Social media explosion

For the doubters of our world, it may be time for you to drop your last defenses and adopt a new way of interacting with the world around you.  As the pony express gave way to mail, and the telegraph gave way to the telephone, society has shifted the way it operates and has embraced social media (Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.).  See this report from the Pew Research Center.  It’s the latest of their annual surveys of social media adoption in America and it shows that 65% of online adults use social media.  There are lots of other interesting statistics in the downloadable report, in particular how women have embraced it to an even higher degree than men. But the most astounding stat of all, to me, was how the growth exploded in the last six years, going from 5% of online adults to today’s 65%,

I draw a very simple conclusion from this. The world is remarkably connected and while social media can be credited with exponentially extending it, it can’t take credit as the trigger.  It’s human nature to want to interact with others.  Social media are simply the enablers on a grand scale.