The Bell Curve Tolls for Thee
When people argue against Facebook, they often like to cite the one or two negatives cases that have been heavily mediatized (people getting fired because of a posting on a Facebook wall, a girl who tragically committed suicide…). However, taking refuge behind the extreme cases (the blackest of the black) is not the answer. Moreover, as Thiery Noisette reminded us in a conference “(a)Social Media” at Hotel Napoleon, Paris, few talk about the many hundreds (thousands?) of people who have been recruited thanks to their Facebook presence (not to forget Linkedin, Twitter…).
Outliers have their interest, but using the “extreme” or “black” cases to balk at getting involved is clearly not the way to promote action. I suggest that in between the black and white extreme cases, there is a lot of good old grey space, where very positive things are happening. If we should not sweat the small stuff (ref: Richard Carlson), there is still much value to work within the gray. Of course, with 600 million Facebookers producing 1 billion pieces of content every day, the chances are you will find a whole of average things happening, too…
So, as CC Chapman (author of the podcast Managing the Gray — and who last year set out on his ownsome, kudos CC) would probably say: “there is a good deal of scope between black and white.”
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This is part of a 3-part post on The Grey(s) Matter. Here is Part 1 The Brain & Getting Energy, and Part 2 Managing Diversity and Grey Hairs.
