Did you know that 72% of all internet users have some link to social media?
Social media is effortlessly becoming part of us, in what we say and what we do, every minute of every day. Every day we find ourselves tagging each other in where we’ve been today on Facebook or uploading a photo to Instagram of a Starbucks with friends but some more than others dedicate their lives to making sure that their friends and family know what’s going on. However, the rapid growth of technology in the 21st century is also starting to control the amount of access we have to our social media accounts when we are on the move or away on holiday. While having a portable device to access everything is ideal, it does stop us from showing our holiday snaps in person instead we put in on Facebook or Instagram for everyone to see or whenever we are ill, we tell everyone on social media first so that they can diagnosis us before we go to see our GP. Just last month I found myself discovering those outrageous life stories being told on Facebook, Twitter and even via Instagram, that I really didn’t need to know but social media has become this way of life that can’t be controlled, where everyone feels the need to share stories that leave readers amused or corrupted.
Social media is all around us even if you don’t want to be part of it; you’re connected in some way via your friends and family. Its open knowledge that the older generation didn’t grow up with smartphones, tablets or the worldwide web at their fingertips but most of them are fully functional to the way the web works and rely on it to keep updated with what their kids or grandkids maybe up too. I suppose the older generation didn’t have a lot have a choice in the matter, other than to adapt? Believe it or not, 57% of us using social media talk to more people online than in real life; making me think that social media really is becoming part of our personality? We use it to talk, send pictures, keep up-to-date, learn about local events and much more but no matter where you go now, you will hear someone go ‘I’m going to tweet that’ or ‘that is a definite Instagram photo’ but like all things, social media has created itself as part of a humans day to day life…
QUESTION TIME!
What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? Grab a cuppa? Have a Shower? Get some breakfast?
What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? Grab a cuppa? Have a Shower? Get some breakfast?
I bet you don’t do any of that! You probably do what most of the population do, instead of getting your morning caffeine fix, you spend your morning scrolling through your Facebook or Twitter feed or catching up on what Snapchat’s were sent to you last night or the who has posted the most selfie on Instagram. Yes, I am one of the many that do that every morning, I think most of us our ‘one of them’ but some just don’t like to admit it!
Why don’t we have a look at the range of social media that is out there at the moment and see how actually it has become part of our personality and life without realising it… I bet there is at least 1 thing, you do from this list and take part in on social media:
1. FACEBOOK
Since its arrival, Facebook has done something different, it’s created this open forum where we can share, like and comment with people that we don’t really know but we have let into our circle of friends. While social media has become a catch up with friends for some; it’s become a natural addiction for others, you end up telling Mark Zuckerberg you’ve moved up to Manchester before telling your friends, it’s just one big vicious cycle! Either way people are using Facebook instead of talking face-to-face.
Since its arrival, Facebook has done something different, it’s created this open forum where we can share, like and comment with people that we don’t really know but we have let into our circle of friends. While social media has become a catch up with friends for some; it’s become a natural addiction for others, you end up telling Mark Zuckerberg you’ve moved up to Manchester before telling your friends, it’s just one big vicious cycle! Either way people are using Facebook instead of talking face-to-face.
2. TWITTER
After the invasion of Twitter, social media became a platform for news, politics, travel and gossip, making the information gets to people as soon as it happens and before the traditional newspapers went to print. Twitter gave people the option to retweet, favourite and follow people like celebrities or companies that would tweet about their findings or experiences of the day. While, this is one of the benefits of Twitter, people have now started to use it as a way of complaining to companies that don’t answer emails or phone calls, knowing that the complaint can be see publicly to all that follow them on Twitter, companies act quickly. The famous #Hashtag came from Twitter which gives people a chance to pick areas around what they are talking about or something which is starting to trend because everyone else has used it in their tweets.
After the invasion of Twitter, social media became a platform for news, politics, travel and gossip, making the information gets to people as soon as it happens and before the traditional newspapers went to print. Twitter gave people the option to retweet, favourite and follow people like celebrities or companies that would tweet about their findings or experiences of the day. While, this is one of the benefits of Twitter, people have now started to use it as a way of complaining to companies that don’t answer emails or phone calls, knowing that the complaint can be see publicly to all that follow them on Twitter, companies act quickly. The famous #Hashtag came from Twitter which gives people a chance to pick areas around what they are talking about or something which is starting to trend because everyone else has used it in their tweets.
