Lab+7

On Social Media...

The article "Put Social Media to Work For You' outlines an association between success and the use of social media such as facebook, twitter, blogging and so forth. On one hand the utilization of such social media can bring about success in exposure of a person or idea and likewise the success in exposure often results in heightened social media activity. Furthermore, the article points out that while the use of social media is not essential in exposure efforts, it is certainly highly beneficial.

I agree that the various forms of social media in existence today are indeed highly beneficial in communication of ideas, campaigns and other efforts. The fact is, the various forms of social media have since become a staple in the way our generation communicates and operates. It is no surprise that social media is so easily utilized to gain attention and more importantly, participation. Web 2.0 has paved the way for forms of communication that previous generations would have never dreamed of.

Social media allows us to form groups out of common interests. As in the case of Naheed Nenshi, various Calgary communities with common interests formed a local network in support of Nenshi. This goes to show the power of social media in establishing groups on a local scale. And beyond connecting people on a local scale, the Web 2.0 and its social media has the power of connecting people on an international level. Communication has no barriers and connections are easily established ignoring geographical barriers. These capabilities demonstrate why social media is so important in establishing connections and networks on scales that would have been impossible merely 10 years earlier.

While there is no doubt that social media has become a very important part of our lives, our near dependence social media goes to show its down side. Over reliance on communicating online can easily result in the neglection of real face to face communication. Essentially, we must be careful to not let social media eclipse the traditional, organic forms of communication.