As the use of social media networks grows, Facebook and Twitter may increasingly serve as vehicles of change.
Media technologist Deanna Zandt spoke in Perkins Library last Friday about the power the everyday Internet user has with social networking, drawing from her recently published book “Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social Networking.”
Zandt, a research fellow at the Center for Social Media at American University, cited the example of April 2009, when Amazon.com flagged feminist and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual literature as adult material, prompting many Twitter users to display their outrage online.
“People lit their torches, got their pitchforks and stormed over to Amazon’s castles,” Zandt said.
Zandt added that it was not until after the public responded to Amazon’s flagging that the mainstream media covered the incident.
“What we had in 2009 was the ability of people to slip into the consciousness of the Web and infuse a huge public conversation with their values and stories,” she said. “The mainstream media was stuck playing catch-up.”
The importance of social networking lies in it’s ability for individuals to connect to others through story, Zandt said. She described how social network users develop empathy for each other because they feel they are engaged in each others lives.
Zandt said she believes people are drawn to social media because of this involvement.
“It’s about connecting, sharing and engaging with one another,” Zandt said. “The trust created by empathy is what I see leading us out of the isolation that’s been plaguing us for so long.”
Zandt also stressed the importance of participating in social networks because online conversations may influence people to think about issues creatively.
During the question and answer session, Zandt addressed many concerns about the changing nature of privacy. Whereas in the past there was a clearer notion of private and public boundaries, Zandt said social media has increasingly muddled these distinctions.
“The concept of anonymity is changing,” Zandt said, adding that when she first starting using the Internet, people used nicknames to maintain a degree of privacy.
“Now when you Google someone and you can’t find anything, it’s creepy,” she said.
Furthermore, Zandt said she hopes that social networks will become less like “walled gardens.” Zandt feels that people using separate social networks should be able to connect with one another in the same way that Hotmail users can e-mail Gmail users.
Lesley Looper, head of receipts management in the Perkins Library system, said she has been involved with social networking for personal benefits but recently attempted to use it to assist her professional life.
“I was on Twitter when I saw Michael Jackson died,” Looper said. “Now Twitter and Facebook are what you use instead of picking up the phone or sending a fax.”
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