Social Media implies that all interaction and communication via any sort of media, albeit written, vocal/oral or technological in nature, is social. Within my lifetime, I have gone from learning about our world only through reading newspapers, listening to the radio, or watching television, which required zero interaction on my behalf, to traveling to other countries not only physically, but via blogs, Skype, Twitter, personal videos and photos. Interaction between other people and myself … some I have met in person and know, others I have met online and have become ‘friends’. Within my graduate courses at Full Sail University, and I am only in month four, have established friendships that hopefully will last a lifetime … even if we are never together ‘face-to-face’.
Social media such as FaceBook (FB) and Twitter are great for reconnecting with those from the past. I have personally kept in touch with about twenty or so people from high school through phone calls and meeting socially for many years. And then came FB. I have now reconnected with so many people that at one time I would have considered friends, but as with most, our lives have taken different paths. I now know almost instantaneously when someone is a new grandparent. When I am struggling, a one-line post will have phones calls and response posts there to support me.
It was not more than a couple of minutes ago that I refreshed my FB page and saw a post linking to a newscast about a couple in Renton, WA. Please watch the video:
This story was posted only an hour before I saw it and only one week after the occurrence. I share this story because of my, as well as others in my circle of friends, reaction. We immediately want to help – to interact in a positive manner to this family that now feels betrayed. I would have never heard this story living in Pennsylvania, but the social network of FB and the viewing of video via the Internet, put me at the scene.
Social media today connects people. Social media today can demand justice and show mercy. Social media today has a voice. Social media today is the inroad to our global world becoming one. Social media today belongs in my classroom.
References
CNN Video (2009, August 22). Couple’s house ransacked as they wed. Retrieved August 22, 2009 from: http://news.aol.com/article/couples-home-ransacked-during-wedding
Nations, D. (2009). What is social media. Retrieved August 22, 2009, from About.com Web Site: http://webtrends.about.com/od/web20/a/social-media.htm
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment