The Ubiquity of Social Media

Wasn't it just a couple of years ago that smart phones became the rage? And only really since that time that Facebook and twitter have achieved household status, now everyone is posting blogs. It is amazing just how quickly our vernacular has changed. And it is even more amazing the lack of uniform understanding of these new words in our vocabulary.

Many believe social media simply means keeping your status updated on Facebook or making catty remarks on Twitter. What so few truly understand is that social media is not only much more than that, it is the basis for a new generation of communication.

Forget about Facebook for a minute--as that site is mostly for recreational networking--start thinking about Twitter. My first thought was that Twitter was simply an outlet for people with too much time on their hands to shout to the world their opinions on everything, anything and nothing.

Clearly I was just following the wrong tweets. Personally, I follow the NPR tweet as news is often released there before it is announced anywhere else. I also follow tweets from authors and researchers in the field of learning and technology, sales and marketing and other areas of interest to me. These tweets are informative. They tell me where I can find additional information. They lead me to other sites of great interest to me. So for those of you who thought tweeting a waste of time, why don't you tweet yourself and see first hand?

Blogging is another social media tool people often fail to understand. First among whom are the bloggers themselves. A recent discussion thread on a social media sub-group of Linked-in, someone asked the question, why do people blog?  They may as well have asked why do people speak? For those on the blog bandwagon, many have found it to be an excellent creative outlet for their thoughts and reflections. It also does something no other mass media tool has been able to do. And that is to give voice to the man (or woman) on the street. Before Web 2.0 and blogging technology became available, there were few opportunities to really be heard outside your own small social network. But through the power of blogger, my voice is heard all over the world. Granted my audience is small, yet they hail from six different countries and three continents. And of these, most are regular readers, showing up as page views multiple times in my stats page. Not so shabby for a lil ol' gal in Iowa.

Finally, I have to mention Linked In. This may be one of the most valuable tools of all. This site which is designed for career networking has little patience for the type of postings one might see on Facebook. People on Linked In are pretty serious about their involvement and most join multiple groups related to their career, area of expertise, or research interests. Within these groups one can participate in discussion threads that again involve people from all across the globe. This morning I had a great conversation with a gentleman from Dubai for example on social media trends.

Am I naive to be so excited about these tools? Part of me will allow that I have all the enthusiasm of a newbie, the other part recognizes that these tools and others we have not yet discovered are fundamentally changing our world, making it smaller, more collaborative and hopefully more peaceful in the long run.

Until next time