Social media is, to put it mildly, all the rage. Twitter is booming, which is incredible considering that the vast majority of people who use it don’t fully get it. Facebook has grown up (or devolved, depending on your point of view) into a juggernaut that handles more than everything you need. Ning has turned even the most mundane of hobbies and occupations into fodder for social networks. All this has people like me except much smarter licking their chops and exploring new ways to use this in order to communicate with the public. College kids my age are being hired based on their ability to construct a tweet. Blog networks, complete with Twitter rings and Facebook fan pages, are popping up. Journalism as we know it is becoming circumvented by the ability for a “company” to directly communicate with its “fans” or “followers”.
I almost have to take a step back and ask why. I mean, there are still a lot of people like my family, several of whom have never even had an e-mail address. For every new trend that I’ve jumped on, I’ve had to explain it at least 5 times to someone who didn’t get it, and then had to sit and squirm while they asked the question “So, what’s the point?” Explaining Twitter to someone who doesn’t know the point of texting someone is like pulling teeth.
I think sometimes we fall into the trap of cursing those who aren’t on board the hippest trends with the shame of being lame or behind the times. Don’t get me wrong, I love Twitter to death, and the ability it gives to communicate is huge. Facebook is a big part of my day. I still don’t feel comfortable when we abandon traditional, personal ways of communication with technologically nifty ones just for the sake of being nifty.
If it makes it easier to spread information and communicate with people, then I want to use it. If it’s just cool, then I’m going to put on my cynic hat and make sure that it’s not just the new fad for the next 10 minutes.
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