Social Media and Chandler from Friends

{ March 17, 2010 @ 10:23 pm } · { Uncategorized }

The other day I was taking a “study break” on TweetDeck and my professor tweeted about an article titled “Social media bigger than porn: Is this a surprising revelation?” Now just because of the title, I had to read this article, which showed some fairly interesting and surprising facts about the wonderful world that is social media. One fact revealed that if Facebook was a country instead of a Web site, it would be the fourth largest county by population in the world. Another tidbit of information was that 80% of companies in the country use or have used LinkedIn to find current employees.

 Why do I find this so interesting? One reason would be that it affects several segments of my life and probably a lot of other people’s lives as well. Take the other day for example. I was in my Spanish class when my best friend called me and left a voicemail. When I got out of class I returned her call and got her voicemail. This phone-tag went on for about an hour without us actually speaking to each other. Finally, I logged onto Facebook and noticed she was also on so we chatted with each other for about an hour. 10 years ago, this story would have ended with either one side giving up or someone actually answering her phone.

 The above mentioned article also points out that since August 2009, using any social media site is the number one thing people do while in front of their computers. This fascinates me because the phenomena only started about 5 years ago. I remember my older sister helping me set up my Facebook page when she was visiting for my high school graduation. I also remember my friend Nichole bugging me early this year about not using my Twitter account. I now use both of these Web sites several times a day.  Another exciting fact is that it took several years for both the radio and Television to get the amount of users it only took the Internet and social media a few years to gain.

 Another reason I find this so fascinating is because many people who use social media on a daily, or even every other day basis, complain about how they feel bothered all the time. I happen to be one of those people. I get annoyed that people can always find and talk to me, whether it is by texting, Facebook chatting, or tweeting me. There really is no such thing as “alone” time. Yet, this annoyance will not bring me to actually stop using Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

 So now that I have rambled on for a few paragraphs, I leave you with one last thought. Social media is probably not going away, so if you are annoyed with it, you, and I, will just have to go on our merry way and live with it. Chandler from Friends is probably right, social media- Can open, worms everywhere.