Social Media Revolution updated: fresh statistics, new graphics

How do you explain social media adequately? Or, probably more importantly, explain why it is important for everyone to understand what has happened and is happening with social media?

For a workshop last year, my colleague Michael Rees who has a vast amount of knowledge of social media – being a professor probably helps – chose to lead off with a showing of the video “Social Media Revolution” by Erik Qualman, author of the book Socialnomics, subtitled “how social media transforms the way we live and do business”.

The video was very well received. I realised it was a much more effective way of showing what is happening than for Michael or I to spend a much longer time showing lots of slides and talking a lot.

But things move very fast in the world of social media, so it’s good to see an updated version of the video, titled Social Revolution 2 (Refresh).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZ0z5Fm-Ng[/youtube]

If you want to pin down some of the statistics that flash by in the video, the author has kindly listed them in his blog post on the subject.

Sure there will be situations where a longer, more in-depth explanation is required. But even then, the video can be an excellent discussion starter.

Although, social media being the contested area it is, I would not be surprised if some people have other views on that!