Status updates, wall posts, tweets, and hashtags are all household words that didn’t even exist five years ago. But today the grip of social media on our culture—and more specifically, our generation—is undeniable.
Beginning in 2003 with the launch of Myspace, social media has grown up along with our generation. While social media had more of a cult following back in 2003, today the number has ballooned to 1.06 billion users on Facebook as of February, according to its website. According to Statistics Brain, Twitter now has more than 500 million users to its name. The flocking of billions to these social media websites has created a massive payday for the sites—in 2011 Facebook reeled in $3.7 billion and Twitter $139 million.
In this age fads come and go. We don’t know if Dubstep or LuLulemon will be around in five years, let alone next week. But social media—and specifically Facebook and Twitter—definitely still have staying power as they are somehow still growing despite their impressive numbers.
So what makes social media sites so popular for our generation? The main draw is people’s ability to finely craft their online identity in time when everyone is hyper-aware of what others think of them. You may not be as funny as you would like to be in real life, but that witty status you stole from a camp acquaintance with no mutual friends sure got some laughs. Or perhaps being behind a keyboard gives you the courage to type things you are far too timid to say in real life. Whatever your interactions may be, they can be carefully thought out, edited or deleted to make sure your persona is absolutely perfect.
Another plus of social media is that it allows people to connect both with friends locally and with friends living across the country or on the other side of the world.
For more local affairs, Facebook can bring people together as well, like the crazy night before the snow day that never ended up happening. Without social media, that sort of mingling never happened.
The final reason for social media’s dominance is that it gives everyone a voice. People can tweet directly at their favorite celebrities on Twitter or post their political platform on their Facebook page. While this symbolic megaphone directed at the world can be a bad thing, everyone wants to be able to be heard. Social media gives us that chance.
Whether you spend no time on Facebook or eight hours a day on it, social media is here to stay. It’s transformed the way people connect and communicate and it will continue to evolve along with our generation in the coming years.