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We\'ll admit it — sociomechanica is not an actual word. But it is descriptive of the purpose of this blog — to hold a discourse about the mechanics of social media. What are its strong points? What are its weak points? The bloggers — an ever-growing list of smart people — are quasi-professional social media users who spend a lot of time and energy thinking about how it\'s changing the world.

14 July 2010 ~ 0 Comments

Hidden Jewels

Jewel and FunnyOrDie.com teamed up to expose the shock and disbelief that results when someone actually sounds good at a karaoke bar. The result isn’t so much “funny-ha-ha” as it is “funny-odd.” And it’s worth asking whether something like this would have ever happened before social media, when there were no video sharing sites and [...]

29 April 2010 ~ 3 Comments

Dr. Facebook or: How I learned to stop worrying and love to “Like”

Dr. Facebook or: How I learned to stop worrying and love to “Like”

Okay, that is a bit of an exaggeration. I don’t love the “Like” button. Yet. I still need to wait it out to see what happens. What I don’t love is when I see things like this polluting my Facebook news profile: Bobby Sue Smith likes Telling FOX News to shut the hell up, Skittles, [...]

22 April 2010 ~ 5 Comments

My Twitter Problem

Names matter. Name your service something like “Yahoo” or “Google,” and you’ve made yourself fun to talk about. Pick a name that’s not as fun, and you’ve made it less likely that we’ll want to talk about you. That leads me to my Twitter problem. Ever since Twitter’s emergence, I’ve resisted it. I’ve said it’s [...]

12 April 2010 ~ 1 Comment

A Bigger Monkey Cage

Here’s a unique idea about jealousy and social media, from neuroscience blogger Jonah Leher:

“Because these online tools collapse the space between people – we can experience a kind of intimacy with perfect strangers, learning about their breakfast routines and airport delays – we bring ourselves into “competition” with a far larger group. We’re suddenly comparing ourselves with people we’ve never met, and never will. While this pseudo-closeness can be fun, I think it also comes with some anxiety inducing side-effects.” [...]

09 April 2010 ~ 1 Comment

Infographic porn

Infographics! I love them! That’s one of my favorite things about my subscription to Wired Magazine, and a reason Cool Infographics is a favorite blog of mine. Well, I just eat up all the great infographics that Mashable puts forward. So I think I’m going to hop on the trend that Leo started on here [...]

07 April 2010 ~ 2 Comments

(Anti) Social media

(Anti) Social media

A friend of mine recently had a negative experience not necessarily caused by social media, but certainly amplified by it. In response, she decided to “delete herself”—her words—from the social media sphere, at least for a while. No Facebook. No Buzz. No Twitter. Nothing. She’s not alone. As social media matures, more people are wondering [...]

01 April 2010 ~ 3 Comments

Better Not

The other day I passed a restaurant sign—a permanent sign, no less—that said “Better than authentic.” Think of that for a second: “Better than authentic.” Is that possible? Furthermore, is it even desirable? The answer on both fronts, of course, is no. And here’s why. For years, many communicators—marketers, for the most part—sought to circumvent [...]

26 March 2010 ~ 5 Comments

The social media equivalent to taking a time-out

The social media equivalent to taking a time-out

Oh, Mashable. You’re like the sage grandmother of the social media world. You’re always right, and we always listen to you. And sometimes, you get us into a SM frenzy. Although I am constantly singing the praises of being super-connected and available, there can be too much of a good thing. I have been there, [...]

16 March 2010 ~ 1 Comment

The Sarcasm Denotation Wars

The Sarcasm Denotation Wars

One of the joys, I think, in maintaining a healthy level of sarcastic comments on the internet, is that not everybody understands it. Inevitably, if I make a sarcastic Facebook comment, someone takes it at face-value. And then, I can laugh maliciously even more, as can my fellow sarcasmers. We can share a little inside [...]

16 March 2010 ~ 0 Comments

Chat Roulette Piano Improv

Chat Roulette Piano Improv

No, we’re not obsessed with Chat Roulette here at SocioMechanica. Well, Andy might be. Who knows what he does in his free time? But I’ve never used it. I don’t even have a web cam. This though is seriously clever and if I ever did use ChatRoulette, this is the guy I’d want to be [...]