The Commons

Late last week Masha Alexander and I were at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami. Among other cool stuff, I had the chance to hold a hefty Aplysia californica – a.k.a. a common sea slug. Aplysia are bred in quantity at Rosenstiel because their neurons are large and accessible, making them  great for neurological research, including inquiries into Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and other debilitating diseases. The one I held was upset with me, though – squirting purple ink all over my hands.

Remarkable work is taking place at the Rosenstiel School – one of the signature research and education programs of the University of Miami. They are looking at climate change, coastal ecosystems, fisheries and aquaculture, hurricane prediction and tracking, and other “hot button” issues. And as we talked with the new Dean – Roni Avissar – and his colleagues about the role of social media in creating awareness of and understanding about the remarkable contributions that the School is making in these critical research areas, I had a flash of insight.

It struck me that the ocean contains a perfect metaphor for the complex environment of user-generated content and social media. It’s been described in the past as a rainbow or a flower or a garden – all useful descriptions but somehow incomplete. What the blogosphere and social networking sites resemble more than anything else is a coral reef – a remarkable and glorious construction made up of billions of individual units (polyps, in the case of the reef, and posts and comments in the case of the social network) that collect and fuse together into structures of remarkable size, complexity, diversity, and outright beauty. What is Wikipedia if not a vibrant, living, and growing “reef” of evolving content? What is Alltop if not a field guide to a constantly evolving ecosystem of ideas? And who hasn’t felt the need to take a deep breath before diving into the dense and fascinating world of social media?

Just take the plunge.

- Rob Moore, Ph.D., Managing Partner

Tags: blogging, higher education, interactive, media strategy, nonprofit communications, nonprofit marketing, resources, social media, social media coral reef, trends, twitter, web 2.0