....watch this video of Michael Wesch's speech at the library of congress entitled An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube. The video focuses on YouTube and its community of users, but many of the dynamics at work there can be applied to every area of social media and content.
As you watch this video, ask yourself these questions:
1 - Why are the ideas in these videos spreading? Do ideas have more credibility to the YouTube community if they think they are coming from 'real' people?
2 - Why do so many people create videos and address them to 'YouTubers'? (Note: I often do the same thing, leaving a message on Plurk as 'Hello Plurkistan!' or 'Hello fellow Plurkers!', and I often tweet 'Hello Twitter!').
3 - Why would someone want to create and share this content? What are they seeking?
4 - Why are so many videos created in response to someone else's video?
If you are a company that wants to better understand social media and why people use these tools, consider these questions as you watch this video. Also consider if the ultimate success of your social media initiatives hinges more on your ability to make these people better understand you, or if it's more important for YOU to better understand how and why these people are using these tools?
Hat tips to Paul, Sean and Gavin.
1 comment:
I really have to thank you for posting this. I'd seen some of Mike Wesch's earlier work, but not this, and was I ever blown away by it!
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