One of the many reasons to be passionate about the Internet, and to defend it from politicians who want to curtail it, is its capacity to be a great democratic leveler. Social media tools, with their potential reach limited only by language and access to an internet connection, provide a megaphone for the little guy to be heard as never before.
Dave Carroll’s video United Breaks Guitars on YouTube is the social media case study de rigueur, a not too subtle warning to companies that they ignore the power of bottom up communication at their own peril.
Carroll’s video, 11 million views to date, resonates in part due to its authenticity, its sincerity. Carroll demonstrates that effective communication on a shoestring budget is indeed possible using social media channels.
United breaks guitars
Naturally social network sites like Twitter, Facebook and Google+ have each done their part in spreading his message by virtual word of mouth.
