I’ve really been enjoying Paragraph Shorts lately. It’s an iPad app that packages existing free stories on the web, giving you a sampler of favorites from publications like the New Yorker, Paris Review, etc. They also have a selection of video essays, mostly from The Moth series. I haven’t enjoyed those as much, but I was just wowed by one from Ed Gavagan (an ND grad!), who tells the story of having it all fall apart in New York City, then slowly watching it all come together again. Great stuff.

B.J. Mendelson’s “Social Media Is Bullshit” is a welcome counterpoint to conventional social-media wisdom, especially for those of us who have to produce, plan or monitor social-media channels for our job. Mendelson punctures a few key social-media myths, claiming:

1. Most businesses fail to benefit financially from their presence on the Big Six social media platforms.

2. Many cases trumpeted as “viral” triumphs actually have substantial corporate budgets behind them or other extenuating circumstances.

3. Despite the promises of social media, pre-“web 2.0” marketing strategies still hold the greatest benefit for most businesses.

4. Most “social media gurus” rely more on empty platitudes than clear metrics for success.

It’s an easy read, and many of his claims are persuasive. His authorial voice may alienate some readers. He can be glib and snarky; it would be easy to argue he’s just the flip side of the “cyber hipsters” he derides. But I think there’s a lot to consider here, especially when so many so-called authorities on the subject push the other way.

Key Quotes

‘Cyber Hispter’ refers to two different groups of people who heavily overlap and travel in the same circles. The rhetoric they spew is usually to the effect that people today have the power to do anything without resources, funding, connections, training, education and so forth.” (p. 56)

“Cyber Hipsters often argue that the cost of producing content is approaching zero…The cost of producing content has gone down, certainly. But there are now other costs you have to factor in that make it just as cumbersome and difficult to get started as it has always been. Think of it like this: Yes, anyone can make a video on the cheap…but you need a decent editor to make it look good. That means either you have to do the editing (which means taking the time to do so when you can be doing other things) or hire someone to do it for you. And anyone who knows what they’re doing won’t be cheap either. Especially because there are way more ‘creators’ than there are ‘editors.’” (p. 57)

“Well, isn’t that how it’s supposed to work? What’s the point of having a million followers when none of them are clicking on your links (they weren’t), following your calls to action (they also weren’t), and not coming out to meet you (ditto)? Isn’t that exactly the effect your “social media” efforts are supposed to have?” (p. 170)

Leading psychiatrists, abandoning Freud’s relatively nonjudgmental position, described homosexuals as “sexual psychopaths.” There were experiments in electric and pharmacological shock treatment, hormone injection, castration, and lobotomy. One site of such remedies, Atascadero State Hospital, in California, later became known as “Dachau for queers.”

In the New Yorker, Alex Ross has a moving overview of the gay rights struggle, going from past persecution to the seemingly rapid gains of the past decade. It’s important history to be acquainted with, even for those who don’t directly share it.