Friends, Followers and the Future: How Social Media are Changing Politics, Threatening Big Brands, and Killing Traditional Media

by Rory O'Connor

"Rory O'Connor is one of the smartest media guys around. He knows who's spinning, who's pandering, and who's putting money in his own pocket at the expense of logic, reason, and the public good."—Michael Wolff, Vanity Fair media critic"This is a timely book about a vital subject: How do we get information and is it reliable? With a 'cold eye,' author Rory O'Connor shows how traditional journalism cheapened its value by sabotaging its trust, and how the digital revolution wonderfully democratizes information yet often removes the journalistic curator, creating more noise, more ME and less WE news. If you want to understand the future of news, its opportunities and its pitfalls, read this book." -- Ken Auletta, author and New Yorker media writer

There’s a revolution going on, as ever-accelerating developments in digital information technologies change nearly every aspect of how we live, work, play, do business, and engage in politics. Share and share alike—the numbers say it all as billions of people worldwide flock to online media and use social networks to discover and spread news and information.In the process, ever-growing networks of “ordinary people” are using these powerful new tools to trim the influence long held by Big Business, Big Government, and Big Media. No longer just passive recipients, participants in social networks now regularly make and break news while organizing civic and political actions that bypass censors, outpace traditional media, attract massive audiences, and influence the rise and fall of brands, industries, politicians, and even governments.
In this insider’s look at how social media are transforming our world, Rory O’Connor explains the trends and explores what tech visionaries, media makers, political advisers, and businesspeople are saying about the meteoric rise of the various social networks of friends and followers, and what they bode for our future.
Rory O’Connor, co-founder of MediaChannel.org, is the author of Shock Jocks: Hate Speech & Talk Radio. He has won two Emmys and a George Orwell Award, among many other honors.

Genres: Technology

286 pages, Paperback

First published April 10, 2012

About the author

Rory O'Connor is an award-winning journalist, author and filmmaker whose work centers on the nexus of media and politics. For more than twenty years Rory has engaged the public with stories from Asia, Africa and the Americas told in print, film, television and radio broadcasts and via the Internet. Co-founder and president of the international media firm Globalvision, Inc, and Board Chair of The Global Center, an affiliated non-profit foundation, Rory's films and television programs have aired on PBS, BBC, NHK, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, and numerous other leading international broadcast networks. His broadcast, film and print work has been honored with a George Polk Award, a Writer's Guild Award, a George Orwell Award and two Emmys, among many awards. The author of three books, including "Nukespeak: The Selling of Nuclear Technology from the Manhattan Project to Fukushima" (Sierra Club Books, Second Edition, 2011), "Shock Jocks: Hate Speech and Talk Radio" (AlterNet Books, 2008), and, most recently, "Friends, Followers and the Future: How Social Media are Changing Politics, Threatening Big Brands, and Killing Traditional Media" (City Lights, 2012), he is also blogs for the Huffington Post, AlterNet, Salon and other prominent Internet news sites and posts regularly at his own "Media Is A Plural' blog, accessible at www.roryoconnor.org.

Reviews

[Tara Brabazon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was published in 2012 and it reveals the marks of this time. It investigates how particular platforms are transforming our ideas of brands, audiences and followers.

It was very accurate in the configuration of its media trajectories. However 'social media' have now become the 'big brands' that they were replacing.

[City Lights Booksellers & Publishers]

"Rory O'Connor describes these pitfalls and highlights the importance of knowing what they are and why you should avoid them. He said that it is harder than ever to determine fact from fiction and truth from spin in all forms of media. He also emphasised that while the amount of information currently available can be empowering, it can also be potentially disruptive and present its own set of challenges to journalists and society as a whole."
—Russel Layres



"If Glenn Beck keeps a J. Edgar Hoover-esque blacklist under his bed pillow, journalist Rory O'Connor is probably on it, appearing before Nancy Pelosi and George Soros. O'Connor turns a skeptical yet pragmatic eye to the likes of Facebook. He examines how such online networks empower citizens to create counternarratives to bullsh*t punditry, political spin, and corporate PR, while warning of the dystopian echo chamber they could realize, where every citizen becomes a bullsh*tting pundit, partisan hack, or corporate flak."
—Paul M. Davis, SF Weekly


"His new book on the rise of social media is mostly celebratory, but O'Connor leaves plenty of room for healthy caution. . . . O'Connor has put together a trustworthy introduction to the current state of play."
-The Boston Globe

[Joshunda Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

It probably took me forever to finish this book, ironically, because like most people on earth (1 out of every 9 adults on the planet) O'Connor reports accurately that I spend about 15 hours a month using social media. That's in comparison with most of us who spend between 10 and 15 minutes a day at a traditional or legacy media site. The statistical data is sobering for a former newspaper journalist but exciting as an early adopter who loves the potential of social media. The question at the heart of the book is also central to the future of journalism - even as people create their own information silos, referred to as the "Daily Me" and organizations like Facebook personalize news feeds to shut out competing views (or information noise, I guess they might call it), how do news consumers determine the veracity and accuracy of the news they choose? It's a conundrum that O'Connor doesn't try to settle and is rich for further exploration. A really interesting take.

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book. Mainly deals with the ability of the average person to analyze and trust the information they get from the internet. I was happy about the chapter that dealt with how social media and network theory collide, and enjoys the chapters that dealt with social media and activism. A recommended read for anyone with an academic interest in social media, technology, and journalism; for anyone else it is probably just too much information.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. I don't think I really learned anything new, but I feel like people who are not incredibly involved with social media could learn a thing or two from this book. It was interesting, but towards the end I was just ready for it to be over.

[henry · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this book. It was ridiculously repetitive, there were too many instances of a lack of critical thinking, and there were too many typographical and printing errors.

[Paola Bersi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is ok. I would say 3 interesting thoughts, overall. Quite repetitive on the privacy issue and I think there could a bit more critical thinking.