Quick Thought on Social Media

by Dec 2, 2011Culture, Tech

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I’ve been on Facebook pretty much since it became available to me. I tried MySpace briefly. I have an obligatory Google Plus account.

But the one piece of social media I most enjoy is Goodreads. Here’s why: in the world of book reading, things don’t happen fast. Even my most bibliophilic friends have real jobs, so they don’t read more than a book a week. Each of their posts—writing out thoughts on books they’ve read—marks a significant investment of time.

So I have fewer posts to deal with than on Facebook, and they’re all of higher quality. Goodreads marshals the power of social media to share information quickly, but helps me in my battle to keep my head above the cloud. It’s very structure makes it an information filter, which Neil Postman has wisely warned us that we will need as the speed limit on the information superhighway continues to rise into the stratosphere.

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