Facebook

I've done a lot of research on Facebook the last couple of weeks for my college writing class. I've formed an opinion that Facebook is the future for communication and marketing. Facebook is more than anything we have ever seen before. It brings you all kinds of communication such as instant messaging, video chat, wall posts, messaging and comments, and likes. Facebook makes it so you can have more sincere conversations with those close to you but also quick check ups on those who you want to keep in touch with but without a lot of time commitment.

I've enjoyed Facebook for these reasons! But in reality I still enjoy real contact with my close friends and relatives more than through Facebook.

So use Facebook to its fullest but remember the communication that really lasts and means something!

Planking...the new black.

Planking is a fad that is spreading through social media networks! Especially Facebook. It's quite the game to play. It's also been called the "lying down game." To play this game you have to be face down, arms to your side, and your body has to be rigid and straight like a plank! It's kind of exciting. Here's an example:

It's crazy what people do in this game. Some guy tried to plank on the balcony of the seventh floor of some hotel and wound up falling to his death. This game has some people doing some pretty stupid things. So IF you plank be safe! Think about what you are doing.

Birthdays!

So my birthday came around a little bit ago and I got tons and tons of posts on my Facebook wall that said happy birthday! At first I was kind of excited because so many people wished me happy birthday, but as the day went on I realized something. I realized that most of the people who wished me happy birthday on Facebook wouldn't have known that it was birthday and that I don't even know some of them that well.

So I decided to make my birthday private on Facebook. More "happy birthday's" doesn't make my birthday better. What makes my birthday good is when my friends and family wish me happy birthday and spend the day with me! That it was makes me happy.

If Facebook were a country...

So for my writing class in college I have to write an issues paper. I'm currently considering writing about social media being a fad. My current stand point is that it's not a fad, but I'm open and really looking into it to find out if it is a fad. There are many things that make me want to go either way! I'm open to suggestions and your opinions.

So as I was researching I found this YouTube video:

It has a lot of statistics and things about social media! It makes me wonder if it really could be a world wide fad? Yes, fads have swept countries or areas, but never the whole world...at once... Also it has grown tremendously each year. For example Facebook hit 1 million users after 11 months of being online, 5 million users after 2 years, 12 million after 3, 50 million after 4, 100 million after 5! Wow...Currently Facebook has over 800 million users after 8 years. This comes right from Facebook's website (http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?timeline).

As you can see it's hard to believe that social media is just a fad. Even if the hype dies down, hundreds of millions of users will still use these social media mediums. When a fad leaves a society a few people will continue to wear or act in a certain way, but in my opinion social media will never be down to "a few" people. By a few people I mean millions of people because of the broadness of the world. And so I don't see social media following the paths of most fads!

I find it really interesting that social media has hit the world so hard and that so many people have discovered it! Businesses have even begun to use social media in their marketing. In a survey it was found that about 79% of the fortune 500 companies use social media to connect with customers (http://www.socialware.com/resources/research/social-media-industry-statistics/). Isn't that incredible? Businesses are using these social media sites and are having success. From that same site, 69% of those companies have found significant success front he social media mediums.

Again, any ideas or comments are welcome!

Online!

Brad Paisley's song Online says it all...

That's the beginning of social media! We can be who ever it is we want, we can do anything we want and people will have to take it for "screen" value. Social media is where we can find the best of people...at least the part that everyone wishes they were.

Well there's all kinds of social media that is in our lives today. We have Facebook, MySpace, Ping, Twitter, texting, MMS, and everything in between.

I'm here to investigate social media in our lives.