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Since I’m apparently in fess-up mode this month, let’s get started with this bombshell: in terms of my publishing-related fancies, I’ve tended towards fashioning myself as more of a trade girl. Sure, I’m an avid fiction reader (the dirty little secrets continue), but it’s not just that. When it comes to digital marketing in the publishing world, trade was the most immediately obvious beneficiary. Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest: that screams “Twilight” far more than “academia”, right? Wrong. Social media is about content. There are many different ways to present that content (with assured eternal regret is one example), but it’s all content, just the same. (Interesting fact: the term “blog” was coined as a short form for its original name “web log” to describe the practice of regularly logging web content. Sexy, I know.) What exactly are we talking about here? What does social media content really facilitate? Curiosity. Ideas. Opinions. Philosophy. Discourse. Knowledge. What does that sound like? Academia.
So, maybe it’s casual academia. And yes, often, it’s not even close. But the intellectual value of such a far-reaching method of content sharing is very real. Out with the pub—the academic’s historic meditative debate venue of choice (yes, that has been thoroughly personally researched)—and in with social media platforms. Well, not really out with the pub; some things will never change that much, and for good reason. But once the scholarly masses discover Foursquare, guess where they’ll be? At the pub. But we’ll know about it. Maybe we’ll even start joining them there.
So scholarly publishing doesn’t really benefit from jazzed up Facebook contests and hashtag hype (yet), but it is ALL about content. And that content is all about substance. Aren’t we just starved for that? So, the next time you’re in the mood for some intellectual nourishment, remember that you may not have to go far. Substantial knowledge goes social, too. Use it.
They are letting me keep a web log, after all. #knowledgerockstars
February 26th, 2013 at 10:29
This is a very interesting take on social media as an emerging form of academic discourse! Institutional pedagogy seems to always lag behind general society in terms of uptake of new technologies.
While you conjecture that scholarly publishing is *all* about content, I would argue that distribution is also an important part of any form of publishing – even the most academically obtuse publication still needs to find its *audience*. This is where conventional social media can really shine.
That said, as social media evolves and becomes ingrained in our daily lives, people are demanding interaction with their content in increasingly more complex ways. Those in academia who chide social media as “Twilight” may find themselves in unplanned obsolescence before they know it.
That said, not sure how Socrates would feel about 4chan…