Remember when you met Facebook?
I do.
The year was 2004. I was in a college newsroom in Manhattan, Kansas, attempting to put out the daily paper, despite being distracted by this brilliant new website. It had something to do with social networking, or so they said.
That night and for many more to come, we lost hours to the distraction, wildly amusing ourselves with the best college quips we could dip into, post and instantly publicise.
What was so great about it?
Back then, it was new… exciting, to say the least… and perhaps bordering on addictive. It was great fun for a 21-year-old who would rather not face the reality of exams, deadlines, etc., and who was going to be up at 2am anyway.
For better or worse, times have changed. No longer is Facebook the untouched, explorative space it used to be. It has become much more commercialized, much more targeted. There are pros and cons to it, and many ways you can use these changes to your advantage. This is true whether you are participating as an SME or as a casual visitor and consumer.
Facebook is not the first, nor the only social networking site, but it does capture the attention of half a billion people worldwide. It has secured its place in social media history, alongside countless other social media sites, including:
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Wikipedia (You’re an editor and I’m an editor, so write want you want and I’ll do the same, and we’ll probably both be edited by the next editor.)
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Twitter (Twitter, twatter: 140 characters to talk like a bird, opine, rant, persuade, inform, ramble. [i.e. When did tweet become a verb for humans?])
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YouTube (It’s not just a place to watch housecats take on crocodiles… You can also upload your own videos to engage prospective customers, for example.)
There’s no end to the amount of discussion we can have under the heading ‘social media’. Your thoughts, theories, questions and experiences can make this blog a place where we become an e-community of digital soul sisters and bros.
What early memories do you have of using Facebook or another social networking site? Have your opinions on social media changed since then?
