mayo-moyle

Category: culture

  • social networks

    Seth Godin on social networks:

    His key point is that social networking (ie facebook, twitter, etc) is only valuable to the degree that it fosters real relationships; if it’s not building conversation, trust and a willingness to serve and do for others it simply becomes a meaningless time waster.

    This summer I’ve also been reading Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky and came upon this quote:

    “We don’t often talk about love when trying to describe the public world, because love seems too squishy and too private. What has happened, though, and what is still happening in our historical moment, is that love has become a lot less squishy and a lot less private. Love has a half-life too, as well as a radius, and we’re used to both of those being small. We can affect the people we love, but the longevity and social distance of love are both constrained. Or were constrained – now we can do things for strangers who do things for us, at a low enough cost to make that kind of behavior attractive, and those effects can last well beyond our original contribution. Our social tools are turning love into a renewable building material. When people care enough, they can come together and accomplish things of a scope and longevity that were previously impossible; they can do big things for love.”

    One small example of how I’ve recently seen this at work was in a simple status update my friend Jeff posted on facebook a couple weeks ago. He made a quick reference about meeting a homeless family in the park, and asked if anyone knew of some resources that might help them. People came through, and within 48 hours the family was in a hotel room. It was a quick appeal on Jeff’s part a few years ago getting that kind of support might have meant spending a few hours on the phone; now all it took was a simply status update (2-3 minutes of his time). But also, the response was based on this network of people who actually know Jeff and know his judgement and insight can be trusted, leading them to step up and assist this family. There is beauty and power in social networking, but we must always be careful that the medium always be a medium for that larger work of love – helping others and changing lives, instead of becoming an idol of love unto itself.

  • the church needs heritics

    seth godin’s latest ted talk on tribes is now out, and worth viewing:

    in addition my friend, scott, recently reviewed douglas rushkoff’s latest book, below are some of the key points he highlighted:

    • self-sufficiency was part of the myth of the self-made man in his private esate, so community property, carpools, or sharing of almost any kind became anathema to the suburban aesthetic 51
    • conformty shouldn’t be confused with solidarity. the houses and families within these subdivisions were equal but separate. 61
    • going into debt, distancing ourselves from our neighbors, and striving for conformity became equated with freedom 63
    • the more disconnected people became from one another, the more easily they could be manipulated… and more dependent on central authorities to create both value and meaning  89
    • the invention of the printing press turned reading, lit, and bible study from a group activity to an individual one 92
    • if the oats were bad, you’d know where to find the man responsible. you knew his face… if his oats were bad he’s lose more than a customer, for you lived and worked in the same town… had had more at stake than your business. you were more than just one another’s customers; you were interdependent members of a community 98
    • christian branding turns a religion based in charity and community into a personal relationship with jesus — a narcissistic faith mirroring the marketing framework on which it is now based 142
    • kids want to be bill gates or to win american idol without wanting to be sw engineer or caring about singing … the money & recognition they envision for themselves is utterly disconnected from any real task or creation of value 181
    • adam smith’s theories of the market were predicated on the regulating pressures of neighbors and social values 182
    • credit card companies market credit as a lifestyle of choice 183
    • things can feel — or be made to feel — novel or revolutionary, even though they still consistute biz as usual 193
    • we’d rather send a donation to a middle east peace fund than engage directly with violence-endorsing extremists at our own place of worship 229
    • the surest path to global change in a highly networked world is to make an extremely local impact that works so well it spreads… shared with or copied by other groups in other communities around the world 235
    • by restoring our connections to real people, places, and values, we’ll be less likely to depend on the symbols and brands that have come to substitute for human relationships.
    • the best reason to begin reconnecting with real people, places and value is that it feels good. happiness doesn’t com from the top down but from the bottom up…. real people doing real things for one another — without expectations — is the very activity that has been systematically extracted from our society 244