How the Definition of Social Media Has Changed Since You Got Facebook
Posted by Beth Hrusch on Wed, Dec 23, 2009
The definition of social media has changed a lot in its brief lifespan. If one wants to get technical, social media has existed since the birth of the parent of the Internet, ARPANET. This ancient system, developed in the 60's, allowed flow of ideas, but also of random exchanges, late night metaphysical discussions and Chinese take-out orders.
When Facebook and other social media websites were in their very infancy in the
mid 2000s, the advent of both cable and wireless Internet changed the definition of social media forever. People could now permanently connect, and connect anywhere when on the go.
Unless you were a pioneer college student, you probably jumped on the Facebook bandwagon around 2007, when Facebook went mainstream. One important thing has happened since then.
Everyone uses social media. Or at least most people you want to talk to. It's pretty much ubiquitous. Social networks used to be defined by who was excluded from them. Now, everyone is in-meaning that in theory, marketers can reach pretty much everyone with a computer. Or a phone with the Internet.
Other sites have seen experience similar explosions in use. The average person seems to have about 2.3 blogs; You Tube has over a billion video views per day; you may have heard of a research source called "Wikipedia."
This proliferation of use has certainly changed the definition of social media. It went from being a fun thing to do on the side or a way to waste a little time to a way to reach most of the developed world. The implications of this seem self-evident; in theory, the possibilities of social media are unlimited, as long as they meet the bare-bones criteria of connecting two or more people. Undoubtedly, the definition will continue to change.