Creativity is the ability to make people think and feel new
things. That's what great art, movies and literature do! The embedded video
shows a man using internet memes to propose his girlfriend. This is the kind of
creativity I am talking about. (You can read the entire story in a post by mashable.com)
I know the phrase “art is everywhere” can be cliché, but it
can hold true if you let it. Social Media or as Li & Bernoff call it “Groundswell,” gets the creative juices of
many flowing. According to a recent
study conducted by Chicago University’s Booth School of Business, “Social
Media more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol,” but it’s hard to deny
that it breeds creativity as well.
What's another word for Doomed??
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| Photo Credit: www.neatshop.com |
Social networking sites like Facebook give users the power
to showcase their creative expression. Creativity has always been about making
conversations and making those conversations go viral, but it’s no longer
guarded by an elite group. With social media, creativity can be developed,
nurtured, mashed up or remixed; the process is ever-evolving and eternal.
Although there aren’t
as many creators as spectators, collectors and critics (Groundswell, pp. 44) but social media presents a host of tools with
which we can get creative, be it, status updates, blogs, images, or videos.
We are on FB!!
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| Photo Credit: http://imgur.com/ |
ProCon.org
cites the cornerstone of creativity on social media, “Social networking sites
bring people with common interests together, offer exposure to new ideas from
around the world, and lower inhibitions to overcome social anxiety. People who
have a difficulty communicating in person are more comfortable interacting via
the Internet.”
The idea to cover the creativity aspect of social media came
out of a team meeting this week, when someone asked, what really is an Internet
Meme? “Internet Memes,” pronounced as “meem” just like “seem” or “dream,” and “Trolls”
are the applications of creativity with the emergence of social media. They
have been there for a while now, but have become extremely popular since 2008.
What they did with my bicycle?
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| Photo Credit: http://imgur.com/ |
An internet meme is a phrase, image, video or just an idea
that goes viral on the internet (spreads easily from one person to another) for
no logical reason. These memes are usually silly but amusing. Hence, many share
it on their walls or timelines or streams or tweets.
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| Photo Credit: www.poofytoo.tumblr.com |
In a post describing the rise and growth of the new social networking
site “Pinterest” blogger Jason Falls said, “One
thing is clear whether you're on Pinterest for personal or business reasons:
the best images -- be they funny, beautiful or thought provoking -- attract the
most attention and followers.”
Watch 50 Internet Memes in under 100 seconds!!
So what’s your take? Do share your definition of creativity in
an age of collaborative thinking, participation, crowdsourcing, and social
media. Please leave a comment!
I really like you definition of creativity--it's succinct, simple and puts the focus on the Groundswell rather than than creator. In the past we talked about "creative geniuses" whose intellectual and/or artistic acumen was revered but also separated them from culture by their personalities and nature of how they spent their time (closed-in artists, mathematicians, writers, etc).
ReplyDeleteI feel like the social media paradigm encourages creatives or (Creators in Groundswell) to become much more cognizant of the engagement of their audience. Audience is really too passive of word which is why Groundswell breaks the "social technographics" down into critics, collectors and so on. The point I want to make is that creatives are taking a more meta-approach to creativity these days. They understand that it is much more likely their creative output will be remixed, repurposed, shared and commented upon than not.
@Gabe - I agree that most critics have the tendency to develop on an idea that is shared or presented. I guess that's because its easier for them to synthesize when they have some sort of framework. Also, they do have to put in a lot of effort to start from scratch, but these remixes are a big part of groundswell and these are things that go viral.
DeleteI agree. I believe that social media and other new communication technologies are allowing us to embrace creativity in a plethora of new ways. This is especially unique in that people are able to collaborate and comment from around the world. Marshall McLuhan discussed that the television brought us one step closer to the creation of a truly global village by bringing cultures from around the world together. Technologies today are bringing us even closer, and it has certainly played out with regards to creativity.
ReplyDelete@eileen well the world is literally shrinking and it's so easy these days to get any work (creative/piece of art/handicraft) done from any part of the world. The connectivity is phenomenal.
DeleteI want to emphasize a fact you mentioned but did not elaborate: social media can be addictive. People obsessed with social media has neglected academic, professional and personal responsibilities. Also, not everything posted in social media is art, even if it gets a ton of activity. For example, this week a North Carolina man became an instant celebrity after posting a video on YouTube shooting up his 15-year-old daughter's laptop after she commented in Facebook about her parents. The video has been seen more than 23 million times, although is far from showing art or even common sense.
ReplyDelete@Jairo- You do have a point. There are always exceptions to the rule. The fact that there is a shift in the power and that users/consumers lead the conversation is fascinating. There have been and will always be people who misuse the power bestowed to them. From a forum point of view, I think its great.
DeleteThank you everyone for giving such valuable insights.
ReplyDeleteYou have such great visuals to help explain memes and creativity on the internet. I've seen these sort of images for a while on Facebook, but I didn't hear the term "meme" until recently. I also didn't realize this includes videos. I don't typically share those things. I enjoy seeing them, I just don't see sharing a meme as being creative. But I loved the video of the meme proposal - that's a great example of creativity.
ReplyDeleteThank you Ashley for the compliment :) I think creating these memes be it photos or video is creative. They simply present the frustrations of daily life in a nice humorous way and that's what ticks! If you may have noticed with every meme shared on social networks you have tons of people giving taglines, or rhyming it up with yet another tagline or sharing a follow-up meme. That's the creativity I am talking about!
ReplyDeleteA totally new aspect of explaining creativity sounds intriguing. Social media makes life convenient than before as people could have thought communication in order to achieve their goals. It is easily readable and with rich media. I like the proposing video very much. Creativity always makes life full of passion and power. My definition of creativity is to to have the courage to hold your own opinion and always persist it without fears.
ReplyDeleteThe best part with the this new creative expressions is that we not only enjoy it but we participate in it, we have a whole creative participating community!
ReplyDeleteI really like you definition of creativity--it's succinct, simple and puts the focus on the Groundswell rather than than creator.
ReplyDeleteMedia Monitoring