People soshalize. They don't care how it's spelled. They just do it.
From Friendster to Charlie Sheen, social media has experienced more ups and downs in the last decade than most would believe imaginable. At times, it seems as if we’re just going through the motions and repeating the same things over and over again. Then, every now and then, something comes along that’s… different.
As social media continues to expand and enter more areas of our lives, the health and fitness segment has been dominated by a handful of major companies and publications. Nike was a trendsetter. Men’s Health made a splash early on. For the pure healthy lifestyle enthusiast who also enjoys a good Tweet or Facebook update, there’s an up-and-coming site that has the right mix of substance and social: Greatist.
Every few months I take a serious look at my chosen profession and wonder if it’s really a tool for good or if it’s real “use” is to promote the negative in the world. There are many examples of good happening through social media whether through revolutions that weren’t possible a few years ago from oppressive regimes or the simple connection of people with others who they need to meet.
Every year many people perform the loose ritual of making promises to themselves to improve something or another in their life. Many say they will strive to be healthier. Others set more ethereal goals such as “I will live life with no limits in 2012.”
The story of Ben Breedlove is sweeping the internet. It has achieved full “viral” status by reaching both the social media and mainstream media audience. Just as Susan Boyle did with her voice and Chuck Testa did with his humor, Ben Breedlove’s story went from YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter to mainstream media through television.
I know, it’s hard to tear yourself away from Twitter and Facebook. It’s probably even harder for your friends and family, who are trying to respond to the many messages you’ve left them. This holiday season, give them – and yourself – a break with an eBook that will give them a new perspective on their social media lives.
It was a year where a ton (perhaps too much) attention was given to social media. While it’s relatively old in internet years, every day brings more people onto Twitter, Facebook, and apparently even Google+. 2011 proved to have some very excellent uses for social media from amplifying rage in Egypt to major IPOs in the tech industry (met with relatively little success, unfortunately).
Buzz has always been an important element when trying to launch a startup. The rise of social media from 2005-2008 became a great way for people to get their budding businesses attention. Then, something happened. Social media became TOO big in 2009 and the noise levels started drowning out the potential benefits of the buzz that was getting generated.
Social networking began as a confusing mess for many growing companies. Since then, teams of web developers, internet service providers and engineers have simplified the experience through web apps, smart phone applications and user-friendly APIs.
It may seem fairly obvious that the Internet is an incredible innovation that has changed the world. What other tool allows you to access every newspaper in print, find a phone number, and share a spreadsheet database with your entire company all in the course of an hour, without leaving your chair?
