A Very Short History of Social Media
The year was 2001.
The World Trade Center Towers had imploded. Everything happened so fast. The National Guards surrounded and blockaded Ground Zero.
No one really knew what happened.
No one could get in or get out of the blockade. Media was blackout.
People wanted to know what was happening or whether family and friends were dead or alive.
Back in the day, only Blackberry-carrying executives stuck inside Ground Zero could message people from the outside with news and information.
Trusted news and information did not come from media companies that curated it but from ordinary citizens who could now broadcast. People realised the information was reliable and came through much faster.
People learned to trust ordinary people to provide news and information.
More importantly, people were awakened to know they could be sources of news and information. Often closer to the needs and reality of a smaller tribe of people and not the sources and opinions of one newscaster.
By 2007 when the iPhone was launched people were even more empowered to broadcast. The ability to broadcast is now in everyone’s pocket. Once the camera was put in the next version of the iPhone and Android was launched, it made it accessible for anyone to give and receive information.
Media has been socialised. Thus the words Social Media.
That was 21 years ago. Today, it’s mainstream - the number of channels to broadcast has expanded exponentially, and every year new ones are being added at lightning speed.
Think of Zoom. Few people knew about it before 2020 (just 3 years ago). And now it is literally a word in the dictionary. And it is just one of dozens of small and big mediums.
If you’re serious about reaching the next generation you should check the stats of gaming and virtual communities. It is staggering and growing at breakneck speed.
A’s to understand and realise for leaders:
The world has become ASYNCHRONOUS. And it will stay that way form now on. Not everyone will be in the same time and space (or room).
The world now has ACCESS to any and every piece of information that is ALWAYS AVAILABLE ANYTIME, ANYWHERE Think 24/7 and all the way to the peak of Mount Everest and the International Space Station.
The world will demand AUTHENTICITY. That means they can ask questions and can talk back to politicians, leaders, bosses, doctors, teachers, newscasters, and yes, even pastors. That also means they WILL ask questions and WILL give their opinions.
One final A, ABSENCE means not PRESENT.
That’s what I realised in 2006. It took me some time to immerse myself because the idea was so foreign to me. I was intimidated I hesitated to join a social media site.
I was 49 years old and everyone on it was a kid. But that was the point, the next generation.
In 2007, driven by the need to understand and learn I sheepishly joined my first social media site, Multiply. I knew I had to learn this new unstoppable medium.
The only way to learn it— is to immerse in it.
It was uncomfortable, scary, and felt weird. I wrestled with a lot of questions including am I becoming a narcissist?
Like everything that’s new and revolutionary, it will need immersing into to understand where the lines and boundaries are, most of us have not been here before.
But the values outnumber the liabilities. In a word, FREEDOM is the highest value. And there is no stopping that. Because that has always been God’s intent.
But just as it was in the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve had FREE ACCESS TO EVERY AVAILABLE TREE to them, freedom needs boundaries. This is why people of faith have to be in this new world order, they are the ones who can best influence people to find those boundaries.
I joined Facebook in 2008, soon after others followed, Twitter, Instagram, Viber, WhatsApp and Messenger. More are coming.
That's why more of us need to understand, learn and immerse, the better we will be at reaching the NEXT GENERATION.
This is THEIR medium - media that is socialised.
My Comments Policy
While my site offers visitors the ability to converse, I have a few ground rules so that our conversations will remain civil and courteous.
1. You must register in order to leave a comment. I don’t entertain pseudo, anonymous or bogus individuals. This site is my home (it has a Home Page, get it). I don’t let strangers who don’t introduce themselves into my home.
2. I love questions. I love them because a lot of times they are similar to someone else’s questions and can even trigger other questions from others. Questions also keep us all sharp. This is also why I respond to them as best as I can and at the soonest possible time. I believe that group answering benefits more people than private email exchanges.
3. We don’t have to agree. Debates are welcome. However, whether it is with me or any other visitors of my site, my rule is this: disagree if you must but keep things civil. That’s just how I run my home, and you are a visitor here. No shouting; I have seen it done in writing. No cursing and no insulting.
4. I reserve the right to delete your comments. Like I said, this is my home. I do not have an obligation to publish your comments. As a human being, you may enjoy the freedom to express your opinions on your own site but not on mine. To be specific, I will delete your comments if you post content that is in my sole opinion: (a) snarky; (b) off-topic; (c) libelous, defamatory, abusive, harassing, threatening, profane, pornographic, offensive, false, misleading, or which otherwise violates or encourages others to violate my sense of decorum, civility or any law, including intellectual property laws; or (d) “spam,” i.e. an attempt to advertise, solicit, or otherwise promote goods and services. You may, however, post a link to your site or your most recent blog entry.
5. You retain ownership of your comments. I do not own them and I expressly disclaim any and all liability that may result from them. By commenting on my site, you agree that you retain all ownership rights in what you post here and that you will relieve me from any and all liability that may result from those posts.
6. You grant me the license to post your comments. This license is worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free. By posting comments on my site, you automatically grant me the right to store, use, transmit, display, publish, reproduce, and distribute your comments in any format, including but not limited to a blog, in a book, video, or presentation.
In short, my goal is to host interesting conversations with caring, honest, and respectful people. I believe this clear and simple comments policy will facilitate this.
