Reading 1

To start with, I really loved the book. Even for me, for a person who is far from social media, it was easy and interesting to read it. The notion of groundswell was absolutely new to me and I was really surprised how much it is used. I got two main ideas from the chapters which are

·         shifting power from institution to people

·         concentration on relations not technology

I think both these things are very important. Nowadays people are speaking about machines and technologies substituting real communication, feelings and emotions. Older generation says that very soon we will forget real life and will exist only in virtual reality. That’s what we often hear in Russia. So many movies and books touch upon this topic. That’s why this emphasis on relations is very important. After reading the chapters I realized that social media really connects and unites people. And the idea that once something got in the Internet it always stays there seems incredible to me. No matter what status the institution/person has and how much money he’s got he cannot get rid of undesirable information in the social network (the picture Barbara Streisand’s house is still there and I enjoyed it :)). Another thing that I loved in the chapters is practical advice given to businessmen and companies which can very useful. I have already written how much social network is popular in Russia, but unfortunately its importance and potential in work, in business, in PR, etc. is just beginning to be realized, and all the knowledge we have about social network is just starting to be applied.  

One aspect of groundswell interests me greatly. That is peer-to-peer lending services and social students’ loans. I have studies this topic a bit before. It excites me and I’m really sorry this doesn’t yet exist in Russia. For example http://www.greennote.com is a social lending site for student loans that appeals to people’s good graces more than their wish to make a huge return.  It helps arrange and manage student loans amongst a student’s friends and family. It aims to make it easier and less risky for a student to arrange education finance from the people that they already know. Besides it helps students to escape from an annoying procedure of getting all documentation; and it has a number of other very significant advantages. And in general the idea of Peer-to-Peer lending which is a sort of financial transaction (primarily lending & borrowing, though other more complicated transactions can be facilitated) which occurs directly between individuals without the participation of a traditional financial institution, seems fascinating to me, mainly because it is based on people’s desire to help e.o. and on people’s trust to e.o. Besides technical, financial and time benefits, it may help people find friends and simply good people all around the world. Besides Prosper, which is mentioned in the chapter, there are various web sites, such as Zopa, Lending Club, Fynanz, Qifang, www.kiva.org, which target different audience in different countries.

Another idea which I got while reading the chapters is connected with my work. Students create blogs and start topics on SNS devoted to their courses and professors where they can freely tell their opinions about their classes, schools, teachers, etc. As a tutor I now don’t have to ask them about it and be afraid of dishonest answer, or distribute evaluation lists, which takes more time. I just go on Facebook and find out what my students think about me and my lessons and as a result make my classes more interesting and productive. There is only one problem here. Not all the students see a boundary between useful and productive criticism and too personal and offensive statements. That may lead to certain conflicts.

One more way to use groundswell in our profession is connected mainly with forums, but also with blogs and some SNS. Professors of Linguistics in Russian universities when writing their thesis very often deal with various concepts (for example, “American rock star”, or “Eccentric”). They need to study these concepts from different points of view beginning from definitions in dictionaries, and ending by research how people (better natives) perceive these concepts (the dictionary may give one definition, while people of different cultures understand that differently). So what our professors do, they start searching for the information in existing forums and create their own forums and blogs.