The Social Medium is the Message
Marshall McLuhan was a true media philosopher. Born in 1911 in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada), he became a highly regarded communications theorist, scholar/educator and philosopher. The concept of persuasion and influence was of great interest to McLuhan. His most famous publication, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man was written in 1964. From this research and analysis he coined the now famous saying, “the medium is the message”. What did he mean by this?
The slogan summarizes his theory about the influence of communications media on society. His thesis was that a communications medium influences society by the inherent characteristics of the medium rather than the contents of its message. Hence, the medium itself is the message; the medium itself is the greater influencer of society - more than the messages it is carrying.
Now, honestly, when I first decoded his famous slogan, I thought, “that can’t be right”. Surely it is the ideas themselves that change society and not the communications pipe through which they are sent? I mean, did McLuhan really believe that the impact of television on society would have been the same regardless of the type of programming? Yes, he apparently did.
At first, this seems counter-intuitive, but let’s consider an example: e-mail. Did the introduction of e-mail as a communication medium, by its own characteristics, change society (ex: how we work) or was it the specific messages we received? When you really think about it, this particular medium has completely transformed how we work. Try working without a computer (or any email device) for a day and you will be reminded just how much the medium itself has impacted society.
In his Prologue to The Gutenberg Galaxy – McLuhan stated that media are “extensions” of our human senses, bodies and minds. And he believed that each medium produced a different effect on how we view the world.
For instance, he argued that “the technique of suspended judgment” (or suspended disbelief) was brought on by the story telling characteristics of radio, movies and television and that this was a key point of change in the 20th century in terms of how we now look at the world.
Whether you agree with his theories or not, it is certainly interesting to think about the impact of social media, or rather the Social Medium, and all of its new characteristics. In particular, I wonder how the unique conversational characteristics of the Social Medium might be changing our values or views. In what ways do you think the current adoption of the Social Medium is changing our perceptions of the world?
The social medium is the message.
February 27th, 2008 - Posted in Influence, Conversation, Social Media | |
on February 27th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Marcel,
Great post, and something all in PR and marketing should keep in mind. I’m not sure if I’d give a blanket statement that the message is unimportant (I’m not saying you are, but some may state it).
Both message and medium are equally important. I’d say that the medium dictates how the message is delivered — not technically, but in how it’s communicated. You can’t communicate (tone, technology, etc.) with a blogger the same way you would a traditional reporter.
I touched on the same topic a little while ago. (See my link above for the post.)
Take care,
Mike
on February 27th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Fabulous post; I couldn’t have written it better myself.
Marcel also has it spot on, that the medium and the message are of equal importance (hence, my blog title).
As far a social media is concerned I think its major impact has been twofold. First on control - users (or consumers) have a much stronger voice and it is seriously impacting the way companies do business. Second on flexibility -we can communicate with any one, any where, any time, use the written word, the spoken word, pictures, networking sites etc etc.
One thing is for certain, the changes we are experiencing are accelerating at an exponential rate.
z
on February 27th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Nice Post.
As a media theorist and professor, I incorporate many of McLuhan’s insights in to my classes and works. Recently, I completed an experimental documentary film based in many of McLuhan’s ideas. The film is called “Space Times Square.” The film is now available for viewing online. — Barry
Here is the link to the full film (24 minutes) in Google Video:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2659199116594447000&hl=en
on February 28th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
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