How to make your ideas reach people?

[Adesh]

First of all I apologize if this kind of questions are not allowed here.

I sometimes get some thoughts, ideas on some social issues around me and I discuss those ideas with people whom I know personally. Then I thought of spreading it more so I started making my own Youtube videos and started posting it on my channel, but as I'm not a very active social media user I only get the views of those whom I have personally sent the link of it. As I'm a human therefore I do feel that my ideas are worth spreading to a wider public not because I want fame and popularity (although at corner of my mind or heart I may be wishing it unknowingly) but for the sake of my work, I want to make it my profession, I want to be someone who has to think and solve some social issues. By social issues I mean some issues which are man made or Government made and can be really solved and not just discussed. Due to lack of my coverage I'm not able to contact to those people for whom these issues are really for.

I want you all to suggest me what should I do? How can I spread my ideas? All I want is people just hear it and give their views on it and if they find it positive they should work on it. Is going to TED Talks will help? Should I request Journalists to post my articles or videos on their web pages?

If some funny videos gets so much views, comments and finally they become the main topic of every chats in every street of the world then why I shouldn't wish my videos to be seen by large people and gets discussed at least by those whom it concerns?

Thank you. Any help will be much appreciated.

 

[Klystron]

A good place to learn about 'spreading the word' while also helping society might be to work with a political campaign, in person or online. For example, the USA holds national elections within a year (November 2020) with extremely important issues at stake, the UK seems to be in a hyper-political mode with elections imminent, also in the EU. If working for politicians that hold views similar to yours holds no allure, there are many organizations devoted to particular causes and spreading specific ideas. Many journalists, vloggers and digital literati began by volunteering with political campaigns*.

*Personal note: my eldest sister worked with several local campaigns while studying journalism and broadcasting. A younger sister volunteered with the Democratic Party while completing her BA in the same subjects. Both sisters said how rewarding volunteer work felt, along with making excellent social contacts helpful to their careers.

 

[ZapperZ]

First of all I apologize if this kind of questions are not allowed here.

I sometimes get some thoughts, ideas on some social issues around me and I discuss those ideas with people whom I know personally. Then I thought of spreading it more so I started making my own Youtube videos and started posting it on my channel, but as I'm not a very active social media user I only get the views of those whom I have personally sent the link of it. As I'm a human therefore I do feel that my ideas are worth spreading to a wider public not because I want fame and popularity (although at corner of my mind or heart I may be wishing it unknowingly) but for the sake of my work, I want to make it my profession, I want to be someone who has to think and solve some social issues. By social issues I mean some issues which are man made or Government made and can be really solved and not just discussed. Due to lack of my coverage I'm not able to contact to those people for whom these issues are really for.

I want you all to suggest me what should I do? How can I spread my ideas? All I want is people just hear it and give their views on it and if they find it positive they should work on it. Is going to TED Talks will help? Should I request Journalists to post my articles or videos on their web pages?

If some funny videos gets so much views, comments and finally they become the main topic of every chats in every street of the world then why I shouldn't wish my videos to be seen by large people and gets discussed at least by those whom it concerns?

Thank you. Any help will be much appreciated.

The problem of the internet era is that there are way too many people with way too many ideas and opinions. Yet, there aren't that many that are willing to evaluate if these ideas have any merit or validity.

Just because you can think of something, that doesn't make it valid or even correct. Establishing validity of an idea in social sciences is extremely difficult, and requires a lot of research at a massive scale and over a period of time.

Case in point: the accusation that violent video game is the cause of mass murders. This nonsensical idea has been repeatedly used by many, even by a few elected official.

Now, why would anyone want to spread such a thing WITHOUT first establishing that A does cause B? Just because, on the surface, it APPEARS to be "logical" that violent video games lead to violent actions, it doesn't mean that the FACTS can support such a claim. What is worse is that there ARE several studies that established no such link at all, which have been ignored by those who made such claims.

I can cite many examples where people with "ideas" and "opinions" simply throw out unverified nonsense out there as if they have been established as valid. And the worst part about all of this is that many people who read or encounter these ideas can't tell if they are "facts", "news", or simply opinions, and do not realize that the validity of them have not been established.

So how about spending less time spreading your opinions on things, and more time making an effort at finding valid support for those opinions before you "advertise" them. This is something not that many people seem to want to do. Why? Because it takes effort and it takes work. but this is what we have to do in science, and since this is a science forum, how about we require the same criteria for social opinions, even if we can't establish the same degree of certainty?

Zz.

 

[Adesh]

The problem of the internet era is that there are way too many people with way too many ideas and opinions. Yet, there aren't that many that are willing to evaluate if these ideas have any merit or validity.

Just because you can think of something, that doesn't make it valid or even correct. Establishing validity of an idea in social sciences is extremely difficult, and requires a lot of research at a massive scale and over a period of time.

Case in point: the accusation that violent video game is the cause of mass murders. This nonsensical idea has been repeatedly used by many, even by a few elected official.

Now, why would anyone want to spread such a thing WITHOUT first establishing that A does cause B? Just because, on the surface, it APPEARS to be "logical" that violent video games lead to violent actions, it doesn't mean that the FACTS can support such a claim. What is worse is that there ARE several studies that established no such link at all, which have been ignored by those who made such claims.

I can cite many examples where people with "ideas" and "opinions" simply throw out unverified nonsense out there as if they have been established as valid. And the worst part about all of this is that many people who read or encounter these ideas can't tell if they are "facts", "news", or simply opinions, and do not realize that the validity of them have not been established.

