Social Media Professor

Congratulations to Ev and Biz for getting the official Oprah blessing. True, Oprah is the market maker. Also true that Ashton Kutcher has added Twitter to the list of things on the Internet made popular by Ashton. So, congratulations to Mr. K for beating CNN to the “million followers” mark.

Some have said “celebrities have now embraced social media,” meaning that because Ashton has garnered over a million followers, he has “embraced” social media. Please consider this, it seems that Ashton has embraced Twitter the same way an addict embraces a narcotic—he needs more of something for his own benefit, not for the benefit of others.

The glory of social media is not efficient self-promotion. It presents us with an opportunity to embrace our neighbor and to be more concerned for others than ourselves. Social media makes it efficient for us to share our good stuff with those around us. It makes it easy for us to listen, gives us the tools to aid understanding, and helps us facilitate our neighbors’ quests for significant.

One wonders if what Ashton Kutcher has done cheapens our neighbors instead.

One question I can’t shake lose is, Mr. Kutcher, if you really do want to embrace social media (which means embracing, philosophically, your fans, and being more concerned about them than for yourself), would you please consider setting a new record? Would you please be the first person to 1. FOLLOW 1,000,000 people and 2. send 1,000,000 @replies?

Now THAT would be remarkable.