Michael Wesch’s talk on new media as a learning tool illustrated the potential that multi-media operations have on the future of the world. The two men who posed as corporations and public figures to fool people who don’t have a hand on new media yet was brilliant. As is how Twitter helped publicize the conflicts in the middle-east, even after all other forms of communication were essentially banned, the government didn’t understand how to stop it.

New media can play a vital role in politics as well… I thought of this video while thinking about people who don’t understand how to work social media. (From Stephen Colbert.)

If you don’t feel like watching, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley didn’t understand twitter, and would tweet completely illegibly because he didn’t understand the process or concept. Colbert made a mockery of him and the tag #tweetslikegrassley trended when people didn’t feel like tweeting coherently. It was significant enough for me that I don’t know anything about Iowa except corn and Grassley.

Kony2012 took the world by storm a few months ago when people who had never heard of  Joseph Kony at least took notice of the atrocities he was committing.

Ultimately, I’m learning to appreciate what social media can do besides showing everybody my new beach pictures.