1) The first point in the book that really hit me hard was this: "People are actually living their own lives rather than watching others." What? Isn't it almost the opposite? I sure thought it was the other way around, until Eric brought up this point in the third chapter. Along with many others, my previous perception has been that many of the social media tools, while very handy and useful in their own right, do not promote people from getting outside and doing stuff. But the reality is they can and do in many ways. People do spend time reading through others' posts and getting updates on what they are doing. The idea though, is that while this does take away some time from activities, it acts as a virtual backboard or reflection check on your own life and what you are doing. By creating this culture where people want to post the cool and active things they are doing, it creates kind of a competitive arena for people to go out and do things as well. You can see what others are doing, and the social media tools act as the medium for reflection for your own life.
2) This second point that I wanted to comment on was the idea that investing in social media actually makes you more productive. While this concept is not new to me, Eric did a nice job of illustrating his point with Sally Supermarket. Although he admits Sally's scenario was doctored up to make a point, there is some reality there. The basic idea is that you can gain information in a short amount of time that will reduce the amount of time you have to spend later, whether it is finding a great recipe or finding a bike decorating guideline etc. You also have some updates on your friends and family that may save time in the future. The comment I wanted to make about this is that I believe this idea can be true and false. In other words, it depends. It depends on whether the information you are exposed to in your social media circle actually pertains to your events (value added information that will in fact save you time) outweighs the non pertinent information you are reading through. I do believe that as social media continues to progress, this time saving concept will only become more and more valid as business and social groups post information that is more relevant to the individual who is following them. My thinking here is that businesses and social groups will only get better at what they are doing. Because over time, if it didn't make sense it wouldn't survive, and it certainly seems like social media is here to survive.
3) The third concept is something that everybody would enjoy: A better workplace for employees and employers. This is fantastic. The premise here is that there won't be any secrets between employees and employers, thus having a higher placement success. The employee will get a hired at a company that truly fits the person, and vice versa. As employees are happy in their companies, productivity will be on the rise as well. This makes complete sense to me. Why should there be any secrets between the employee and the employer? As we are finding out, company culture plays a large role in success of this relationship, and if the values between the employee and employer don't match, there is a low chance of success. This is like the online dating idea in that by the time you are actually meet in person, you are basically on your fourth date in terms of knowing information about each other (thanks to social media)! In summary, I think this concept is solid and will only help companies and employees. Not to mention the help to the economy with a more efficient national placement program.
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