Beware Social Media’s Dark Side, Scholars Warn Companies
By Jeffrey R. Young
Jonathan Zittrain, co-founder of Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, was out to cause “anxiety and concern” among his audience. His argument: Internet companies that focus on “crowdsourcing,” getting the public to do odd jobs for small or no fees, are morally questionable ventures.
His audience, in a packed conference room here at a session of South by Southwest Interactive, included many people building those companies. His panel even included the CEO of one of them. The session was an example of how professors played a sobering role this year at a conference that has grown into one of the largest gatherings of technology companies hoping to be part of the Next Big Internet Phenomenon.
Continued at: http://chronicle.com/article/Beware-Social-Medias/126813/