these governments are unequipped to choke.

Revolutions have always depended on word of mouth; Paul Revere’s midnight ride with the warning “the British are coming” rang the bell of revolution hundreds of years ago in America, now social media outlets have heightened this to “world of mouth” communicating actions and being able to report on same - globally. The power shift is fascinating, the speed is incredible, however the results are yet to be completely understood.

I am happy all those countries had so many children - because it is the YOUTH of the world that are demanding a decent, balanced life. People, I believe, want to just live a decent, peaceful life; get educated, work, enjoy family and friends without threat, without governments corruption hijacking all the resources to surround itself with luxury and protection of vicious armies and secret police. I say keep it up, see the possibilities, be a “medium” channel freedom, and continue to scare the hell of these dictators! WORLD OF MOUTH  is changing the world, let’s hope there’s a similar plan for transformation.

Jan 2011 I turned off the obnoxious Outlook email notification function. you know the one that no matter what you’re doing, the little information bubble pops up with the incoming email info. I have not missed it one bit and I find I am able to stay more on task when writing reports, taking calls etc. The intrusive nature of that option plays on our weakness to be distracted by something/anything. Allowing focused work to be interrupted by any incoming email, is just plain counterproductive. I have not missed anything of any import by not having instant notification of incoming email. I feel more focused, and in control, I had to struggle to NOT read those bubbles, even if I didn’t stray to open, the distraction was enough to force me to regroup to complete the task at hand. I believe we all need to find ways to be the controller in today’s game of information technology..

I don’t know about you but on my BlackBerry I cannot use the dial by name- 1-800 -BLAHBLA - the keypad is not organized in the traditional dial pad config. The numbers are all there is.. do we stop searching for toll free numbers spelling out names? Or the dial by name options on many company directories….which become unusable on many hand held devices… Just a thought….

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