<CPOV> Interesting read!

Maja van der Velden majava at ifi.uio.no
Fri Oct 8 14:03:35 CEST 2010


"Enthusiasts for social media would no doubt have us believe that  
King’s task in Birmingham would have been made infinitely easier had  
he been able to communicate with his followers through Facebook, and  
contented himself with tweets from a Birmingham jail. But networks are  
messy: think of the ceaseless pattern of correction and revision,  
amendment and debate, that characterizes Wikipedia. If Martin Luther  
King, Jr., had tried to do a wiki-boycott in Montgomery, he would have  
been steamrollered by the white power structure. And of what use would  
a digital communication tool be in a town where ninety-eight per cent  
of the black community could be reached every Sunday morning at  
church? The things that King needed in Birmingham—discipline and  
strategy—were things that online social media cannot provide."

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell?printable=true&currentPage=all#ixzz11lfMtQ6s

M.
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