My family and I migrated from the Dominican Republic when I was three years old. That meant leaving behind all of our family members. As a child I remember the only way to keep in touch with the relatives back home was with a phone call or via snail mail. Calling became expensive as it was long distance calls and correspondence was too slooooow! It took weeks for my relatives to receive the mail we sent them. When they wrote back it would take another few weeks for us to receive it. Sometimes it was discouraging trying to reach out to them. But that has all changed since we have the internet, especially access to social media.
The good ol’ Internet, the things we can do with it are outstanding! Like I mentioned above we can use social media to stay in touch with relatives and friends who live far. Not only are we able to keep in touch with relatives and friends, now we can instantly share photos and videos too. We can also utilize it for find long lost family, friends and even classmates. I was able to introduce my children to my family in Dominican Republic via Facebook. They have witnessed via photos and videos how my children are growing. If we didn’t have social media platforms they wouldn’t have been able to. We are now able to communicate daily, as often as we like and the best part is, IT’S FREE!
Social media networking is great, users can use it to find new friends too. A newer way of doing so is called Niche Social Networks, this is a smaller subset which focuses on grouping users who have the same interests, professional associations or hobbies. These networks allow the users to connect with fewer people so that it is not as overwhelming as using larger social media sites. One of these is Kaboodle, it’s geared towards shoppers. The shoppers can recommend and share products they like. The users set up a profile, can add products from shopping sites and create “style boards”. I really like that they have the option of setting up a poll to ask the community questions. Using niche social networks allow people to share information and bond over their shared interest.
Many use a Blog, to share their ideas, fashion, and even sports. Facebook offers users the opportunity to join groups which offer the same interest as theirs. I myself belong to a few. I am part of a balloon business group, event planners group and a fitness group. I have met many new friends in these groups. We share ideas about balloon designs and how they should be priced. In my fitness group we share recipes, different workouts, we help each other stay on track to being fit and healthy. It’s all about accountability, but having other people want the same as you is very motivating. Years ago we might have only had the ability to join a group that we physically had to walk to, now we can be a part of it without leaving the comfort of our home, all thanks to the Internet and social media.
Facebook allows us to share photos of our families, friend’s get together, any accomplishments, wedding video. You can say that it is often a mindless activity logging onto Facebook. It becomes a habit to scrolling through our news feed, sometimes we don’t even realize we are doing it. Twitter is more for niche content, we look for what interests us. I follow news publications, event planners, fitness gurus, they are from all over the world. I can’t say that I’ve ever met, any of them. They provide great information on subjects which are of my interest.
Another social media platform which has become a major part of our lives is Pinterest. Pinterest provides inspiration and lets users get ideas. It has everything you can think of, boards on style, cooking, for sewing or recipes. Instagram allows us to see images and videos just like Twitter and Facebook. Instagram conveys the information we want instantaneously, which fuels social media, everyone wants everything quickly. Most people typically go to YouTube with a search query in mind. It is a platform where we watch snippets of entertainment or music videos from our favorite artist.
Aside from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter we have LinkedIn. This is a social media platform which is more for the professional setting rather than the personal. We can use this platform to connecting with other professionals. It can also serve to help users find new job positions. The users can add all of their skills, past experience, degrees they have received as well. Other who know them can endorse them for skills they may possess. LinkedIn allows users to ask business questions, they can share content related to their business.
People also use Social media for marketing their business. Some use Google+. The platform is largely used now for sharing and consuming information in niche industries, especially the tech industry. Business advertising via social media has become huge!. According to David Meerman Scott, “Instagram is a great social network to share any product or service that has a visual component or customers who use the products in interesting ways. It allows those who don’t feel as comfortable with creating written content to get their ideas out there.” I would have to agree with him, visuals attract more people than just a post with words. When I post pictures and videos on my platforms I get more likes than just a wordy post.
Now with so many platforms most adults get their news from social media. With so many social media platforms allowing users to go live, news can now be streamed live. This allows users to keep up with current events without having to wait to see it on TV. Live streaming also allows the user to interact with the news caster. They can participate by leaving a comment or ask questions.
Although there are advantages to using social media, there are disadvantages too. For one, our lives are no longer private. Anyone can have access to our information, when we write a post, add pictures and videos can be accessed even after they have been deleted. So many teenagers rather be on their mobiles and computers accessing social media, rather than playing sports or reading a book. One can say they are becoming lazier by the minute. Another disadvantage of using social media is children having to face cyber bullying. There are digital criminal networks which use spam mail to retrieve user’s information and use it to commit fraudulent purchases. Users may be stalked on their social media.
So there you have it folks, Social Media has become the way of life. The means for estranged relatives and friends to reconnect. It is not only for teenagers or for those in their twenties, everyone can use it and find it helpful. It’s also serves as a community, offering friendships and a sense of belonging. It’s a place to add photos, videos and listen to music. We must use it with discretion and most importantly be careful who follows you on social media.
Why do you use social media? Leave us a comment below.
Thank you for visiting my Blog.
References:
Nations, Daniel. (2016, March 27). Top Niche Social Networking Sites. Retrieved from https://www.lifewire.com/top-niche-social-networking-sites-3486533
Anderson, Janna and Rainie, Lee. (2014, March 11). Digital Life in 2025. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/03/11/digital-life-in-2025/
Isaac, Mike. (2016, November 2). Facebook Defies Social Media Gravity With User and Profit Growth. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/03/technology/facebook-defies-social-media-gravity-with-user-and-profit-growth.html?_r=0
Scott, David Meerman. (2017, February 14). Marketing Your Product with Photos on Instagram. Retrieved from http://www.webinknow.com/marketing-your-product-with-photos-on-instagram
