So much these days is said about social media.
You have Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Foursquare, Pin interest and the list goes on and on. Yet is this a curse or is it good for the masses.
Little History behind Social Media
Social networking seems like a very new phenomenon and, certainly for the younger generation, it’s hard to imagine a world without Facebook and Twitter.
But social isn’t (and never was) just these two platforms – in fact, it actually predates both of them by over thirty years. Yep. The history of social media is, essentially, the history of the internet, and you will find its roots in email, usenet, the world wide web, blogs and (gasp) AOL.
Fast-forward to 2003, and MySpace and Friendster were *still* all the rage. True, it wasn’t until Facebook (2004) and Twitter (2006) came along that social media really began to change the world, but its foundations can be discovered a lot further back in the timeline. And in ten years from now, unthinkable as it might seem today, it’s inevitable that both of these platforms will have been superseded by something else, too. Such is the nature of the beast.
So is social media replacing the mainstream news.
However then you have the real problem with social media. No where in the history of time has your life been open up to predators the way it is today.
People will freely give up personal information to join social networks on the Internet. Afterwards, they are surprised when their parents, employers and others read their journals. Communities are outraged by the personal information posted by young people online and colleges keep track of student activities on and off campus. The posting of personal information by people has consequences. The New York Times reported that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a nonprofit group, says that one in seven regular Internet users between the ages of 10 and 17 will be solicited online for sex. That figure has fallen from 2000, when it was one in five.
So why is social media so popular?
Anyone who’s not using a social network probably wonders what the fuss is all about.
But for those who use Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, and that’s more than half of all adult Americans, the answer revealed by a new study released today will come as no surprise at all: social networks let them stay in touch with family members and connect with friends.
So stay in touch however just be safe about it.
