Social Media Communication

Just three years ago, the “Big Bang” of Web 2.0 completely reshaped the world of communications and nothing’s been the same since. The way we send and gather information has mutated and evolved into all sorts of communication platforms in nothing flat.

Long gone are the days of handwritten letters, pre-recorded ten o’clock news, cassette tape answering machines, and rotary telephones. In 2010 we have access to everything right here, right now. What did you expect? The world and times are achangin’!

It is precisely this communication model mutation that gave rise to what have become known as “social networks.” (This is the point where those who thought this was just a passing trend start to get more and more confused.)

For kids born with those technological thingamajigs that allow them to communicate with China in a fraction of a second, having 576 Facebook friends and getting dumped via text message is no big deal. It’s a non-issue; social networks and social communication are encoded in their genes!

But what about the others?

In an age where today’s technophobes could very likely become tomorrow’s illiterates, what will happen to the elderly and those who resist change? Is life in a parallel world—an unplugged world—possible? What about life without social networks? What role do social networks play in our day-to-day? How much time do we spend tending to our social garden on the Web?

So many questions. So many answers. So many opinions.