For me, social media is one of the greatest advancements of our time. It has made the world a much smaller place and communication between people more effective. Platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, who has more than 800 active users (facebook.com), allow communication and interactions, a sharing of views, ideas, likes and dislikes. People in the workforce no longer have to travel by plane to see clients, they can hold meetings over Skype. Texting has become an addictive habit for many. There will be 8 trillion text messages sent in 2011 (mobithinking).
YouTube has created overnight sensations. Look at Justin Beiber and his instant celebrity. You don't need to wait for the record to drop or the cd to be released, you can download his music from iTunes and carry it around on your iPod.
Traditional forms of news are being replaced with an online presence. Newspapers and magazines are going digital to stay alive. Wikipedia has become the new research tool. You don't need to go to the library to look at the Encyclopedia Britannica anymore. This dependency on the Internet does have a downside. With Wikipedia going offline for 24 hours, there was a huge public outcry. How were people going to get their facts checked? (Globe & Mail)
New forms of technology are rapidly replacing the old. Televisions have gone from mammoth black and white sets with only a few channels to small handheld devices that connect viewers to thousand of downloading options. You can carry your television with you wherever you go and text your friends at the same time.
Are we loosing our ability to interact face to face? Will we only be able to express ourselves through an online presence? Will we still know how to write and use the English language to effectively communicate? Do we really need to know what celebrities are doing at all hours of the day?
Food for thought.
Sources:
facebook.com/press.info
Globe and Mail, Wednesday January 18, 2012; Globe Life section "Online Protest"
mobithinking.com/mobile-marketing
