Today's Thoughts

Social Media.

It has truly changed the way we communicate nowadays and find our news. There have been several occasions where I have found out information through Facebook before I hear about it on the news for myself. I remember when I first heard of Osama Bin Laden's death, I was logging in to check the status updates of my fellow Facebook friends to see the string of updates announcing the historical news. I'm sure I was not alone - but it was interesting how quickly news spreads via Facebook and how much more I check into that social media versus the real news.

It's crazy to think how our world is changing and seeing the future now as to how we communicate. Social media opened the doors to endless ways technology can change our life - for the better or worse, that's debatable. Personal information security seems to be a victim to the growing social networks and mobile apps, but I feel these can be kept minimal as long as people are smart about their information.

So this topic of social media was sparked when I was browsing through the Mashable website of social media news to find the top tweets about President Obama supporting same-sex marriage. This news caused a stir of activity buzzing across the Internet within a matter of seconds after Obama made his announcement. 

I just find it so fascinating how people are now creating conversation online so quickly and to hear news from the real source rather than waiting for the local news to pick up the story. I think that's what makes social media so interesting and provocative. There is no fluff built up by the media portraying these stories. It's real time, it's raw, and it's authentic.

It is also rapidly evolving. 

Companies and businesses are constantly trying to stay up to speed on the "next big thing." Several months ago, no one would recognize "pinning" as a new social media verb, but today, the popular new social media, Pinterest, exploded with users. I guess that constant change and evolution is what is so appealing to so many. There has never been such a revolutionary marketing tool like this and the growing popularity and unknown future keeps us all on our toes for what is to come next.

What will be the next big thing? Guess we will find out soon enough. But I would put money on the chance of you hearing about it first on Facebook or Twitter.