The Power of Social Media

We all know how big of a deal social media is nowadays. Social media has the power to take over our lives and doesn't even have to try hard. Before I started writing this blog post, I was distracted by social media for at least an hour or so. Scary stuff. It is very easy to just pick up your phone and get lost in social media for hours. According to Joel Lee, over 75% of Internet users use social media. That's pretty close to 100%.

In order to demonstrate how much social media is a part of our lives, I have a personal story to share. Two of my best friends, Michele (Sheli) and Haley, were at my house one night and we were just hanging out with each other per usual. Haley and Sheli are both pretty big fans of Panic at the Disco's music. We started talking about their new album they released and one song specifically became the topic of conversation. Haley wasn't sure what one of the lyrics actually said. So in order to get a clear-cut answer, she tweeted the lead singer of the band, Brendon Urie. Of course, we waited and waited but finally realized that he wasn't going to tweet back. I mean, he is a celebrity who has millions of people tweet him every day. What would make this one tweet special from the others?

Well, to our surprise, Brendon actually replied back to the tweet with the simple answer that the correct lyric was "car". That is all the tweet said... "car". He replied with just a simple answer to Haley's simple question. Who knew one word could literally change a person's life? Haley continued to scream out of joy since the lead singer from one of her favorite bands just tweeted her back. Who's to blame her? Of course, the tweet received many favorites and retweets from people all around the world who also follow Brendon.

A one-worded tweet received 76 retweets and 898 favorites. Wow. Of course, the person behind the tweet does influence the amount of interactivity but even at that, social media plays a big role in reaching out to people all around the world.


Here's a picture of the Tweet:

Social media in today's society allows us to do so much. We can reach out to our favorite celebrities, sports heroes, and even our best friends. Social media can bring us knowledge and help us to pass along knowledge publicly. Consider the Orlando events last weekend for instance. Think about how different everything would have been had we not had social media to keep us updated. There would not have been a fast flow of information like there was. As Americans, we expect a fast flow of information because that is the norm.

I think it is safe to say that we take social media for granted very often. We forget how much information social media brings to us on a daily basis. Don't forget to be thankful for social media. As silly as it sounds, we do rely on it every day for the information we pass on to others.

Keep using social media every day my high societal souls and educate yourself on something new so you can become a social media master. Reach for the stars!

Word of the Day: Zeitgeber
Definition: An environmental cue, as the length of daylight or the degree of temperature, that helps to regulate the cycles of an organism's biological clock.

All the best