3. INSTAGRAM
Soon it will be law that no photo can be uploaded to any social media without a filter, thank Instagram for that one! Anyway, Instagram has become a way people can show images that mark a special event with things like a ‘selfie’ or family group shot but like Twitter, Instagram has become a personal way that people can privately link to celebrities. With Instagram able to connect to other social media so everyone can share, like or comment on your photo; people are using images not words to keep up-to-date with everything that they are up too.
Soon it will be law that no photo can be uploaded to any social media without a filter, thank Instagram for that one! Anyway, Instagram has become a way people can show images that mark a special event with things like a ‘selfie’ or family group shot but like Twitter, Instagram has become a personal way that people can privately link to celebrities. With Instagram able to connect to other social media so everyone can share, like or comment on your photo; people are using images not words to keep up-to-date with everything that they are up too.
4. SNAPCHAT
Here is another reason to take 5 second ‘selfie’ shots that you can send to anyone you choose! It’s a way to show your night out in the moment and not waiting to upload to Facebook or Twitter the next morning. Alternatively, Snapchat can be seen as positive tease for some companies as they can use it to give clues and information about what’s coming up without giving it all away, Hollyoaks is an example of this.
Here is another reason to take 5 second ‘selfie’ shots that you can send to anyone you choose! It’s a way to show your night out in the moment and not waiting to upload to Facebook or Twitter the next morning. Alternatively, Snapchat can be seen as positive tease for some companies as they can use it to give clues and information about what’s coming up without giving it all away, Hollyoaks is an example of this.
5. LINKEDIN
So we have our social media that can be for fun like Instagram and Snapchat but we also have our sites that can be used seriously and for fun like Twitter and Facebook. LinkedIn is something different and used a bit more seriously - it can help to connect people in industry together, which may help with questions, job enquiries or just as a relevant connections to their work. LinkedIn offers the chance for people to promote themselves by showing a person’s details like work experience, education history and a personal statement to relevant employers.
So we have our social media that can be for fun like Instagram and Snapchat but we also have our sites that can be used seriously and for fun like Twitter and Facebook. LinkedIn is something different and used a bit more seriously - it can help to connect people in industry together, which may help with questions, job enquiries or just as a relevant connections to their work. LinkedIn offers the chance for people to promote themselves by showing a person’s details like work experience, education history and a personal statement to relevant employers.
6. ABOUT ME
About Me is similar to LinkedIn with the way it can be used to spot potential employees or connections in your industry but About Me is connecting all your professional social media sites like Twitter , Blogger, LinkedIn and more into 1 place making it easier to access and employers find this a great benefit when hiring.
About Me is similar to LinkedIn with the way it can be used to spot potential employees or connections in your industry but About Me is connecting all your professional social media sites like Twitter , Blogger, LinkedIn and more into 1 place making it easier to access and employers find this a great benefit when hiring.
7. PINTEREST
Finally, Pinterest does what it says in the title, you pin your interests! You can create relevant interests or hobby boards and groups of picture which people can then view and pin themselves if they want to. You could maybe link them to your work industry or you may just use it for fun and pin some ideas for your perfect summer or bucket list but either way it is more of a low-key social media site that only a few people tend to use but it is growing every day and more people are pining their interests.
Finally, Pinterest does what it says in the title, you pin your interests! You can create relevant interests or hobby boards and groups of picture which people can then view and pin themselves if they want to. You could maybe link them to your work industry or you may just use it for fun and pin some ideas for your perfect summer or bucket list but either way it is more of a low-key social media site that only a few people tend to use but it is growing every day and more people are pining their interests.
So there you go! Did any of them sound relevant to you? Of course there are loads more that can be accounted for like MySpace, Foursquare and even Blogger. While social media maybe good in one sense as it keeps people interacting with each other, the news, politics and day-to-day life; there is going to be a tipping point where doing too much of one thing can’t be good for you.
As a user of social media myself, I love having the ability to group chat with as many friends as I want or uploading a photo with a filter to make myself look a little better than I do but there are times where I think that I have too much on social media sites and I may be using it slightly too much. I will admit I check my social media accounts more than once a day; mostly on my lunch breaks, when I’m stuck in bad traffic, before I go to bed and probably a lot more. Maybe there are some benefits to social media and the ever-growing technology we have, I suppose we save on the amount of paper used as fewer newspapers and books are being printed because we are accessing it on our iPads or grabbing
a book on our Kindle. But are we now using social media to determine the good
and bad things in our lives and personality a little too much?
- Lauren xo
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