Social-Media

I am checking my emails when a LinkedIn notification comes in. Over the past few months, LinkedIn has morphed into a Facebook for professionals - never more so than in its ability, and willingness, to dreg emails and address books for connections to suggest. This particular suggestion is for a connection to a friend of my father’s from back in the day when he was a struggling academic, labouring under the especially onerous conditions of the Abacha era. I add him, and after a few minutes he accepts. He emails me, asking me where and how I am, how my parents are, and then adds the marriage question.. ...

Genetically engineering plants to spot bombs may be the future of counter terrorism.. LED teeth may be the new cool.. If only in Japan.. Want to make the transition from talk to bed? Social media might be it after all. So much for Gladwell’s ‘diss’ of social media. Apparently brain scans can identify a predisposition to transexuality.. His Grace - Archbishop Crammer - weighs in on the lack of political voices speaking up on the abortion debate. Tyler Blanski encourages us to re-think sex One bloke got busted for importing cockroaches… HT @relevantmag

In perhaps one of those quirks of timing - which make me wonder if indeed the world is ‘run’ by someone with an almost Machiavellian sense of mirth - Malcolm Gladwell’s New Yorker piece on social media hit the blogosphere a few days after twitter was leading the way in breaking news of bomb blasts during Nigeria’s 50th year anniversary celebrations. True to type, the response to his article has been immediate and extensive, but largely critical. I suspect that this is to be expected - most people who would write a blog, or tweet, or use foursquare would feel personally chastised by the words that Gladwell offered. ...