AMANDATORY READS

A social media scientist committed to deciphering the #selfie and other marvels of human nature.

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Teenagers Are Much Better At Snapchat Than You

An investigation.

Whenever I try to convince my friends my friends that we don’t actually know teens, I start talking really fast. Like I’m in a panic, until eventually my sentences stop making sense and I give up. It’s like trying to convince a room full of people that you saw an alien, but you can’t describe it so no one believes you. Well, BELIEVE ME NOW.

This is one of the funnier articles I’ve read —it will blow your mind. 

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There's a special place in hell for women who don't help other women.

Madeleine Albright

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Just A Thought About Hashtag Activism

#Kony2012, #TrayvonMartin, #BringBackOurGirls, and most recently, #YesAllWomen, are all examples of 'social' movements mobilized online.

But how effective is hashtag activism? And how impactful can a few hundred, thousand, or even million Tweets really be?

Evgeny Morozov, author of The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom, touches upon an unsettling idea that I've been wrestling with when attempting to answer these questions:

“My hunch is that people often affiliate with causes online for selfish and narcissistic purposes,” he said. “Sometimes, it may be as simple as trying to impress their online friends, and once you have fashioned that identity, there is very little reason to actually do anything else.” - Hashtag Activism and its Limits, NY Times.

So why do people really engage in social media activism? Maybe it's to build attractive reputations, or maybe they really are passionate about these issues and don't know how else to help. But after reading the torrent of tweets responding to Friday's Santa Barbara shooting using #YesAllWomen, I've realized that the simple act of starting the conversation is far better than disregarding these issues all together.

Mobilization begins with awareness, and social media has the ability to spread ideas like wildfire.

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This is the oldest known selfie taken by Robert Cornelius in 1839.

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Are Humans Developing Digital Brains?

Neuroscience says yes.

It seems as though human beings are developing 'digital brains' - brains with new circuits and wiring that allow us to skim through the endless abyss of online information we call the Internet. Some people are calling this type of reading 'superficial', and are worried that it's harming our love for 'deep reading', while causing us to develop some sort a of social media-induced ADHD.

Exhibit A: social sharing. A recent article revealed that there is no correlation between the number of social shares and actual reading. In other words, people are Tweeting stories without reading them entirely. I'm guilty of it, you're guilty of it - we've all done it at least once. GenY-ers have become less inclined to read lengthy, text-heavy articles - but that doesn't mean they no longer love to read.

Yes, it's true, we are developing digital brains - brains that crave bite-sized pieces of information, but also, brains that are able to gather news, to pull out key facts (quickly), and to digest and summarize information for sharing. When it comes to info-processing and the spreading of news and ideas, we like to do it quickly and efficiently - the Internet lives in real-time, and we're adapting to keep up.

For me, this is a skill - one that isn't required when reading leisurely. This is the distinction that we need to make when evaluating the digital brain. We are still a storytelling, deep-reading generation, if not more today than ever before.  Online communities like Wattpad are proof that young people still love to read and write stories. My morning commute sees teenagers with their noses stuck in thick, 700-page books. I am a proud owner of a library card, and I never have less than two books signed out at a time.

The digital brain is not a threat to reading. Instead, it should be seen as a tool that can help us navigate our way through the overload of information that is the Internet.

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"The internet is in many ways a champion of freedom and defined by accessibility. But in Canada a great digital divide persists where lower-income households remain without Internet."

For many of us, the Internet has long lost its novelty and has become borderline mundane. Bet you didn't know though, that only 62 percent of Canadians in the lowest-income quartile have access to Internet, while the remaining 38 percent are entirely without a connection. 

The Internet is about more than just collecting friends, fans, and followers - it's about accessing the world's information. This kind of stuff keeps me up at night. How do we make Internet access more affordable?

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Paying For Twitter Followers? I Don't Buy It.

A friend of mine was recently tasked with purchasing Twitter followers for a lifestyle brand he works for (#facepalm) and asked me what I thought.

Buying followers is like buying friends - it's something you don't want anyone else to know about. To me, brands who pay for fans and followers is a big no-no.

Dedicating time to social media shouldn't be a chore for companies who value consumer engagement - and here's why:

Number one - platforms like Twitter and Facebook are rich sources of information that allow businesses to learn about their audiences - what insights can a company gather from a community partially made up of fictional users? Fictional insights, naturally.

Number two - humans like other humans. Putting in the effort to Tweet or post relevant content, while having meaningful conversations with your community allows brands to connect with them on a personal, more human level. 

And number three - traditional ads are dying (some may argue). Building an on-target, engaged community essentially allows brands to advertise for free - and to people who matter.

So, for businesses who care only about outward appearances and use meaningless metrics to measure success, then please, continue paying for followers. But, what's the return on investment, really?

Here's the truth: some brands do social and some do social well. Attract followers organically, and you'll have something valuable - just remember, good business is honest business. 

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The Trivial Pursuit for 'Likes'

What fuels a digital mammal? I guess that depends. 

Like prehistoric cavemen societies, both Hunters and Gatherers roam the digital space. Hunters use social media to look for good, thought-provoking content to share and digest, while Gatherers seem more concerned with attaining Likes - a meaningless metric in many respects.

Please bare with my caveman analogy. The digital landscape has produced different species of social animals, and the Gatherer is one that I am particularly curious about. I have friends who will (out of embarrassment and sheer humiliation) delete an Instagram photo if they fail to receive more than 10 Likes within the first hour. 

So what fuels a digital mammal? Sadly, for many Gatherers, it's the trivial pursuit for Likes. There is a common belief that Likes positively correlate with 'social status', which, according to many teens on Facebook, is becoming a problem. We all know popularity contests are meaningless, but it's not only the digital mammal that is falling prey to this deception - brands are increasingly putting emphasis on increasing follower and fan counts - mere metrics that don't mean much. Although these numbers are important, it's things like follower and fan engagement that should be made a priority. What are your consumers saying about you? How are they behaving/interacting with your brand?

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Hello, I'm a New Age Feminist

I confess. I have never identified with feminist ideologies. Sure, I appreciate them, but I was never the bra-burning, man-hating type - nor will I ever be. As of today, however I will gladly call myself a New Age Feminist - a woman who believes in encouraging other women to sit at the table alongside men, by being fearless, recognizing our own fatal flaws, and reversing stereotypes.

This all dawned on me today as I was reading Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In. I made a point to pick it up at the library last week knowing that I would be doing some leisurely reading over the holidays. Let me just share two facts (supported by data) that have really resonated with me so far:

Fact: Women systematically underestimate themselves.

Fact: Success and Likeability are positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women.

For Sheryl, women tend to feel like frauds when praised for their accomplishments - I'd be lying if I said I couldn't relate. Things need to change, and as COO of Facebook, Sheryl is able to give a number of examples from her own personal and professional experiences that teach women to stop shying away from challenges, but rather, to lean in.