The Gladwell hating gets out of hand sometimes. I'll be the first to admit the man isn't what you would call a rigorous scientist in the social disciplines, but I don't think that he makes that claim. Rather, he provides interesting (if overly broad) insights into patterns that we may or may not have noticed ourselves - and does so in an entertaining fashion.
The New Yorker article the author is commenting on, is actually pretty insightful. Gladwell makes it clear that most social networks are broad and thin, but the networks that result in disciplined individual behavior are those that are reinforced through close, physical, interpersonal ties.
A simple mind-experiment is useful to capture this:
What percentage of the 500 friends you have on facebook will come over and help you move tomorrow if you sent out a request?
Now, what percentage of the friends that you see, in person, on a weekly basis would do so if you sent a request out to them?
That meeting in person creates a much richer, and committed relationship than Poking/Walling/Liking does.
I think that's all Gladwell was trying to state in his New Yorker Article.
The problem with that analogy is that people rarely respond if asked to do something as part of a group. By nature, a mass facebook request isn't personalized. It's like asking if anyone in the class knows the answer vs. picking on a particular student. If the request is made to the group, it is too easy to free ride on others.
It's not fair to compare all your friends on facebook vs. only your closest friends in person. If I sent a request for help via a group text to everyone on my phone I'd probably get less of a response than if I sent personalized messages to my 15 closest friends on facebook. You have to compare apples to apples.
Officially known as "diffusion of responsibility". It's the reason why, if you are a witness to an accident and you are attending to an injured individual, you are supposed to point to a single individual bystander and tell them call for an ambulance rather than say "someone call 911".
Apart from the other replies to your comment, the Facebook analogy is also flawed because a huge percentage of my Facebook friends don't live in the same city or even country as me. I guess that's the case for most people.
Comments
The Gladwell hating gets out of hand sometimes. I'll be the first to admit the man isn't what you would call a rigorous scientist in the social disciplines, but I don't think that he makes that claim. Rather, he provides interesting (if overly broad) insights into patterns that we may or may not have noticed ourselves - and does so in an entertaining fashion.
The New Yorker article the author is commenting on, is actually pretty insightful. Gladwell makes it clear that most social networks are broad and thin, but the networks that result in disciplined individual behavior are those that are reinforced through close, physical, interpersonal ties.
A simple mind-experiment is useful to capture this:
What percentage of the 500 friends you have on facebook will come over and help you move tomorrow if you sent out a request?
Now, what percentage of the friends that you see, in person, on a weekly basis would do so if you sent a request out to them?
That meeting in person creates a much richer, and committed relationship than Poking/Walling/Liking does.
I think that's all Gladwell was trying to state in his New Yorker Article.
The problem with that analogy is that people rarely respond if asked to do something as part of a group. By nature, a mass facebook request isn't personalized. It's like asking if anyone in the class knows the answer vs. picking on a particular student. If the request is made to the group, it is too easy to free ride on others.
It's not fair to compare all your friends on facebook vs. only your closest friends in person. If I sent a request for help via a group text to everyone on my phone I'd probably get less of a response than if I sent personalized messages to my 15 closest friends on facebook. You have to compare apples to apples.
Officially known as "diffusion of responsibility". It's the reason why, if you are a witness to an accident and you are attending to an injured individual, you are supposed to point to a single individual bystander and tell them call for an ambulance rather than say "someone call 911".
Apart from the other replies to your comment, the Facebook analogy is also flawed because a huge percentage of my Facebook friends don't live in the same city or even country as me. I guess that's the case for most people.