“Search without Google is like social networking without Facebook: unimaginable.” SocialGoogleNetworkingSocial NetworkingUnimaginable Author:Evgeny Morozov
“Social media's greatest assets - anonymity, 'virality,' interconnectedness - are also its main weaknesses.” SocialMediaWeaknessSocial MediaAssetsAnonymityInterconnectedness Author:Evgeny Morozov
“The Egyptian experience suggests that social media can greatly accelerate the death of already dying authoritarian regimes.” SocialDyingMediaSocial MediaRegimesEgyptianAccelerate Author:Evgeny Morozov
“To fully absorb the lessons of the Internet, urge the Internet-centrists, we need to reshape our political and social institutions in its image.” NeedsPoliticalSocialInternetLessonsInstitutionsUrgesSocial Institutions Author:Evgeny Morozov
“As Barbara Streisand discovered, adopting a militaristic posture against a tech-savvy mob of civil libertarians is not going to be of much help: Many of them run their own servers and blogs - and have thousands of friends on their social networks - so overzealous attempts to silence them only lead to wider dissemination of sensitive information.” HelpingRunningSocialSilenceInformationLibertarianSensitiveBlogsPostureSocial NetworkAdoptingSavvyBarbaraServerStreisandDisseminationOverzealousBarbara Streisand Author:Evgeny Morozov
“Contrary to the utopian rhetoric of social media enthusiasts, the Internet often makes the jump from deliberation to participation even more difficult, thwarting collective action under the heavy pressure of never-ending internal debate.” ActionSocialDifficultMediaInternetPressureHeavySocial MediaContraryDebateInternalsCollectivesRhetoricParticipationNever EndingUtopianDeliberationCollective Action Author:Evgeny Morozov
“I have no problem with technological solutions to social problems. The key question for me is, 'Who gets to implement them?' and, 'What kinds of politics of reform do technological solutions smuggle through the back door?'” KindProblemSocialDoorsKeysSolutionsReformTechnologicalNo ProblemSocial ProblemsBack Doors Author:Evgeny Morozov
“I used to work for an NGO called Transitions Online, and I was their Director of New Media. I was a very idealistic fellow who thought that he could use blogs, social networks and new media to help promote democracy, human rights and freedom of expression.” HumansHelpingUseUsedSocialDemocracyRightsMediaExpressionDirectorsFellowsHuman RightsOnlineTransitionBlogsFreedom Of ExpressionSocial NetworkIdealisticRights And FreedomsNew Media Author:Evgeny Morozov
“If we don't like rent control, we ought to oppose it on political and social grounds - and not just by arguing that, thanks to smartphones and social networks, we can create new, more efficient markets for matching short-term renters with tenants.” IfsPoliticalSocialTermOughtArguingThanksEfficientShort TermSocial NetworkMatchingSmartphonesTenantsEfficient MarketsRent Control Author:Evgeny Morozov
“In reality, quitting Facebook is much more problematic than the company's executives suggest, if only because users cannot extract all the intangible social capital they have generated on the site and export it elsewhere.” IfsRealitySocialCompanyQuittingExecutivesUsersElsewhereSiteIntangibleSocial Capital Author:Evgeny Morozov
“It's true that virtually all new technologies do trigger what sociologists would call 'moral panics,' that there are a lot of people who are concerned with the possible political and social consequences, and that this has been true throughout the ages.” PeopleHas BeensAgePoliticalSocialMoralTechnologyConsequenceConcernedPanicTriggersNew TechnologySociologists Author:Evgeny Morozov
“Technological defeatism - a belief that, since a given technology is here to stay, there's nothing we can do about it other than get on with it and simply adjust our norms - is a persistent feature of social thought about technology. We'll come to pay for it very dearly.” BeliefGivenSocialCan DoPayTechnologyFeaturesTechnologicalNormPersistent Author:Evgeny Morozov
“We've never thought too deeply about the roles things like forgetting or partisanship or inefficiency or ambiguity or hypocrisy play in our political or social life. It's been impossible to get rid of them, so we took them for granted, and we kind of thought, naively, that they're always the enemy.” KindPlayPoliticalSocialForgetEnemyRolesImpossibleGrantedHypocrisyAmbiguitySocial LifePartisanshipInefficiency Author:Evgeny Morozov
