社交媒体如何改变着世界

过去，我们购物要带现金，如今几乎人人都刷微信、支付宝；过去，我们生病了直接去看医生，如今我们事先在“丁香医生”这样的微信公号里就能了解许多关于疾病的情况；过去，哪里发生了自然灾害我们需要听广播、看电视新闻才能知道，如今我们在微博上就可以看到有关灾区的最新信息……不知不觉中，社交媒体已然深刻地改变了世界，并且这改变还将持续下去。

Our growing love of social media is not just changing the way we communicate—it&apos；s changing the way we do business， the way we are governed， and the way we live in society. And it&apos；s doing so at breakneck1） speed. Here are six observations and predictions for the way social media is changing the world from experts from the Global Agenda Council2）.

我们对社交媒体的热爱与日俱增，这不仅在改变着我们的交流方式，也在改变着我们做生意的方式、我们被政府管理的方式，以及我们在社会中生活的方式，而且这些改变正以惊人的速度发生。关于社交媒体正如何改变世界，以下是全球议程委员会专家给出的六点观察和预测。

Social media is changing how we

govern and are governed.

Civic3） participation and engagement has been transformed with social media. "Social media allows citizens to be the source of ideas， plans and initiatives4） in an easier way than ever before，" says Eileen Guo of Impassion Media. In the future， we can expect more and more leaders to embrace this type of transparent governance， as it becomes easier for them to interact with their constituents5）. "Whereas politicians and government officials once had to travel to interact with citizens， now online town halls strengthen the connections between them， while providing a platform for direct information on government initiatives."

Social media is helping us better respond to disasters.

From Facebook&apos；s Safety Check—which allows users in disaster zones to mark themselves as safe， we&apos；ve seen many examples of how social media and digital communications more broadly are helping respond to disasters.

In fact， more and more of us will be using social media to contribute to disaster relief from wherever we are. Heather Leson of the Qatar Computing Research Institute says， "Digital responders6） can immediately log on7） when news breaks about a natural disaster or human-created catastrophe8）. Individuals and teams are activated. These digital responders use their time and technical skills， as well as their personal networks， in an attempt to help mitigate9） information overload10） for formal humanitarian aid in the field. "These digital humanitarians11） will help close the gap in worldwide disaster response12）.

1. 社交媒体正在改变我们

管理和被管理的方式。

社交媒体使公民参与发生了变革。“社交媒体使公民比以往任何时候都更容易成为观点、计划和倡议的源头。”Impassion 传媒公司的艾琳·郭说。未来，我们可以预见越来越多的领导者欢迎这种透明的管理方式，因为这让他们更容易與选民互动。“以往政治家和政府官员需要四处奔走才能与民众互动，而如今的网上市政厅增强了他们与民众的联系，为政府行动提供了直接的信息展示平台。”endprint

2. 社交媒体有助于

我们更好地应对灾难。

从Facebook的“平安信使”（身处灾区的用户可以利用它把自己标记为安全状态），我们已经看到社交网络以及更广泛意义上的数字通信如何帮助人们应对各种灾难的许多事例。

事实上，我们越来越多的人将借助社交媒体为救灾做出贡献，无论我们身在何处。卡塔尔计算研究所的希瑟·莱森称：“当自然灾害或人为灾难的新闻爆出，数字反应员可以立即登录电脑开始工作，个人和小组都会展开行动。这些数字反应员利用他们的个人关系网以及他们的时间和专业技术来帮助缓解信息过载，便于正式的人道主义救援在灾区现场开展。”这些数字人道主义者将帮助缩短世界各地的灾难响应时间。

Social media platforms may

be the banks of the future.

Imagine being able to pay your rent or make an investment through your favorite social network. That might not be too far off， says Richard Eldridge of Lenddo. "Social media is transforming banking relationships in very significant ways， from improving customer service to allowing users to send money to others via online platforms. New financial technology companies are using social media to help people simply open a bank account. Social media can even impact your ability to get a loan."

But it won&apos；t be without its problems： "The biggest challenge is maintaining security standards and ensuring customers knowingly provide personal information. Banks will also have to implement13） sophisticated social media policies."

Social media is shaking up

healthcare and public health.

The health industry is already using social media to change how it works， whether through public health campaigns14） or virtual doctor&apos；s visits on Skype. It&apos；s also helped groups of people， such as patients suffering from the same condition， stay in touch， say Shannon Dosemagen of Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science and Lee Aase of Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media and its Social Media Health Network. "Social media has been responsible for relevant changes in both personal and community health， especially by making it easier for large numbers of people to rapidly share information."

That&apos；s not always a good thing： while social media does help official agencies and experts share important information fast—such as during a disease outbreak—it has a downside. "Social media is a two-way street， and allows non-experts to share information just as rapidly as health agencies， if not more so." It&apos；s this future that the health industry will need to plan for： "Health agencies need to have plans in place ahead of time to be able to respond to and counter misinformation or support accurate information shared via social media."

