"Social Media Revolution" (YouTube video)

The video “Social Media Revolution” opens with the question, “Is social media a fad?” and according to the multitude of information that it provides, the answer is an overwhelming “No.” The statistic in it that really blows my mind is the time that it took older media to reach 50 million users opposed to newer media. For the radio it was 38 years and for TV it took 13 years; whereas the Internet only took four years and Facebook had 100 million people create an account in less than 9 months!

It’s an interesting time right now because so many people are now turning to the Web and social networking sites for news. It’s exciting because a plethora of information is available instantly, and users can also receive input from “word of mouth.” For instance, if a person is interested in trying a new restaurant, they can easily find a review for it on the Web. On the other hand, this could be bad for advertisers because if somebody has a bad experience with their company, that person can tell virtually everybody about it.

This digital shift has other cons. One of the points in the video is that 24 of the 25 biggest newspapers are suffering record losses in circulation. Not only am I concerned for those who work in the newspaper industry, but I’m also fearful that print media will disappear altogether. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but I think that the experience of reading a hard copy is much more enjoyable than reading online – when I have the time.

Another thing that worries me is the amount of information that people make about themselves available online. I think that it was cute that the video made this point by saying, “What happens in Vegas stays on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.” It’s obvious that the amount of privacy that an individual has is much less in this environment. In the past, if somebody made a mistake, they could forget about it and move one, but now their digital footprint follows them throughout their lifetime.

For some reason it also unsettles me that Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGenres have so many followers on Twitter. Obviously the Internet contains an infinite amount of information, but how much of it is relative or helpful? Are we just filling ourselves up with useless information?

I don’t want to give anyone the wrong impression. I love the Internet and social networking sites, but I feel like everyone is always such a cheerleader for it, and they don’t pause to think of the negatives (hmm…that sounds awfully McLuhanesque). Anyways, here are some of the other facts that surprised me in the video:

• Facebook has a large enough population that it could be the fourth largest country;
• the fastest growing sector on Facebook is 55-65 year-old ladies;
• 1.5 million pieces of information (pictures, videos, blogs, status updates, etc.) are shared on Facebook everyday.

Works Cited

"Social Media Revolution" YouTubehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twwURpa52ho>