How many of you are beginning to feel the novelty of social media wearing off? What is interesting is that, for some, just hearing the words, "social media" sends chills down their spine. There are those who are resistant to learning it using the excuse of age or not having the time or are dreadfully honest by stating their complete lack of interest. Then there are those who have clung on to social media realizing it's infinite potential and have made themselves social media mavens. When looking at the two opposite ends of this spectrum you have to wonder if in years past when there was an advancement in technology, how many people resisted the changes and how many people embraced them with excitement? And how different is it now compared to then?
Technology is only as powerful as the consumers that use it. The telephone for example, was only as successful as the number of people who had telephones. If only one person 'bought into' the idea of the telephone it would have gone nowhere. The same applies to radio, television, and social media; without an audience none of these sources of media could be successful and as technology advances the audience can become more discriminating from selecting what commercials they want to watch on television to which social media sites they want to dedicate their time to.
As exciting as sites like Facebook were in their infancy, the more people that join and the more people begin using it the more frustrating it can become. Original thoughts shared in posts are being replaced with memes created by other users and shared repetitively so that eventually, a site that was once a fun place to stay connected with your closest friends and family feels more like a tour through a website of billboards and as we sign on we wonder why we intentionally walk through this sea of fewer and fewer original thoughts littered with propaganda, distorted ideas, and sarcasm.
For the users that have used social media for as long as it has been around they are seeing the evolution of this media tool the same way they saw the evolution of email... remember the days you would get up early enough to listen to the sweet sound of dial-up while your coffee brewed hoping for at least one email? Now we are filled with dread waiting to see how high our inbox number has become, bracing ourselves to see how much will be SPAM, how much will be relevant, and wondering if just one of these messages will be a sincere note from someone we care about.
Because the consumer can be more discriminating with what messages they see and because search engines actually tailor each person's search results based on the users age, gender, every previous search, time spent on various sites, and so on, businesses have to think up more creative ways to penetrate their audience. The average person is already beginning to feel the effect and it shows whenever they have to make a conscious decision to not log on to a social media site that was once their favorite, or they log on because their income depends on it, or they schedule signing on the way they have to schedule checking their mail or email.
There is no denying the necessity of social media. No matter how much you may dread one site there can be another site like Yelp that can show you all the businesses that are near you; you can look for reviews, pictures, and tips. I would have never known a wonderful coffee shop and Yoga studio like Inside The Bungalow existed inside the city of Mesa if I didn't have the Yelp application on my phone. Businesses like these are the kinds of businesses that help support local communities and a large part of the community would support a business like this if they knew about it.
As social media continues to evolve we can see that the more defined and hyper-focused the social media site is, the more stable the site as a business will remain. This phenomena in business also proves how hype is not always sustainable and no matter how many people may have loved something at one time, (think MySpace), the novelty begins to wear off and ideas that once seemed exciting eventually become part of everyday life and are added to the lists of things we all have to schedule into our lives. How we manage our time, including when we are on social media sites can help us all maintain a sense of balance as we strive to harmonize relationships whether in person or online. Social media is important in maintaining connections but learning to schedule face-to-face time with those people who are most important to us or people we want to do business with is critical to having a sense of well-being. When the novelty of whatever new idea that has come along wears off, it is those people that we have built lasting relationships with in person that are, (and should be), most treasured.
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