3. 社交媒體平台可能就是未来的银行。

想象一下：你可以在最喜欢的社交网络平台支付房租或进行投资。Lenddo公司的理查德·埃尔德里奇认为，这一天也许不太遥远了。“从提升客户服务到允许用户通过网络平台转账给他人，社交媒体正在以各种极为重要的方式改变着银行业务关系。新型金融技术公司正利用社交媒体帮人们便捷地开设银行账户。社交媒体甚至还能影响你的借贷能力。”endprint

但这也并非不存在问题。“最大的挑战是维持安全标准，确保客户在知情的状况下提供个人信息。银行也不得不实施复杂的社交媒体策略。”

4. 社交媒体正在改变

医疗保健和公共卫生。

健康产业已经在利用社交媒体改变自己的运作方式，无论是通过公共健康活动还是虚拟医生利用Skype给病人看病。社交媒体还有助于群体（如患有同样病症的病人）保持联络，开放技术公共实验室的香农·多泽马根和梅奥诊所社交媒体中心及其社交媒体健康网络的李· 奥瑟如是说。“在个人健康和公众健康方面，社交媒体都促成了相关改变，尤其是通过让许多人快速共享信息变得更加容易。”

而这也并非有百利而无一害：虽然社交媒体确实有助于官方机构和专家迅速共享重要信息（比如在疾病暴发期间），但也有其弊端。“社交媒体是一条双行道，非专业人士也可以借此分享信息，其速度即使不会更快，也并不会亚于卫生机构。”健康产业需要制定计划应对这样的未来局面。“卫生机构需要提前备好计划，以应对和驳斥虚假消息，或为社交媒体上传播的准确信息提供支持。”

Across industries，

social media is going from a "nice to have" to an essential component of any business strategy.

It started in the newsroom， as Claire Wardle of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism explains： "In just seven years， newsrooms have been completely disrupted15） by social media. Social media skills are no longer considered niche16）， and solely the responsibility of a small team in the newsroom. Instead social media affects the way the whole organization runs."

It&apos；s a trend that is already spreading to businesses beyond the newsroom， whether it be because of digital marketing or new customer service communication channels. Other industries should look to the lessons learned—or not—by the newsroom and ensure that they&apos；re one step ahead of this social media-enabled disruption.

Social media is helping us tackle some of the world&apos；s biggest challenges， such as climate change.

The capacity for social media to bring together different but like-minded people is also helping fight an enormous challenge： climate change. "Social media has become an important tool for providing a space and means for the public to participate in influencing or disallowing environmental decisions. It has created a way for people to connect local environmental challenges and solutions to larger-scale narratives that will affect us as a global community，" says Shannon Dosemagen.

5. 在各行各业，社交媒体都在从“锦上添花”

变为所有经营策略中必不可少的组成部分。

这种情况最初发生在新闻编辑室，数字新闻中心的克莱尔·沃德尔解释说：“仅仅七年的时间，新闻编辑室就完全被社交媒体颠覆了。社交媒体方面的技能不再被视为针对特定市场，也不再仅仅是新闻编辑室中一个小团队的责任。相反，社交媒体影响着整个机构的运作方式。”

这一趋势已经扩散到新闻编辑室之外的其他行业，无论是由于数字化营销还是新型的客户服务交流渠道。其他行业应该汲取新闻编辑室已经获得或尚未获得的经验教训，确保自己在这场社交媒体带来的颠覆中占得先机。

6. 社交媒体正在帮助我们应对

某些全球最大的挑战，如气候变化。

社交媒体能将迥然不同却又志同道合的人们聚集在一起，这也有助于对抗一个巨大的难题：气候变化。“社交媒体已经成为一种重要的工具，它为公众参与影响和否决有关环境的决策提供了空间和方式。它已为人们创建了一条渠道，可以让人们将当地的环境问题及对策与更大范围内的、将影响全球人类社区的境况相关联。” 香农·多泽马根说。

1. breakneck [?bre?knek] adj. （速度）极快的

2. Global Agenda Council： 全球议程委员会，是由世界经济论坛（World Economic Forum）发起的一个委员会，是全球最大的世界专家志愿者网络。每一年会组织来自各领域的专家，将其分成几十个小组，一起思考和探讨全球重大议题，为世人谋求福利。

3. civic [?s?v?k] adj. 公民的；市民的

4. initiative [??n???t?v] n. 积极的行动；倡议

5. constituent [k?n?st?tju?nt] n. 选民

6. digital responder： 也被称为digital humanitarian，是利用网络进行人道主义救援的个体，由他们组成的技术团队会绘制可更新的地图，建立数据库、信息库，甚至是建立线上和线下社区来引导来自四面八方的救援行为。

7. log on： 登录计算机，这里引申为“开始（用计算机）工作”。

8. catastrophe [k??t?str?fi] n. 重大灾难

9. mitigate [?m?t?ɡe?t] vt. 减轻；缓解；缓和

10. information overload： 信息过载，指关于某件事的信息太多，造成理解困难，难以做出有效决定。

11. humanitarian [hju??m?n??te?ri?n] n. 人道主义者

12. disaster response： 灾难应急响应，是灾难管理循环中的第二个阶段，包括很多元素，比如预警、搜救、提供即时援救、损毁评估，以及对基础设施的立刻修复。

13. implement [??mpl?ment] vt. 履行；實施

14. campaign [k?m?pe?n] n. （社会、政治）运动，活动

15. disrupt [d?s?r?pt] vt. 使中断；扰乱

16. niche [ni??] adj. （营销）针对特定客户群的，细分的；专营的endprint