Sometimes I get totally overwhelmed by the number of social media sites out there. I definitely have some profiles and pages that have gone neglected, and some I forget about for a while until they randomly catch my attention again. It’s interesting to observe how the popularity of these sites, and our interest in them, rises and falls over time. We are riding the social media wave.
Facebook was my first social networking obsession. I think I dabled in MySpace in high school, but I wasn’t too invested. My freshman year of college was when Facebook first started to take off, and then spread like wildfire. It was all the rage. New words were created (facebook: (v.) the act of looking someone up on Facebook. ex: I’ll facebook you later), and words that already existed took on new meanings (poke: (v.) an action on Facebook which allows users to digitally stick a finger in the ribs of their friends, a sign of affection and friendship.) I’ll admit, I was a Facebook addict.
Though I still use Facebook regularly, it’s not the same anymore. I mostly use it to play Scrabble (anyone up for a word battle?), to post and look at photos, and keep tabs on friends and acquaintances. Sorry Facebook, but you’ve been replaced…by a bird. Yep, Twitter is my #1 now. I feel like I could be in one of those Swiffer commercials where the broom starts singing “baby, come back…” but, the broom would be Facebook. Okay, maybe it’s not that dramatic. As I said, I haven’t ditched Facebook completely, but Twitter is new and shiny, and constantly finding more ways to impress me.
I came across this article the other day that asks a very important question: Can Twitter’s Growth Continue? We all know about the staggering growth rate the site has experienced, but can they keep it up? A potential stumbling block pointed out by the author of this article, is the lack of interest in Twitter among teenagers. Setting records for thumb speed, this group is all about text messaging, and Facebook is still their network of choice. Personally, I don’t think Twitter needs teenagers to succeed. In fact, one of the great things about Twitter is that there’s legitimate discussion going on, valuable thought sharing, and respect is shown to differing opinions. It definitely wouldn’t be the same if you threw teenagers into the mix.
It’s also pretty obvious that GenY is a major force in the Twitter community. We have our own networks, Brazen Careerist and 20 something bloggers, where we can integrate our tweets, and the support among GenYers is apparent on the Twitter feeds.
So, I’m curious, what has your ride on the social media wave been like? What affects your/my/our level of interest or disinterest in these sites? Do you think Twitter needs teenagers to continue succeeding? Are there any up and coming sites that could eventually give Twitter some serious competition?
Shamless Plug: If you’re on any of these wonderful networking sites and we haven’t connected yet, look over in the sidebar for links to all of my pages.
