“Hey I know you…we met in cyberspace…”
Sometimes even the experts get it completely wrong. In the same way that very few people managed to predict the phenomenal growth of the internet, today it is ‘social networking’ that is taking the on-line world by storm.
Social networking is a catch all phrase for the way we use the internet to communicate socially and is one of the fastest growing trends in the computing industry.
Even a year or two ago social networking was still in its infancy and most of the websites that offered this facility were considered as nothing more than time wasters for teenagers. How things have changed! Today websites like “Facebook”, “My Space” and “You Tube” are considered to be mainstream applications and are only the tip of a rapidly growing iceberg.
Even a simple idea like writing a daily diary in 140 characters or less has led to the truly phenomenal growth of “Twitter” – a website that even President Obama regularly updates! Today we can communicate virtually instantaneously with anyone in the world who has internet access. We can upload videos, music and photos. We can join interactive “chat rooms” on almost any subject and even apply for jobs using online networking websites. The world is more ‘connected’ than ever before and we now have a bewildering array of new social networking sites to give us the ultimate “online presence”. But what is this new medium of communication all about and why should we care?
Like all ideas some of the most simple turn out to be the best. The power of the net shows no signs of slowing down and although the early years tended to be more business focused with ‘transmission of information’ being the obvious manifestation there has been a gentle but steady growth in simple general communication tools. One of the first set of users to exploit the net to bring people together was the numerous dating websites that used the power of the internet to bring partner-seeking individuals together. Then the brilliant “Friends Reunited” site was launched enabling us to find long lost old school buddies with phenomenal success. This site has now expanded into other areas like old work colleagues and suddenly we are all starting to reconnect with people that we had lost touch with years ago.
Very soon other entrepreneurs started to build on this idea and created websites that were designed to give people somewhere to share their ideas, thoughts and even photos with friends and relatives across the world. One of the reasons that teenagers were the first to exploit this opportunity was simply because they could rarely afford to have their own websites built so instead used social networking sites as their own ‘virtual website’. Over the last few years the use of web camera’s (webcams) and facilities like Skype have enabled real-time video transmissions to be used with ease to ‘talk’ to friends the other side of the world. Even the movie cameras integral to mobile phones can be used to make easy films that can be then transmitted over the web. Amateur musicians can now film their own performances and have instant world wide exposure. Songs can be downloaded directly onto iPods and MP3 players which has put the whole music industry into turmoil and suddenly everyone can have a ‘voice’ in the world to express ideas and opinions. Even electronic books (e-books) have started to totally revolutionise the book industry.
The most recent shock though has been the sudden awakening of businesses and organisations to the power of social networking. It is as though big business suddenly woke up to the fact that all these new concepts were not just the preserve of bored teenagers. Instead they have begun to realise how these websites can be exploited for business purposes, to spread marketing messages, attract new sales, find new customers and sales outlets, communicate in new unorthodox ways and use the net as another corporate communication medium.
What is indisputable is that social networking is not only here to stay but it is growing, adapting and bringing us exciting new ways of interacting with other people and is set to fundamentally change the way we communicate in an increasingly wired world.
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