Raising the Level of the Social Media Design Conversation

Alexandra Lange, no stranger to penning appeals for better versions of criticism,  recently turned her focus to social media, making a strong argument for the power available to architects and designers from networks like Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr. 

Lange focuses first on examples of architects whose contributions to social media have to do with “the architecture of self-promotion, but little to do with actual building.” Instead, Lange proposes that “social media can do more for architecture than showcase pretty faces and soundbites. Architects need to start thinking of social media as the first draft of history.”

After providing several examples of how each of the aforementioned platforms can improve the conversation about the designed and the built, Lange also proposes a refreshingly democratic future for the design conversation: “Social media can make criticism, interpretation, dialogue and history part of daily life. Don’t leave it to the critics.”