If you are a user of Facebook, which I bet you are (if not, stop reading & sign up for it first!). Okay, so now that I have my Facebook -user reading this blog, let me ask you this question- What made you put your profile picture on Facebook? Interestingly, this precisely is the topic of discussion for a group of students at Stanford, enrolled in the course designed by Professor B J Fogg, a pioneering persuasion psychologist who founded the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford. The objective of the class is to learn what makes Facebook tick, which according to Prof. Fogg, is the science of "Mass Interpersonal Persuasion".
In a world of Second Life and Social Networking, Prof. Fogg's class takes the greatly desired step of offering academic stepping stone to future professionals. Increasingly, skills of social media are becoming the differentiators for Public Relations professionals. However, as always the academia is lagging behind and is barely catching on with the latest trends, which makes me wonder if we as professionals would ever emerge out as front runners, or would we always be termed laggards when it comes to technology!
1 comment:
ANY thing which is new or innovative attracts masses. That new thing has also to keep getting newer, as days pass by. That is why big organisations spend huge money on research and development, lest they get buried.
FACEBOOK is also new and innovative thing today. It is developing, everyday. I am a member of almost all the social utilities, but I don't socialise on the rest as I consider Facebook the best.
TOWARDS the close of 2007, interestingly, I had closed my Facebook account, only to be back within weeks. The temptation was big.
TODAY, I am happy to be FB member. Happy to have found a new friend in you.
LONG live Facebook.
Neeraj Bhushan
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