3 takeaways from Socialnomics

First Takeaway: Social Media saves time and effort

As I read through the book, I tried to relate my views of social media (which essentially amounted to social media being little more than a waste of time while browsing the web), to the real-world examples of how/why social media sites are time and effort saver tools in daily life. The example of Sally Supermarket was an illustration of such capability. Having lived in India for many years, I can say from my first-hand expereience that seeking/delivering such as advise as demonstrated in Sally Supermarket example is a regular practice in social circles within Indian communities. Since communities are densely populated and close-knit, its common for people to regularly consult neighbors and friends on such topics. Social media brings this capability at a global scale. There is no reason for the person who advises you to be living close to you. They could be living half-a-world away and still their experiences in real-time.

Second Takeaway: Social Media democratizes the conversation

Barack Obama secured a landslide Democratic victory during the 2008 elections. This victory was attributed in large part to his campaign's capability to connect with and rally the younger generation voters. They were successfully able to have 2-way conversations through social media and take regular pulse of what voters were thinking. Obama's victory was a fine example of how politicians can fundamentally change the way they communicate and connect with American voters. Twitter and Facebook also had a significant role in overturning some of the dictator style democracies (eg. Egypt) recently. Twitter provided a platform for the people on the ground to communicate with the rest of the world. Even with the internet blackout during parts of the protest, Google's Speak2Tweet service facilitated sending Twitters by calling an international phone number and speaking the tweet words. This also provides further evidence that social media platform provides a chance for the people living under oppressive regimes to have their voice heard not just by their governments, but by the rest of the world.

Takeway 3: Data collected through Social Media platforms has massive Mining potential

Data collected as part of social media interactions is extremely valuable in performing predictive analysis. Prediction of when an epidemic will hit or who will win the next elections can be performed much earlier and much more accurately using data from social media platforms compared to any of the other tools that have existed in the past. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter provide the necessary platform for members to have conversations which, when aggregated over a large user base provide an insight into questions that otherwise would require a tremendous amount of effort to analyze. Data mining and analysis tools now are more sophisticated than ever. This combination provides the capability to perform detailed predictive analysis, the likes of which have been extremely tough to do in the past.