Friends, Followers and the Future: How Social Media are Changing Politics, Threatening Big Brands, and Killing Traditional Media [Paperback]

Rory O'Connor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 8, 2012

"Rory O'Connor is one of the smartest media guys around. He knows who's spinning, who's pandering, and who's putting money in his own pocket at the expense of logic, reason, and the public good."—Michael Wolff, Vanity Fair media critic

"This is a timely book about a vital subject: How do we get information and is it reliable? With a 'cold eye,' author Rory O'Connor shows how traditional journalism cheapened its value by sabotaging its trust, and how the digital revolution wonderfully democratizes information yet often removes the journalistic curator, creating more noise, more ME and less WE news. If you want to understand the future of news, its opportunities and its pitfalls, read this book." -- Ken Auletta, author and New Yorker media writer

There’s a revolution going on, as ever-accelerating developments in digital information technologies change nearly every aspect of how we live, work, play, do business, and engage in politics. Share and share alike—the numbers say it all as billions of people worldwide flock to online media and use social networks to discover and spread news and information.

In the process, ever-growing networks of “ordinary people” are using these powerful new tools to trim the influence long held by Big Business, Big Government, and Big Media. No longer just passive recipients, participants in social networks now regularly make and break news while organizing civic and political actions that bypass censors, outpace traditional media, attract massive audiences, and influence the rise and fall of brands, industries, politicians, and even governments.

In this insider’s look at how social media are transforming our world, Rory O’Connor explains the trends and explores what tech visionaries, media makers, political advisers, and businesspeople are saying about the meteoric rise of the various social networks of friends and followers, and what they bode for our future.

Rory O’Connor, co-founder of MediaChannel.org, is the author of Shock Jocks: Hate Speech & Talk Radio. He has won two Emmys and a George Orwell Award, among many other honors.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In his lucid examination of the effects of digital technology, the author asserts that the evolution of web-based platforms and the rise of the Occupy movement has caused a marked decrease in our culture’s dependence on 'traditional models of organization' . . . O’Connor pulls no punches and effectively tracks the gains and losses of the movement in clear, energetic language. An erudite, constructive analysis."--Kirkus Reviews

"Anyone who cares about the impact of the digital information revolution on democracy and culture can't afford to miss FRIENDS, FOLLOWERS AND THE FUTURE -- a story that moves as swiftly as the dizzying pace of change itself. Rory O'Connor combines journalistic integrity with a passionate belief in the power of ordinary people to change the world. Depending on your stake in the outcome, you will find this book inspiring, scary, or perhaps a bit of both." -- Andrew Heyward, Former President of CBS News

"This book is a comprehensive, up-to-date, and fair-minded survey of how social media are conveying -- and perhaps transforming -- what we want to know." -- Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education and author, most recently, of Truth, Beauty and Goodness Reframed

"Before Rory O’Connor writes, he researches, ask questions, and asks them again before calling the the insiders who are the targets of his inquiry. He is persistent, even relentless, as a hard-charging reporter which is why his blogs, columns and this new book 'Friends, Followers and the Future: How Social Media are Changing Politics, Threatening Big Brands, And Killing Traditional Media' (City Lights, 2012) leaves you questioning your own assumptions and often superficial take on the issue at hand. Personally, he is a refugee from old media and as a multi-media man (films, books, blogs, websites, etc) , an early adopter to the new. But he didn’t stop there: he is a practitioner who wants to know where all this is headed and how the digital innovators and entrepreneurs think about what they do. This is a book in the know with ideas that we will all need to know as we navigate our personal and collective futures." -- Danny Schechter News Dissector.com

"With laser-like accuracy Rory O'Connor spotlights the key challenges and opportunities in the world of news and information, where technology has upended the old rules of how media is created and consumed. O'Connor's wise, savvy 'Friends, Followers and the Future' is an essential examination of how social media is transforming the lives of individuals and society at large. Read it and share it." -- J. Max Robins, Vice President/Executive Director,
The Paley Center for Media

"...O’Connor has put together a trustworthy introduction to the current state of play."--Boston Globe

"If Glenn Beck keeps a J. Edgar Hoover-esque blacklist under his bed pillow, journalist Rory O’Connor is probably on it, appearing before Nancy Pelosi and George Soros. O’Connor turns a skeptical yet pragmatic eye to the likes of Facebook. He examines how such online networks empower citizens to create counternarratives to bullsh*t punditry, political spin, and corporate PR, while warning of the dystopian echo chamber they could realize, where every citizen becomes a bullsh*tting pundit, partisan hack, or corporate flak." --SF Weekly

About the Author

Rory O’Connor is an author, filmmaker and journalist whose work centers around media and politics. Author of Shock Jocks: Hate Speech & Talk Radio (2008), and co-author of Nukespeak (2nd ed, 2011) his broadcast, film and print career has been recognized with two Emmys, a George Orwell Award, a George Polk Award, a Writer's Guild Award, among other honors.

