Obama urges leaders not to use social media to cause division

During a wide-ranging BBC interview with Britain’s
Prince Harry, the former US president warns about the dangers of
government officials on social media.

Barack Obama has stern advice for those in powerful positions:
Don’t use social media to create division.

On Twitter, that would be called a subtweet.

In a BBC interview with Britain’s Prince Harry that aired
Wednesday the former US president said social media is “corroding
civil discourse,” reinforcing prejudices and making public
conversations more difficult.

“All of us in leadership positions have to find ways in which we
can recreate a common space on the internet,” he said. “One of the
dangers of the internet is that people can have entirely different
realities. They can be cocooned in information that reinforces
their current biases.”

During the interview recorded during the Invictus Games in
Toronto in September, Obama didn’t specifically mention US
President Donald Trump, who is known for his polarizing tweets.
However, in respect to free speech, Obama urged leaders to exercise
caution in their social media use on sites like Twitter.

“The question has to do with how do we harness this technology
in a way that allows for a multiplicity of voices, allows a
diversity of views, but doesn’t lead to a Balkanization of our
society, but rather continues ways to find common ground,” he
said.

Obama said it’s important for people to get offline and actually
meet one another in person “because the truth is that on the
internet, everything is simplified and when you meet people face to
face, it turns out they are complicated.”

When people meet in places like pubs, neighborhoods or places of
worships, he said, they find they have more in common. Meeting face
to face can lead people to be “less obnoxious and cruel” than they
may be on the internet, he said.

Obama also encouraged young people, who are “the most tolerant,
the most tech savvy and the most entrepreneurial,” to go beyond
just bringing up issues and causes on social media. He wants them
to get off the internet and actually help “build up platforms” that
create social change in their communities.

“Make sure that they don’t think that just sending out a hashtag
in and of itself is bringing about change,” he said. “It can be a
powerful way to raise awareness, but then you have to get on the
ground and actually do something.”

Culled: Cnet

During a wide-ranging BBC interview with Britain’s
Prince Harry, the former US president warns about the dangers of
government officials on social media.

Barack Obama has stern advice for those in powerful positions:
Don’t use social media to create division.

On Twitter, that would be called a subtweet.

In a BBC interview with Britain’s Prince Harry that aired
Wednesday the former US president said social media is “corroding
civil discourse,” reinforcing prejudices and making public
conversations more difficult.

“All of us in leadership positions have to find ways in which we
can recreate a common space on the internet,” he said. “One of the
dangers of the internet is that people can have entirely different
realities. They can be cocooned in information that reinforces
their current biases.”

During the interview recorded during the Invictus Games in
Toronto in September, Obama didn’t specifically mention US
President Donald Trump, who is known for his polarizing tweets.
However, in respect to free speech, Obama urged leaders to exercise
caution in their social media use on sites like Twitter.

“The question has to do with how do we harness this technology
in a way that allows for a multiplicity of voices, allows a
diversity of views, but doesn’t lead to a Balkanization of our
society, but rather continues ways to find common ground,” he
said.

Obama said it’s important for people to get offline and actually
meet one another in person “because the truth is that on the
internet, everything is simplified and when you meet people face to
face, it turns out they are complicated.”

When people meet in places like pubs, neighborhoods or places of
worships, he said, they find they have more in common. Meeting face
to face can lead people to be “less obnoxious and cruel” than they
may be on the internet, he said.

Obama also encouraged young people, who are “the most tolerant,
the most tech savvy and the most entrepreneurial,” to go beyond
just bringing up issues and causes on social media. He wants them
to get off the internet and actually help “build up platforms” that
create social change in their communities.

“Make sure that they don’t think that just sending out a hashtag
in and of itself is bringing about change,” he said. “It can be a
powerful way to raise awareness, but then you have to get on the
ground and actually do something.”

Culled: Cnet