Social Media Is Bullshit

Nothing sells quite like angry, contrarian tirades and few recent phenomena provide quite the same broad expanse for hyperbole as the wildly popular, grossly oversold social media. In a world where many pray for surcease from the 1% boot smashing forever on the collective face of humanity, the tools provided by social media seem to provide some faint promise of hope, whether empowering collectively driven reforms or merely providing personal enrichment. Having himself failed miserably at applying social media to his own ends, journalist and social critic Mendelson yearns to save others from his mistakes by revealing the degree to which social media have been overhyped, providing a wealth of examples from recent history to illustrate his points. While grudgingly admitting the existence of an occasional success story, Mendelson prefers to focus on the myriad ways in which social media fail to deliver what is promised; he also provides pointers to methods he thinks do work. Passionate and mercifully short, this work should provide useful ammunition for readers skeptical about the new networks linking the people of the 21st century. Agent: Dan Mandel, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Sept.)