What Is Social Media?
I am a mom that works full time and blogs. I blog for many reasons. But most of all, I blog because I like to. Writing your inner thoughts helps you focus your feelings and vent. Before blogging I kept a journal. I am only making my thoughts public now. It is weird to my friends and odd to my family that I blog. I have been an Internet junkie for years. I have had my Myspace account since 2005. I frequented mom communities on MSN before that. I loved the Internet so much I went to school for web graphic design. My husband has learned to share me with the Internet. Most IRL people that I now do not understand social media or what it is. When I talk about it I get funny looks.
There are many aspects to social media. In our day and age of working an average of more than 45 hrs per week (for those who work outside the home), moving across country for a job, and the war that we are involved in, social media has grown. Users frequent sites like Facebook and Twitter for a wide range of reasons. You can get instant updates on your friends, family, and promotions. You can get breaking news from local news source and most of all keep up to date with friends and family.
Blogging is one of the largest players in social media. It feeds into all other platforms. I run a feed for my blog posts to Twitter and Facebook to let my followers keep up to date with my blog. Search anything on Google and you will have a blog come up on that first page of results. Someone has blogged about almost every topic imaginable. Blogs are the thoughts from ordinary people, companies, and professionals. You can read what someone that writes from their heart has to say about a topic. Not just the news sources that can often report skewed articles. Articles that may be politically correct not from the heart.
Facebook provides communities where employers, families, and companies are able to instantly spread a message. Whether that message is a promotion or just a random thought. It is a great place to see a feed of what is going on in your ring of people you want to follow.
Twitter is like sending a text message to whoever follows you by only typing it once. Messages spread by 140 characters to get your point across. The first time I saw Twitter in television media was the terror in Mumbai. People tweeted what was going on to the world. Letting others know and see what they saw. Twitter is also used by many companies to help promote their brand and promotions. Bank of America even has customer support on twitter. I think that was one of the most helpful uses by a company of Twitter that I have seen.
I follow fellow bloggers, companies, and news outlets on Twitter. I can access instant information from anywhere anytime. For those that are not into social media they do not grasp the concept. They cannot understand why anyone would tell everyone how they are feeling in an instant. The world of social media is growing and we need to grasp the concept instead of turning our backs on it. This is the digital world that our children will be seeing as the norm. People text everyday. Social media is taking that concept just one step further.
I would love to start a conversation about this for those who have not yet dabbled in social media. Where do you fall into social media? Do you use? If so what do you use social media for?
Filed Under: Blogging Resources