Social media has been a big thing for quite some time. Since the election of Donald Trump as President of the USA last year it is now even more so since the POTUS fancies himself something of a tweet master and has made his daily tweets must-read nuggets. Whether you love Trump or not, to keep abreast of the daily news cycles you need to see what POTUS is saying, who he is attacking and whatever else he is saying. Then - if you are clever - you can develop a score sheet to log his misstatements (lies) or mistakes and even get a glimpse or his personal viewing habits. I doubt he sees the irony in creating his own fake news while blasting the admittedly left-leaning mainstream press by mistakenly thinking a story on a Fox News pundit's show was a real time news story.
Until Donald Trump discovered how much he could stir up with his daily tweets,i was lucky to read a tweet every couple of weeks. Suddenly, though, I was checking Twitter several times a day to see what nuggets of entertainment POTUS was bestowing on us. Suddenly it was governance in 140 characters. Welcome to the brave new world.
My first brush with social media was through MySpace. Myspace was a bastion of musical information and any regular reader of mineknows how much influence music has on my life. and then along came Facebook and for a short time it was a MySpace vs Facebook battle. That battle was driven by young people and in a very short time MySpace went the way of Beta tapes. And some enterprising folks were creating sites for employers to advertise for and seek/hire employees. Google "job sites" and get over 500,000 results in just over a second. And Linkedln is now almost a substantial networking site for people.I receive 5-10 mhits daily from Linkedln and I have never really used the site. Many folks I know, however, are avid Linkedln users and it can be a decent job reference/seeking site.
To keep up with my musical hobby I ran a music forum called Rock-talk.us for a number of years in partnership with a fellow who was very active in the music and radio business in Phoenix, Arizona starting back in the sixties. Through that forum I met and corresponded with pop stars from several British Invasion bands and several studio musicians from that same area. It was great fun and I made a few good friends, including a songwriter responsible for several multi-million sellers of the sixties. I learned how songs were snuck past censors - including a popular pop anthem that was actually an ode to the Kama Sutra. Who woulda thunk - LOL.
I am an active Facebook participant so that is social media I clearly embrace. Facebook allows me to keep in touch with my five nieces in California as well as a batch of folks I knew in high school.Facebook is also a showcase of sorts for the political dysfunction we are experiencing as the left and right wing flamethrowers populate and often dominate news feeds unless you have learned the value of "unfollow". And apparently it is a hacker paradise of sorts as almost daily some one on my friends list sends out an "I have been hacked' message.
A interesting byproduct of social media is what is commonly called branding. Everyone and perhaps every thing has a brand these days. One never knows when that life-changing score will come along. Gotta protect your personal brand. Ahem.
Social media is the way of the world and it will no doubt continue to evolve and change over time A whole new generation of entrepreneurs is looking to make their mark and become the next Mark Zuckerberg. It is guaranteed to be an "E" Ticket ride.
Be sure to check in on Ramana, Pravin and Maria to see what they think.
I opened FB and LI in their beginning, but soon became disillusioned with Zuckerberg's commercial ways so never added much personal info and haven't gone there in years. LI I never added much info as decided I didn't really want more work offerings so networking no longer mattered since I was going to retire -- so don't visit my site there either. Not interested in being the first to read a DJT twitter or follow others -- anything of consequence will appear all too soon elsewhere on the internet links, other media I trust -- meanwhile I don't have to sift through all the fluff 'n stuff which most of it is. I actually find I'm aware of some things before others who use those sites are. There is some value to each of those sites in various circumstances, for many people, but not for me presently as can best spend my time other ways. Perhaps if I become less active I might want to spend more time there in the future.
ReplyDeleteWise words, my Uncle partner in crime :-) Signed, zj
ReplyDeleteI am quite comfortable with FB and WA. I left Linked In when I found that I was being contacted for networking by people I did not know. I blog and have made some very good online friends through that medium including you. What I like about the social media is the facility to de/unfriend!
ReplyDeleteI have a myspace page where I post links to all my blogs. I'd love to spend an hour a week or so making friends there and reading their posts, but somehow, I never get time.
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