Product Details

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: City Lights Books; 1 edition (May 8, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872865568
• ISBN-13: 978-0872865563
• Product Dimensions: 4.9 x 0.8 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #936,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #56 in Books > Computers & Technology > Home Computing & How-to > Social Media How-to

More About the Author

RORY O'CONNOR


Rory O'Connor is an award-winning journalist, author and filmmaker whose work centers on the nexus of media and politics. For more than twenty years Rory has engaged the public with stories from Asia, Africa and the Americas told in print, film, television and radio broadcasts and via the Internet. Co-founder and president of the international media firm Globalvision, Inc, and Board Chair of The Global Center, an affiliated non-profit foundation, Rory's films and television programs have aired on PBS, BBC, NHK, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, and numerous other leading international broadcast networks. His broadcast, film and print work has been honored with a George Polk Award, a Writer's Guild Award, a George Orwell Award and two Emmys, among many awards. The author of three books, including "Nukespeak: The Selling of Nuclear Technology from the Manhattan Project to Fukushima" (Sierra Club Books, Second Edition, 2011), "Shock Jocks: Hate Speech and Talk Radio" (AlterNet Books, 2008), and, most recently, "Friends, Followers and the Future: How Social Media are Changing Politics, Threatening Big Brands, and Killing Traditional Media" (City Lights, 2012), he is also blogs for the Huffington Post, AlterNet, Salon and other prominent Internet news sites and posts regularly at his own "Media Is A Plural' blog, accessible at www.roryoconnor.org.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Professional Guide Book August 25, 2012

By Brian B. Kelly

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

It seems apt that the print version of Friends, Followers and the Future by Rory O'Connor is shaped like a popular travel guide, for though there are no maps or scenic views within its pages, it is, among other things, a guide book. If you have teenage children or younger friends who have deserted you, their homework and even their own friends for Facebook and Twitter, or who would rather watch fails on YouTube than your favorite sports teams, or who are more dejected by an internet `friend' rejection than a failing test grade, this book is for you. It will guide you through to understanding how it all came about and what has made the new media and new technologies essential for today's young people. If you are that young person who spends all your time on the internet and is absorbed for hours by roaming the lush pastures of Facebook, Mr. O'Connor can take you to meet all the individuals who have made the communication adventure of your generation possible. If you are neither of these people, but are someone who wants solid help is assessing what you see and feel happening to politics, marketing, news breaking, and social life around you, the this is the guide for you, too.

One of the things that separates this book from so many prognostications and starry eyed speculations about the vast changes wrought by the new technologies, is the stunning depth and breadth of Mr. O'Connor's research. In the course of two or three years he has managed to interview what seems to be the majority of major CEO's and other high ranking officers at Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, et al, not to mention those at ABC, NBC, CBS and other major legacy operators, plus the major writers and commentators in the field besides, and often more than once. In presenting these players and play-by-play announcers of the future, he skillfully places opposing or counterpoint views side-by-side so that what emerges in one's digestion of his narrative is one's own take on this massive change in our world. He makes it clear how creative imaginations and startling human ingenuity have led step-by-step to not only breathtaking new possibilities but to great new fortunes and careers.

For me, personally, I find the author's concern with the problem of finding trustworthy news brands a bit puzzling as it seems to me that when news events are misreported or lied about there is usually someone who cares about the truth, that more so now than ever the truth will eventually out, and that the new media offer the greatest chance ever for that eye witness or that someone with insider knowledge of events to spread the word, world wide, so that more than ever before the individual citizen has the opportunity to track down the truth of the matter (s)he is concerned about and can therefore trust one's own analysis knowing a greater access is there for the taking. But then, I have to remind myself that it is Mr. O'Connor's careful and thorough delineation of events, new directions and possibilities that leads me to this conclusion.

Friends, Followers and the Future is not only an easy, pleasant read but, like any good guide book, it is a handy reference work with a comprehensive index. So, I would say, if anything about what's happening on the internet and to social media puzzles you, grab a copy and avail yourself of a professional guide. There's no need to stumble around half-blind in today's new cyber world; Rory O'Connor is a reporter you can trust.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ah, I think I have found the map! June 4, 2012

By Mark Zanger

Format:Paperback

Lost in the cloud of social media options? Searching through twisty little passages for the reliable news you always hoped to pry out of the local newspaper? Deafened by the oncoming avalanche of digital information and misinformation, but not knowing which way to run out of its path? Looking at three doors and wondering which one has the facts and which two have the opinions?

Here's the map.

Rory O'Connor, savvy veteran of all media (and, disclosure: my colleague long ago) has written a simple book about finding your bearings in this time of rapid media change. Yes, there are still facts and thoughtful opinions out there. Yes there are still people searching for truth and a chance of predicting the consequences. What is in between is/are media, and this book gives you the tools to pick up the new tools.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars super intersting!!!! May 16, 2012

By Katharina M Orne

Format:Paperback

Rory O'Connor is a guy who clearly knows what he writes about- and does it well. I'v watched him hold lecture a few times - very engaging just like his written word. Being an investigative journalist O'Connor goes deeper. A must read!