As a blogger, I am thrilled to announce that some researchers are reporting that it’s far easier for your brain to remember something from a “microblog” than a book. So huzzah! What I write actually sticks. Well sort of. The paper is more about how Facebook posts and tweets are more likely to stick in your memory, so what I write about the blog on Facebook—have you liked the Law Library on Facebook? Because you should totally like the Law Library on Facebook—is more likely to remain in your memory than a sentence from that latest bestselling tome. Ah, such power. But, as a certain first-round reboot Spider Man movie taught us, with great power comes great responsibility.
Academics are beginning to feel the weight of that responsibility. Well…at least a couple of academics are. Back in January, Kathleen Fitzpatrick started a conversation about how public shaming via social media isn’t just a thing done by middle schoolers. Ryan Cordell picked up the thread and wrote a piece on Twitter etiquette at conferences. Twitter—and all social media—is a tool and it all depends on the user whether that tool is used to help or harm. You need not always be the wind beneath someone’s wings, but it’s probably best to not be the knife in their back either. I mean, after all, as we’ve already established, those tweets and posts are what people are going to be remembering.
Tags: Blogs, Ethics, Facebook, Social Media, Spider Man, Twitter