I’m kind of a jerk. It has taken me nearly two weeks to reply to a blog post by Jeffrey Inscho, which he wrote in response to a conversation originated on Twitter. The conversation was about an interview with writer Malcolm Gladwell, author of best-sellers such as Blink and The Tipping Point.

Jeffrey was in agreement with Gladwell’s stance on social media. I am not. Not completely, anyway. In the interview, Gladwell says, “People aren’t spreading ideas on Twitter, they’re spreading observations, perhaps.” I strongly disagree with this statement, for several reasons, and this statement particularly had me thinking because at the time I was preparing to give a presentation on social media at Duquesne University on this very topic — how businesses and entrepreneurs can use social media as a PR tool. You know, PR, public relations – a form of communicating ideas.

First, some background on Gladwell. He does not use social media himself. In his words, “There’s only so much you can do in a day. And I don’t feel I lack for platforms for expressing myself.” No social media? That’s one strike. His books, if you’ve never read them, can be summed up as statistical sensationalism. I first read The Tipping Point about seven or eight years ago, and while it was a very good read with some compelling arguments, I was disenchanted with Gladwell a few years later when it was apparent how easily his arguments can be disproved. That’s two.

And Google “Gladwell full of shit” and see what you find.

But the point of this is not about whether Gladwell’s populist books are bullshit, but about whether his opinions on social media have any substance to them.

And I think it largely depends on your experience with social media and how you use it. If you only use Twitter to tweet that you’ve ran a mile (big deal), or eaten strawberries with creme fraiche for lunch (who cares?) or to send a link to a music video (that one is in question), than no, you’re probably not spreading big ideas. You may be, however, making connections with people on a small level — the same as you would in the office chit-chatting about nothing – your lunch, your exercise habits, your interests.

But do you consider this statement an “idea”: “A friend gave me some really good advice. ‘Your self-esteem can’t depend on other people.’ I keep thinking about how true that is.” Is that advice or an idea? I don’t know, but it made me think. And it made me think about a friend I have that could use that very same advice at that moment, so I sent it to her.

Or what about when I make apolitical statements on Twitter, only to be bombarded with people telling me how I should form my opinions or how I should or shouldn’t vote? I do this quite often, mainly because I like to hear other people’s opinions, especially when I can’t make up my own mind. They are spreading their thoughts and ideals directly towards me. And I should note, these aren’t random people, they’re people I have come to learn and know and respect, mostly from their writings, but also due to having listened to their ideas over time.

Or what about this scenario: Local Pittsburgh Blogger, Secret Agent L, uses Twitter and she also blogs about all the good deeds her crew of secret agents are doing. She’s recruiting more good-doers and encouraging people to “be nice, no exceptions!” . In fact, local t-shirt company, Wear Pittsburgh, has recently made a t-shirt for her, further spreading her ideas about how to treat others.

Also, take this very blog post as an example — if I hadn’t seen Jeffrey’s tweet about the Gladwell interview, I never would’ve wrote this post spreading MY ideas about social media.

That said, if you’re simply posting what you’re doing on Twitter and not getting in on conversations, or just using it to read the news, no, it’s not a vehicle for spreading ideas. If you’re only using FaceBook to login every few weeks and see what your friends from high school are doing or where they went on vacation this summer, no you’re probably not spreading ideas.

But if you’re using social media to meet people, make connections, learn, and share — hell, yeah you’re going to be integrating yourself and your thoughts and your opinions and your mindset into that mix. Will it be a big deal? Maybe not to all of your “fans” or “followers”, but even if it’s to one or two, you’re making a connection.

Which brings me to “friends” and “followers” — I much prefer the name “followers” over “friends”. I have several “friends” on FaceBook that I haven’t talked to in over 15 years. These are not my friends. I am not delusional in thinking I have 160-some friends. “Followers” on the other hand, can mean anything, but I’m also not delusional either in thinking that my followers are following my every tweet. I bet only about 5% of them do. And this is where I can say I probably do agree with Gladwell, and especially Jeffrey, on some level. But 5% is 70 people, and those 70 people, the ones I interact with everyday online, the ones I see at “tweet-ups”, or even in the grocery store, do have an impact me on me, at least on some level, and they do own my heart.

Jeffrey made a good point in his blog post about the number of followers or fans you have not being a very good metric for success,  ”marketers are using antiquated metrics to measure online ’success’. The bigger a network gets, the easier it is for true communication to break down.” That’s true – the more followers or fans or friends you have, does not make any big difference — it’s how you communicate with those people, how you engage them, and how you respond to them that is going to have an impact. I’m down with that.

And maybe 140 characters isn’t quite enough to spread ideas, but it’s enough to start conversations. And maybe the conversation only starts on Twitter, but it branches off to deeper discussions via other social media vehicles such as blogs, which can then be linked to from other blogs and then tweeted about or re-tweeted about. Or maybe that then encourages other people to write about the same idea on other places on the Internet, such as articles, and wikipedia entries, and who knows what else, but the point is — of course we’re spreading ideas because we’re COMMUNICATING.

That’s right. Social media is a form of communication. And, yes, while the platforms (MySpace, Friendster come to mind) may come and go, the connections are still made, conversations are still had, and people still learn from each other and share with each other. It’s very simple really — of course you can spread ideas through social media, the same as you can spread ideas through everything else you say and do.