Obama Vs. iPad

Here are the exact words of President Obama while giving a speech on the importance of access to information:

“With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation.”

Surprising, especially from a president who used social media as a key communication tool during his election campaign. Although Obama is probably one of the most tech savvy politician of his time, he's seem to think that digital communication doesn't mean everything.

I agree with Obama when he says that iPads & co tend to make information a distraction because we pay less and less attention to complex content on the Internet. But according to me, the real problem comes from the way people choose to use these amazing communication tools. The information itself hasn't change, but the way it reaches us did.

We get information through the same technology that entertains us. It was already the case with television and radio, but multimedia tools like iPads made this statement even more obvious. Indeed, the media that Obama accuses are a part of our everyday life, and pretty addictive. We carry these tools around everywhere we go, and like the president says we live in a "media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments".

I think the message to remember is that it's up to us to make the most out of technology. Fortunately, iPads don't have the power to make information a distraction, human beings do.

What's your opinion?

Do you think we could use technology and social media for more noble reasons or are we doomed to be distracted by this constant flow of information?

The Only Thing Constant In The World Is Change

Funny fact...the only thing you could possibily write as a status on Twitter or Facebook is : I'm on Twitter, or I'm on Facebook.

But everyone knows that social media are not about being honest.You have to litteraly be extraordinary. Updating your page is a way to show the world you exist, otherwise people will think you're dead, or just borring which is even worse.

If the Internet is the Kingdom of impermanence, it's in war with Boredom Land.

Constantly reinvent yourself or die, that's what social media tell us.

Beside from making people even more self-centered, I think this tendancy to always stay in the newsfeed has been really challenging for businesses. Indeed, a company that decides to be on Twitter signs a fictitious contract with the public that says, "I'm newsworthy". So it is up to brands to keep their followers or fan basis entertained.

This is also true for famous people. I'm a fan of rap singer Lupe Fiasco on Facebook and I think he's doing a great job with his page. Not only he uses it to give people's official information about his album, concerts, or important events, but he manages to create a real relationship with the fans by simply staying aware of the news. Lupe Fiasco supports other artists on his status, wishes a happy mother's day, and ad personal pictures. Unlike Beyoncé, who only updates her status to promote herself or sell something.

I think it's important to stay creative to incorporate social media in a business. The whole point of it is to develop a different relationship with your client, one that you wouldn't have on a traditional communication's channel.

Do you have examples of companies or celebrities who use social media in an original way?

Is Transparency A Good Thing?

Have you ever googled your own name? Well one of my best friends did it for me and told me I was in the autocomplete...scary!

It made me think that transparency seems to be a phenomenon directly linked to the Internet and social media. Hiding from people is becoming more an more complicated, even for totally anonymous persons since we all have profile on different networks.

So you can only imagine how twisted it can get for celebrities, especially for politicians who are supposed to represent their party and electors. The Internet is dissuading political figures to lie to the people because the new technologies make it harder for them to withhold information, which is a good thing.

But every single word that comes out of a politician's mouth is now recorded and posted online, even when it's useless. I don't tolerate the bloopers of French president Sarkozy who insult his opponents when they refuse to shake his hand. But the problem with transparency, is that it totally erased the line between the official speech and what is supposed to be off the record. Ministers and presidents are being judged for the people they are in real life, but the danger with transparency is that it makes people focus on trivial things.

We are lucky to live in a society that doesn't keep the information hidden. But westerns countries have to be careful not to abuse this gift and turn it into a disinformation tool. New technologies allow to record anything at anytime and social media help to spread the news, so let's save this amazing communication flow for information worth sharing!

Hugo Chavez On Twitter

Last week, Twitter was welcoming an unexpected new user in the network, the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. He might be a politician, but he sounded more like a messiah on his first tweet:

"Hey how are you doing? I appeared like I said I would: at midnight. I'm off to Brazil. And very happy to work for Venezuela. We will be victorious!!"

Although Hugo Chavez is not the first president to be on Twitter, his new activity raises many questions on the relationship between the Internet and propaganda. Hugo Chavez is indeed known to give media a hard time in Venezuela, and was accused by many journalist organizations to jeopardize freedom of press. The president closed many TV channels and holds a monopoly on Venezuelan media that allows him to appear as much as he wants. He even has his own TV show called Alo Presidente.

The Internet is often seen as the media of the opposition, because it gives a voice to people who don't usually have one on TV, radio or press. We all remember the role that Twitter played in the dissenting movements in Iran. Unfortunately, it seems like politicians are more than ready to get their share from social media.

I think that everybody has the right to use social media to express themselves, the only problem with Chavez becoming a Twitterer is that he doesn't recognize that statement himself. The main reason why the Venezuelan president, considered as a despot, is on Twitter is to fight the presence of the opposition on the Internet. "The Internet is a battle trench because it is bringing a current of conspiracy," he declared.

Nobody can prevent Hugo Chavez from tweeting, but it's sad to see that repressive personalities like him start to use a tool that was partly used to struggle against repression!

What do you think about the presence of Hugo Chavez on Twitter?