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> While these social protests — and their flash-mob, criminal mutations like those in London — are not caused by new technologies per se, they are fueled by the

by gasull 15y ago

> While these social protests — and their flash-mob, criminal mutations like those in London — are not caused by new technologies per se, they are fueled by them. Untrue according to the conclusions in this study: http://www.cepr.org/pubs/new-dps/dplist.asp?dpno=8513.asp http://www.cepr.org/pubs/new-dps/dplist.asp?dpno=8513.asp There's no correlation between social media penetration and social unrest. It would happen anyway but through traditional channels.

diego_moita 15y ago
You know, I'll be the first to admit that Friedman doesn't hesitate to ignore any solid evidence and a look instead for the closest funny/shiny/trendy anecdote, story or buzzword. Gosh, even Malcolm Gladwell does better "research" than Friedman! But presenting as counter-evidence a publication behind a pay wall is not much better, either. Can you provide us more details than a simple hyper-link to an abstract that doesn't relate to your point?
- tryitnow 15y ago
  Good point, plus doesn't the study end in 2009? "Budget Cuts and Social Unrest in Europe, 1919-2009" It just addresses growing media penetration? How on earth can this study address social media with a data set that is mostly pre-2000? I think the best we can say now is that the jury is still out. I have no idea how citing a study where the bulk of the data is from the 20th century can say anything useful about social media. Thanks for posting the link to the study though - always glad to see folks trying to back up their assertions with evidence.
- ramchip 15y ago
  Here is the document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/62248736/DP8513 http://www.scribd.com/doc/62248736/DP8513 I'm not sure if it's free to read or not since I may be behind a university proxy. I think it is though, it's more or less a draft.
ramchip 15y ago
I see two problems with this: 1) This study concerns mass media, not social media nor new technologies 2) It is very specific about the effect of media on social unrest due to budget cuts. I read the article quickly, but as far as I can see the reasons the author suggests for the mobs are unrelated to budget cuts. Ref: Further, we examine if the spread of mass media changes the probability of unrest. This is not the case. If anything, higher levels of media availability and a more developed telecommunications infrastructure reduce the strength of the mapping from budget cuts to instability.

by gasull 15y ago

diego_moita 15y ago

You know, I'll be the first to admit that Friedman doesn't hesitate to ignore any solid evidence and a look instead for the closest funny/shiny/trendy anecdote, story or buzzword. Gosh, even Malcolm Gladwell does better "research" than Friedman! But presenting as counter-evidence a publication behind a pay wall is not much better, either. Can you provide us more details than a simple hyper-link to an abstract that doesn't relate to your point?

tryitnow 15y ago
Good point, plus doesn't the study end in 2009? "Budget Cuts and Social Unrest in Europe, 1919-2009" It just addresses growing media penetration? How on earth can this study address social media with a data set that is mostly pre-2000? I think the best we can say now is that the jury is still out. I have no idea how citing a study where the bulk of the data is from the 20th century can say anything useful about social media. Thanks for posting the link to the study though - always glad to see folks trying to back up their assertions with evidence.
ramchip 15y ago
Here is the document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/62248736/DP8513 http://www.scribd.com/doc/62248736/DP8513 I'm not sure if it's free to read or not since I may be behind a university proxy. I think it is though, it's more or less a draft.

ramchip 15y ago

I see two problems with this: 1) This study concerns mass media, not social media nor new technologies 2) It is very specific about the effect of media on social unrest due to budget cuts. I read the article quickly, but as far as I can see the reasons the author suggests for the mobs are unrelated to budget cuts. Ref: Further, we examine if the spread of mass media changes the probability of unrest. This is not the case. If anything, higher levels of media availability and a more developed telecommunications infrastructure reduce the strength of the mapping from budget cuts to instability.