Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Social Media - Fad or Doomed?

Social media is no fad it's just a vital change in how we communicate, and it's going to change how we communicate in the future. I remember when my dad got a cell phone when I was 8.  It was a large and squarish, it probably looked like he was talking into a microwave. But since then, cell phone brands have gotten smaller and better mobile features have been added.
I think phones are a lot like social media. They will continue to grow and improve with new features added. And just like phones, social media is there for us to communicate. We have fun posting new photos on facebook or sharing YouTube links with our friends.

Just this last year social media played an important political role. Anti-government protesters in Tunisia and Egypt used Twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media to help stop attempts at censorship. Through social media they organized demonstrations that got rid of presidents Zine El Abidine, Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak. And just recently in the upcoming US election, twitter and youtube have been used to send questions to follow candidates.So it's not just a fad, it's more a free speech tool that can be used to spread awareness.

I think the term "social media" is a fad, but not the platforms like forums, message boards, instant messaging, - social media has been around for ages. it's the term that's new. In the future, social media will continue to morph and change into different forms because like it or not we are dependent on it now.

At the end of the day we use social media to communicate with our friends and to check what they are up to. Communicating and sharing information will always be important, it was important back when cavemen would write on cave walls, and it's still important with people now writing on digital walls.