The Rise Of Social Networking’s Popularity
To say that Social Networking has taken the world by storm would be an understatement. Everywhere you look, people are Facebooking, YouTubing, or Tweeting. Just about every mobile phone you buy has capabilities of tying into your social networking account. And you know what? I THINK IT’S FANTASTIC!
I’ll be honest here, I thought a lot of this stuff was just gonna be a phase. I mean, we started off with AOL back in the 90’s. That had a great run, and still does well to this day.
Then we saw Myspace come along, where people were able to be a little more interactive, by having their own “page” and adding some of their favorite pictures, videos, links, etc. People were also able to edit their “space” anyway they wanted.
Then we saw the two big dogs show up on the block: Facebook and Twitter. I use both of these on a daily basis, as it is a great way to keep people informed on what you’re up to.
Facebook and Twitter started to grow in mammoth numbers. Everybody started doing it. Kids, moms, grandmas, NFL players, etc. You may have seen the commercials where the two parents are sitting on the porch, sending the kids messages through Facebook and Twitter. It is not far from the truth!
I think a large part of this is due to the fact that they are free to join, and they are so EASY. You don’t need to be a computer programmer to get started. Or upload photos. Or upload videos. It is all so simple even a caveman…nah, I’m not gonna go there, but I think you get the point.
Facebook also has online games to play that are getting more visitors a day than most websites would pray to get in a year! It’s amazing. Here’s some more facts about Facebook:
- It was founded in 2004
- Employs more than 1000 people
- In just 6 years, it has more than 400 million active users!
Twitter is another free, simple social networking site that people are going nuts over. Basically you setup your account, and just type in instant updates or “tweets” on what you are doing. You can also enter links to your blogs or other favorite sites in your update stats. Facebook is a little more complex than Twitter, so if you want an easy way to let people know what you are doing, without all the “bells and whistles” Twitter is perfect for you.
Most smartphones now have Facebook and Twitter apps integrated right into your phone, so that you access your accounts anytime and anywhere you’d like. Very cool.
Do you know what the second highest used search engine, behind Google is? YouTube! That’s right. More people are using YouTube to find stuff than Yahoo, Lycos, Bing, etc. And why not? We live in a society where people would rather see how things are done than read about it. What better place than YouTube. On YouTube, you can see old commercials, get recipes for countless foods, see how to set a table, ANYTHING!
Earlier I said that our lives are getting busier, and I thought all this Social Networking was fantastic, and I wanted to elaborate on that a little bit. Never before was it so easy for grandparents to interact with their grandchildren that may be 1000 miles away. Or for you to locate old schoolmates and be talking to them in minutes after 15 years of not seeing or hearing from them. Or finding out what your favorite band is doing each day, requesting music on your favorite radio station, or just letting people know what you’re doing without having to make a phone call or send an email.
All of this is possible through Social Networking.
If you’re wondering, “Is there a way to make money on these social networking sites?”
Of course. This is the internet age. You can make money online doing just about anything. I think I’ll save that for another article, though.