So how about spending less time spreading your opinions on things, and more time making an effort at finding valid support for those opinions before you "advertise" them. This is something not that many people seem to want to do. Why? Because it takes effort and it takes work. but this is what we have to do in science, and since this is a science forum, how about we require the same criteria for social opinions, even if we can't establish the same degree of certainty?

Zz.

It’s true that concepts of social sciences are hard to validate, you said it very well that it requires time and real effort.
But I wasn’t talking about that academic or official treatises. I want to know how can I reach to wider people (to people whom I want it to reach). Whether people will accept me or may call my ideas a joke that is all about judgement but how can someone judge if it won’t reach them? As https://www.physicsforums.com/members/klystron.614295/ has pointed out that I should contact the students of BA Journalism.
I want to work hard to validate my ideas but for that I need to know where it is invalid in first place.

 

[ZapperZ]

It’s true that concepts of social sciences are hard to validate, you said it very well that it requires time and real effort.
But I wasn’t talking about that academic or official treatises.

But that is what I am saying that people SHOULD do, ie put in more quality in their opinion rather than just spread unverified ideas. There are too many of the latter already.

If all you care about is to make yourself heard regardless of the validity of what you are spewing, aren’t there already numerous platforms for that? I don’t see the issue here.

Zz.

 

[Adesh]

But that is what I am saying that people SHOULD do, ie put in more quality in their opinion rather than just spread unverified ideas. There are too many of the latter already.

If all you care about is to make yourself heard regardless of the validity of what you are spewing, aren’t there already numerous platforms for that? I don’t see the issue here.

Zz.

Let me explain how a formal treatise would be less helpful than PA system speech. I’m an Indian and I belong to a village where people are fighting all the time just for where does the margin of the field lies ( is it more on one side or the other so that a man will get 3 feet more) and due to these fights all the village has become a ruin and nobody feels any relation of any part to any other body.
If I were to write a treatise then I think that many of them will not be able to even understand it but if somewhere I can make my voice reach to them so that I can remind them of how the ancestors of that village lived in harmony then at least some change can be brought ( remind of ancestors is just an example I know it’s not tha simple but the point is that they don’t need any theoretical sociological reading all they need is just a little reminder of what they are actually doing to themselves by fighting with their blood relatives).

 

[ZapperZ]

Let me explain how a formal treatise would be less helpful than PA system speech. I’m an Indian and I belong to a village where people are fighting all the time just for where does the margin of the field lies ( is it more on one side or the other so that a man will get 3 feet more) and due to these fights all the village has become a ruin and nobody feels any relation of any part to any other body.
If I were to write a treatise then I think that many of them will not be able to even understand it but if somewhere I can make my voice reach to them so that I can remind them of how the ancestors of that village lived in harmony then at least some change can be brought ( remind of ancestors is just an example I know it’s not tha simple but the point is that they don’t need any theoretical sociological reading all they need is just a little reminder of what they are actually doing to themselves by fighting with their blood relatives).

So then, what’s the problem here? As I’ve said, there are already PLENTY of platform for you to do that.

Zz.

 

[Adesh]

So then, what’s the problem here? As I’ve said, there are already PLENTY of platform for you to do that.

Zz.

Can you please tell me about those platforms? I really don’t know. I request you to please list them.

 

[ZapperZ]

Can you please tell me about those platforms? I really don’t know. I request you to please list them.

The numerous social media/blogging sites.

Zz.

 

[f95toli]

If you have ideas about practical social issues and you want people to listen; your best bet is probably to get involved in politics. Either as a politician or a campaigner.
Very few people outside of academia are interested in "abstract" ideas; you need some sort of platform to get people to listen and politics is the most obvious route.

 

[Adesh]

If you have ideas about practical social issues and you want people to listen; your best bet is probably to get involved in politics. Either as a politician or a campaigner.
Very few people outside of academia are interested in "abstract" ideas; you need some sort of platform to get people to listen and politics is the most obvious route.

Yes you are very true when you say “ very few people outside of academia are interested in abstract ideas”. So how does a politician use social media to spread his ideas? I mean how do they get people on twitter see their posts until they become something. Even if I post something important nobody going to see it because I’m not someone, what’s your personal suggestions about this?

 

[jbriggs444]

what’s your personal suggestions about this?

Personally, I'd rather listen to people I want to listen to than to people who want me to listen to them.

In a perfect world, that is what indexing services are for. To be a proxy to identify things worth listening to. I'd rather not provide instructions on how to defeat indexing services.

 

[Adesh]

Personally, I'd rather listen to people I want to listen to than to people who want me to listen to them.

In a perfect world, that is what indexing services are for. To be a proxy to identify things worth listening to. I'd rather not provide instructions on how to defeat indexing services.

Yes everyone would listen only those whom they want to listen. But let’s just go a little further than this, it is very probable that the thing you may want to listen may not reach you just because the people who don’t want to listen that thing didn’t share it. It may also happen that you yourself is unaware of thing which you want to listen. I can cite a personal example: Calculus was taught in my school in a very very crude and wrong way, I mean nobody could learn anything from it, then once I was surfing over the internet and was suddenly introduced to lectures of Prof. Gilbert Strang, Prof. David Jerison and finally Professor Herbert Gross. Well it reached me just because of publicity and it was I needed it but was unaware that real Calculus is something very different from what was taught in my school.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

I've got a blog that gets about 10,000 reads a year. I've got a couple YouTube channels - the most popular will reach about 120,000 viewers in 2019, but viewership is growing with 13,000 views in October.

The key to both audience is weaving my ideas into information that is in demand and that is commonly searched for.

Of course, my scientific papers are widely read and cited also. But there's a whole different protocol for doing good, publishable science. My most popular paper most weeks is "Secrets of Successful Science Projects" which was also published here as a PF Insights article.