Life With Social Media

LIFE WITH SOCIAL MEDIA


If college students of today are considered to be tomorrow’s leaders, then social media is the nucleus of future communication, as can be shown within the film, “The Social Network.”
The movie depicts the story of how the social networking website, Facebook, was created and developed, as it profiles the creator, Mark Zuckerberg during his days spent as a socially awkward computer prodigy at Harvard University. Much like the film, the site has drawn critical acclaim over the course of its release, thus, giving birth to a whole new regime in regards to social networking.
“Social networks have become part of the fabric in today’s society, where the majority of Gen X and Gen Y say check the Facebook before they get out of bed in the morning. With the amount of time spent on social networks, the logical follow is that companies, politicians and others will follow,” says Social Media Director, Tonja Deegan for Airfoil Public Relations.
According to two Pew Internet Project surveys of teens and adults reveal a decline in blogging among teens and young adults and a modest rise among 30 and older. In 2006, 28 percent of teens ages 12-17 and young adults ages 18-29 were bloggers, but by 2009 the numbers had dropped to 14 percent of teens and 15 percent of young adults. During the same period, the percentage of online adults over thirty who were bloggers rose from 7 percent blogging in 2006 to 11 percent in 2009.
“Social networking has allowed me to connect and meet people that I wouldn’t have in real life. It really becomes a global village and helps change your world view,” Deegan went on to say.
New survey results also show that among adults 18 and older, Facebook has taken over as the social network of choice, 73 percent of adult profile owners use Facebook, 48 percent have a profile on Myspace and 14 percent use LinkedIn.
Secretary of the NAACP organization, Porschia Harris, of Eastern Michigan University commented on the matter by saying that, “Facebook enables the people who want to attend an event that are organization is currently offering, a permanent place to view such information, a recent event was the “Battle of the Classes” basketball game. The event was held last Thursday in the REC/IM building on Eastern Michigan’s campus.
“Social media has altered the way we find, share and digest news and information. Social media is just a communications tool, and its use will be monitored and subject to criticism just as mobile phones and the amount of TV watched are debated,” said Deegan.