Social Media and Society

For those of you who forgot, there was once a time where social media did not exist, yeah I know it's pretty crazy to think about a world without Facebook, Twitter or whatever kind of app that allows you to connect with one another, but the question is, is social media a fad or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? My understanding is that it is in fact a shift in society because almost all of us use a type of social media on a day to day basis, at least I know I do. A fad is something that is temporarily "hot" something that burns out fast, social media is not a fad as it has been around for a long time and will remain here for many years to come.

So why has it become a shift in society? Well not only is it easier for people to stay connected, but many companies and businesses use it as a tool to promote and market their products or services, people get paid to work on or with social media websites. Its a new way to get your name out there, a new way to make a profit. Secondary and post-secondary schools now have the opportunity to use social media and incorporate it into their curriculum, there are now online coarses and many of us interact with our professors through e-mail instead of face to face or telephone interaction because its convenient and easy.

Social media is becoming a way of life, its easy for us to go online and discover what top stories have made news headlines, or to find out the score for the latest football games. We are becoming dependent on social media and if it were somehow taken away, some of us might go a little crazy after a while. Not only do we use it to discover new things, social media has now given us the opportunity to express our own beliefs and opinions online, through blogs, status updates or tweets, even though sometimes they can be pointless, it still for some reason makes us feel better that we are able to post what we are doing or our thoughts about a certain subject.

Social media is just like television or newspapers, but an easier way for all of us to share ideas, and since when has that been a bad thing? Just be careful how you use it because once you put something on the internet it stays on the internet. It's safe to say that not only has social media shifted modern society, but it is still growing at a rapid rate.