A Fad? What Fad? Social Media is Now ...and the Future

I think that it was in 2003 sometime when I realized just how great that "social media" thing was... even though I really had no idea that's what it was going to be called. I just thought that it was a really good way to see what all of those people from high school were doing. This was way before Myspace and Facebook.. back then I was on Friendster.  I could feel that this way of interacting with people was going to be how it was done in the future. e-Mail was OK. Just OK... for the business guys. This was way before the revolution in mobile devices that has swept the world. The concept of instant interaction with the rest of the world was not even on my scope back then. I was just interested in what everybody else was doing with their lives.

I do understand how people could think of social media as a fad. Something that was going to fade away just like 8tracks, audio cassettes, laser discs, and car phones. I think that people think that way because they are scared of it or really just don't understand it. They fail to see the power that social media can wield. When it comes down to it, how they can make money with it.  For me, it all comes down to straight shootin'. Honest advertising... and how it can help the little guy. How it effects small, local businesses that have always had to go out of their way and spend a bunch of money to get widespread exposure. They have had to take out ad space in a local newspaper or mailer to get it out to their neighbors that they have a really great new pumpkin spice yogurt flavor. (which is awesome by the way. @myofrozenyogurt) They can now use Twitter and Facebook as real weapons for their business. The other side of the coin is that for people like myself who are fiercely loyal to businesses that I love... we can spread their messages with a simple retweet.. or by sharing their link to our friends. It helps everybody in the long run because local business is the key to everything in my mind. When local businesses are doing good then I am feeling good.

So yes, maybe Twitter and Facebook may come and go, but this way of interacting with the world is here to stay. And how about the proliferation of Blogs in their various forms . It's not a fad. It's more like a revolution. ...And here seems to be the proof!..btw.. you can follow us on twitter: The Monk, Richierich, Ali.