A) Re-reading the book mentioned in class called The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell and
B) The very similar term "Flash Mob" that I have been hearing about in my local news for the past few years.
First of all, Malcolm Gladwell is a great writer and has a lot of well-crafted, knowledgeable things to say about a wide variety topics. He has been a writer for the New Yorker for over a decade, written a many successful non-fiction books and was named as one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2005.
My favorite Gladwell work is a book called Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. If you ever want to learn about "gut-feelings" and split-second decisions (and why they are correct) I recommend you check it out. Fairly quick and easy read that can really open your mind up to intuition.
Here is one way to quickly and broadly summarize how The Tipping Point relates to social networking and smart mob's from a fellow Blogger's site:
Source: http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2006/07/visualizing_the.html
My real interest in this expansive topic of social networking, connectivity and technology is the concept (and practice) of Flash Mobs. In the past two years the City of Philadelphia has experienced a number of flash mob instances and from what I understand they are essentially identical as smart mob's, only these mobs have turned violent.
Being from the Philadelphia area and frequenting Center City regularly, to hear about hundreds, even thousands, of teenagers flooding the streets at the same time randomly can be kind of disconcerting.
Why are they here? How did this start? What are they going to do?
Whether innocently started for excitement or callously concocted for crime, these mobs have shown up and turned the streets into mayhem.
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| 2008 |
On one hand you have a seemingly peaceful attempt at an impromptu World Series Parade:
But in this next video, things turn into break-ins and rioting:
Obviously social networking can be used for crime but these flash mobs in Philly (and other cities in the United States and abroad) truly show both the power of social networking and the inevitable dangers new technology poses for society.
This next video is a news report explaining the situation in more detail. It reaches for answers as to why these mobs exist. This situation brings up countless speculations and inquiries about the smart/flash mob subject.
For the sake of blog post brevity, I'll save my personal opinions for a later date and please let me know what you think.
I'd now like to revive your outlook on smart mobs before I sign off. They can be clever, meaningful, or just really funny.
FLASH FREEZE
FLASH NINJA
But in this next video, things turn into break-ins and rioting:
Obviously social networking can be used for crime but these flash mobs in Philly (and other cities in the United States and abroad) truly show both the power of social networking and the inevitable dangers new technology poses for society.
This next video is a news report explaining the situation in more detail. It reaches for answers as to why these mobs exist. This situation brings up countless speculations and inquiries about the smart/flash mob subject.
For the sake of blog post brevity, I'll save my personal opinions for a later date and please let me know what you think.
I'd now like to revive your outlook on smart mobs before I sign off. They can be clever, meaningful, or just really funny.
FLASH FREEZE
FLASH NINJA
I'll admit I am a little overwhelmed by all of the videos that you have provided here but I believe that you are on to something with this flash mob/smart mob crisis. Technology definitely has improved and provided a faster form of mass communication through texting and emails with mobile phones and other devices. The smart mobs article that we read in class offered an example of how these smart/flash mobs can even be used to overthrow a government. Fortunately, I am from a small town and have never really experienced anything like what you are describing in Philadelphia, but I can definitely see your cause for concern over the situation.
ReplyDeleteI never realized the violence that flash mobs could create. Whenever I think of flash mobs I just think of fun flash mobs like the "iRavers" on the library bridge
ReplyDeleteI think flash mobs should be dealt with any other way that disturbances of the peace are delt with, with brutal judgement. It might be cute and all, but those big masses actually scare people when they don't know what is going on
ReplyDeleteHaha good use of videos in this blog! At first I was like I am not sure if I want to read this blog... it seems soo long! However I am glad I did because I watched some interesting/funny videos. I loved the Grand Central Station video. I was just in New York about a month ago and I cant imagine this happening at Grand Central Station!
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how these flash mobs get started. Like we talked about in class, there is no central leader so how do they all mobilize so quickly? I hope that these sort of thing start to be more peaceful though. I can only imagine how much damage a couple thousand people rioting in the streets could do. Great use of videos.
ReplyDeleteI think the increasing level of connection we have as a society with the advent of new technologies is a great thing. We receive information with minimal delay and can stay connected with friends, family, and the world like never before. However, with the increased level of connectivity, our actions reverberate much quicker and farther throughout the web of society. Thus, as we learn from violent smart mobs, we must not this new power for destructive means. The consequences are unpredictable when an idea can evolve as it permeates an immense network of people.
ReplyDelete