Posts tagged as Malcolm Gladwell
"Bank of America Features Malcolm Gladwell"
"Taking another step in its ongoing effort to encourage small business growth, Bank of America today announced it has conducted a series of events with Malcolm Gladwell to deliver quality education and actionable advice to small business owners in various markets throughout the country." READ MORE
Why Do You People Keep Insisting Twitter is "Perfect"?
Malcolm Gladwell apparently decided to stuff and mount his strawman Twitter arguments again: "He said he has it on his BlackBerry and made a 'chh-chh' technology sound effect while miming with his thumbs as if he was pressing buttons on a small device. He likes to read things his friends tweet. 'Like I said, these are awesome tools,' he added, fidgeting with the top on a water bottle resting next to his chair. 'I just don’t know why it has to be perfect—right?—or why anyone would claim that it’s good at absolutely everything. Isn’t it enough that it’s an extraordinary means of sharing ideas and bringing people together?' READ MORE
Gladwell Won't Get It: The Real Role of Twitter in Global Protest
There was a lot wrong with Malcolm Gladwell's super-ballyhooed piece, "Small Change," in the New Yorker last October. In it, he suggested that the Civil Rights movement in the U.S. took place without Twitter or Facebook, because they hadn't been invented yet. Now that the same questions have come up again with respect to recent events in Egypt, Gladwell hopped right onto the New Yorker blog to complain some more about how not-important Twitter is. READ MORE
Giving It To Malcolm Gladwell
The Revolution Will Not Be ‘Liked’: "The fact is, there are too many bands in the world. We’re talking about thousands of misguided people who are making everyone around them broke and miserable and overcrowding this wonderful city. I mean, you talk about process, about sharing a process. What process? What is the process, Jerry? Do you know the process of actually learning how to play an instrument? Do they? Do they know how long it takes to actually become good at playing an instrument? TEN THOUSAND HOURS, Jerry."
Twitter's "Enormous and Concerted Act of Social Disobedience"
"I don't come to refute Gladwell's strawman argument...." READ MORE
Malcolm Gladwell Also Knows Twitter Won't Change Your Tires, Make You Lunch
I appear to be one of the few who agree with Malcolm Gladwell that vast systems of inequity, such as Jim Crow laws, will not likely be changed by means of people putting up some thoughts on the Twitter. (Still I didn't realize people were seriously suggesting such a thing!)
Malcolm Gladwell Correct!
Oh my God, I think I agree with Malcolm Gladwell? First though we must note that this interview contains a wonderfully telling Gladwell moment. Gladwell says that we need to look at the consequences of social media. Great, can you give me an example, he is asked. And then he pretends to give an example which isn't an example at all, but a vague theory. Okay but that is a quibble! Because then there's this. "If I'm putting together a flash mob, that I want everyone to meet me in half an hour in Times Square, it's really useful to have 100,000 followers on Twitter. If I want everyone to go to my website and buy my new book, it's incredibly useful to have 100,000 followers on Facebook. If I want to start a political movement to overthrow a tyrannical regime, it may be less useful. If you follow me on Twitter, I do not own your heart. I may own your pocketbook momentarily. And I may own your attention for five seconds, but that's it." That's what's funny about the demands for a PLATFORM or a BRAND IDENTITY ONLINE for those who make things, like albums or books or macrame: those "social media relationships" just aren't that deep or durable.
Marriage-Happiness Predicting Scientist Actually Does No Predicting
Another Malcolm Gladwell anecdote sorta bites the dust, in the form of "marriage happiness predictor" and scientist John Gottman, who does not actually predict marriage happiness it turns out. (Not that his work is wrong! He just doesn't do predictions.)
The Malcolm Gladwell Digest: "The Sure Thing," Jan 18, 2010, the 'New Yorker'
Malcolm Gladwell. Subtitle: "How Entrepreneurs Really Succeed." Ted Turner "inherited the largest outdoor advertising firm in the South." "He could advertise his new station for free." "Within two years, the station was breaking even." "In a recent study." "The truly successful businessman... is a predator." "Wall Street thought that [John] Paulson was crazy." "But Paulson wasn't crazy at all." "'There's never been an opportunity like this,' Paulson gushed to a colleague, as he made one bet after another. By 'never' he meant never ever." "Paulson's story also casts a harsh light on the prevailing assumptions behind corporate compensation policies.... to turn executives into risk-takers." "Many entrepreneurs take plenty of risks-but those are generally the failed entrepreneurs." "Failed entrepreneurs tend to be wildly undercapitalized." "Famous experiment with kindergarten children." "People who work for themselves are far happier than the rest of us."
Horror Chick, With Melissa Lafsky: Why 'The Fourth Kind' Needs to Suckle at the Teat of Malcolm Gladwell
Collectively, we think alien abduction is dumb. I mean really dumb. Like, if I came home one day and said, "Hey, I was abducted by aliens," somehow that would launch me deeper into Fucking Nutcase Territory than "Hey, I was possessed by a demon who's been stalking me since childhood," or "Hey, I was screwed six ways from Sunday by a modern Dracula who looks like Fabio after a brief stay at Auschwitz," or even, "Hey, I turned an entire investment bank into a giant vampire squid." But really, why is alien abduction so much nuttier than demon possession or vampire sex or Matt Taibbi's anti-Goldman rage? It's simply a matter of agreement-we all agree that it's crazier, so it is. It's the same reason why, say, Scientology is grounds for unbridled derision, while Catholicism is a "legitimate" religion. At least Xenu lets you wear a condom. READ MORE
