The way we communicate is forever evolving, from the telephone to the email. It’s hard to imagine a world without social media and text messaging. Social media has catapulted us into a new generation of communication, one that we were not prepared for.
Create a Sense of Urgency and a Need to Share
Social media is all about sharing, and in some cases, oversharing. Social media platforms have manifested themselves into hubs where people want to share whatever they’re doing at the time they are doing it. Not to mention more trivial things such as memes and humour and more educational aspects such as news. The point is that if something interests someone it is more than likely they will share it for all their friends to see. Giving us a lot more knowledge and information than before.
Provide an Inside Perspective to Faraway Places
Social media has allowed people from all over the world to communicate with each other. This has given us a better insight into how people from different countries and cultures live. With live streams, it is now easier than ever to see how the other half live.
Made Digital Messages More Personal
Digital messages are no longer just blank text with the odd colon-bracket combo to create a smiley face. With the use of emojis, messages are a lot more personal and can convey a much greater sense of tone.
Not only that but with apps such as Snapchat and Snapchat filters even the selfie has been upgraded. You can get turned into everything from a cat to a taco.
Brought News Back to Millennials
A study found that 40% of millennials get their news online, 23% rely primarily on social media. It’s been found that millennials love to interact with content, so apps like Snapchat have made that possible. By adding news outlets to their “discovery” section and adding in features such as live polls, it makes it a lot more fun and user-friendly experience.
Provided the Ability to Broadcast Moments Live
Facebook live has allowed anyone to broadcast live at any moment. What started off as something fun to let your friends see what was going on in your life, soon turned into something far more serious. This opened up and even changed many people’s perception of society. Everything from police shooting innocent people, to the number of opioid overdoses and even gang rapes and suicides. Facebook live has caused a lot of conversation. It has gotten a lot of guilty people caught and a lot of innocent people justice.
These are just some of the many ways that social media has changed the way we communicate. We are now a society of sharing, even when it’s not always appropriate. But there are major and very important things that can be learned from the way we interact and what we see on social media.