Who exactly uses social media? No, I'm not asking you all to suddenly raise your hands, and I'm not asking to be shown the latest poll and metrics that break down everyone using Twitter. I've been thinking about all the friends I have that use social media regularly for personal or business reasons, and I realized everyone of them not only has the time to invest into social media, but also the money.
Sometimes, we take for granted social media is a luxury. Not everyone can afford to get on the internet regularly beyond when they get to the public library. Not everyone has a smartphone, or even a cell phone to tweet from.
Remember the last time you met someone who wasn't on Twitter? If you're reading this blog post, I bet you were shocked in some sense. Or what about the last time you met someone who wasn't on Facebook? You were astonished, weren't you? For those of us integrated deeply into social media, we become amazed when someone isn't tuned into these tools, like they are immediately missing a part of life that is essential.
Worst of all, we are beginning to look down on them. Think of the people who quit Facebook recently. How many posts did you see that mentioned why it failed, or why such a small number of people who quit did not matter? If 30,000 people quit what they were doing at the moment and laid down on the floor we'd take much more notice.
We're developing a tunnel vision as social media is becoming the most important pillar of the online world. We scorn those who don't use it, even if we do so unwittingly. As much as people give to the power behind social media, we ignore those who give up social media or ignore it for better interactions, whether online or off.
Social media is great, but true interaction beyond a few lines of text is much more meaningful.
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