This week we’re talking people power–specifically how individuals have the ability to make major change happen through the use of social media. Joining us are entrepreneur and writer Mark Pesce and US Editor for The Next Web Brad McCarty. 

0:00-1:00 On This Week in Social Media, we’re talking about ‘People Power’ with Mark Pesce and Brad McCarty.
1:00-1:30 Mark, how are things in Sydney?
1:30-4:15 Mark, you developed a whole world of virtual reality through VRML. How do you think we’ve ended up since the vision you had in the 1990s?
4:15-5:15 At one point, the tweets were moving faster than the storm (Hurricane Irene) itself.
5:15-7:00 Welcome to Brad, North American editor for The Next Web. How are things in Nashville?
7:00-8:30 Brad- I was looking at a story out of Indonesia this week about a woman who ran a social media campaign for an election in Indonesia and is now getting offers as a social media coach.
8:30-11:00 This week, we’re taking a look at MTV and their use of social media for the Movie Awards. Any reaction, Mark or Brad?
11:00-11:30 At that event, Beyonce broke the news of her pregnancy and generated more tweets per minute than any other world event, ever.
11:30-13:30 Even a year after the BP Deepwater Horizon incident, BP continues to lose in its social media efforts to rehabilitate the brand.
13:30-16:00 Doesn’t it seem strange that a head of PR wouldn’t use these tools themselves and be familiar with them?
16:00-17:00 Brad: Pitch me on Twitter. 140 characters or less is what I have time to read.
17:00-19:00 Marketers say they want to have a dialogue with their customers, but their dollars are still spent on traditional, one-sized media.
19:00-20:15 Mark: Guidelines are different than brands.
20:15-22:45 Icelandic citizens are currently crowdsourcing the re-write of their nation’s constitution. Mark, what are your thoughts on that?
22:45-26:45 Your role as a citizen in a western democracy is somewhat limited outside of voting. Will the democratization of media lead to a revitalization of democracy itself?
26:45-28:30 Brad, any perspectives on that on your end?
28:30-29:30 That raises the question: If our government institutions were created at a time when we were largely an agrarian population and information only spread as fast as news via horseback could.
29:30-32:30 There was a report this week about the mayor of a town in Syria who took to YouTube to bypass government controls.
32:30-33:45 Mark: We have people fact-checking with political aims and one of the outcomes of that process is that now there’s an extreme amount of caution with the mainstream media.
33:45-36:00 One of the companies at the core in driving the stake into the heart of old media is WikiLeaks.
36:00-38:15 Mark: There’s a correlation between the percentage of the population that has a mobile phone and whether they have access to the Internet and to their likelihood of a revolution.
38:15-40:30 The velocity at which information during revolutions can spread via Twitter and BlackBerry messenger is astounding.
40:30-41:00 It’s events like Beyonce’s baby bump and Justin Bieber’s new album that gets people familiar with the tools and then enables people to use them in social movements.
41:00-41:30 Thank you to Mark (@mpesce) and Brad (@bradmccarty). And be sure to follow us on Twitter @TWiSocialMedia and on Facebook at TWiSocialMedia.

We want to hear from you! To tell us who you’d like to see as a guest and what hot topics in social media you’re interested in, email TWiSocialMedia@thisweekin.com