Social Media

So after understanding the history and evolution of the internet, lessons this week progressed to the rise and prevalence of social media these days.

With new sites like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr making more and more inroads into our lives, hardly anything is private anymore. Pictures, thoughts and experiences can be shared in an instant. And with the rise of smartphones, the connectivity to social media has exponentially increased. Even swifter than radio traffic updates, social media such as Twitter can inform you about the traffic conditions - simply if an individual or friend that you "follow" tweets about the roads' condition. Information, whether personal or public, as long as it is shared, is immediately broadcasted to everyone within the network. Yet, while everyone has equal chance of receiving the information, the immediacy of receiving is highly dependent on the individual. Those who use their smartphones more often will be more updated than those who are not. And others, who keep their social media purely on their computers and laptops may not note the information released at all, unless they specifically look it up.

Still, the information posted there is often permanent. While posts can be deleted, it would not be possible to estimate how many people had already seen the posting before it's removal. As such, the far-reaching powers of the social media has led to many reputations being negatively affected - showing how very often, social media is a two-edged sword. An unwise post or slanderous remark made can affect how others view you for a lifetime.

Perhaps, it would be highly possible to say that social media has become indivisible from social relationships in today's society. Aside from extreme cases of poverty, most individuals are technologically connected through the social media. Many older individuals, after resisting for a long period of time, have also started to jump on the bandwagon of social media and joined sites like Facebook. Many of them have since learned more about their family and friends and often, resumed old relationships that had been lost over time.

Across countries, the power of social media is felt even more acutely. Maintaining contact with loved ones across continents and being updated on their lives has never been easier. No longer are phone calls and the inconvenience of time differences impediments to contact. Even emails, that for all their convenience, require the discipline to compose, cannot beat the instant connectivity that social media allows. A quick post, a short update at different instances - that by your choosing, can be instantly sent to your phone or set aside to be referred to later. Social media, at least to me, is changing the world. One relationship at a time.