The Social Media Merry-Go-Round
Some say social media isn’t for them and others have a false and preconceived notion that by simply having a conversation about marketing, that said conversation would quickly degrade into one about advertising and dollar spend. Let me stop right there and say that is absolutely incorrect.
So, what is social media? Why are we fascinated – to the point of being obsessed – with accumulating likes, shares and pins? When and how did this start? And more importantly, where is it going?
We’re not going to dissect the story in its entirety…I’ll save that for a paid consultation or weekend retreat (Yes, I offer those, too…). But for now, I’ll gently dive right in and offer the abridged version.
You’ve heard of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg. And by now, all these years later, who hasn’t? Facebook – one of the most popular social platforms to-date – started off as a “social” platform that was created to allow college students to communicate with one another, to share campus happenings and build virtual communities with the same cause.
It wasn’t until 2005 – around the time I dove head first into the publishing and marketing scene – that Zuckerberg and his crew had expanded the platform and began allowing the general population to reap its benefits. Wait, benefits? Yes. Facebook opened the floodgates and invited ordinary people to become more actively “social” and encouraged them to “peacock” …to show off and let their proverbial freak flags fly.
Sure, social media may have originally been created for/used to allow people to paint organic portraits of themselves or how perfect home life may have been, or even to allow loved ones to stay in touch…but that was just the