The Rise of Social Media

A social change I have witnessed during my lifetime is the rise of social networks. Whether it was Xanga (1998), Friendster (2002), MySpace (2003), Facebook (2004), Twitter (2006), Google+ (2011) or any of the other less popular social networks listed above, billions of people have been affected with the evolution of the social network as we know it today. Social networks have allowed us to communicate almost instantly with people from all around the world, which is something that could be quite expensive just a few short years ago. I'm not sure if there was a specific name to describe the change except the phrase "the rise of social media" is thrown around quite often. Each "new" social network brought something new to the table that their previous counterparts did not. For example, Facebook brought exclusivity (at least in the beginning), compared to MySpace and the others. Twitter went with a more basic approach by allowing Tweets to be 140 characters and eliminating the standard profile which was seen in all of the previous social networking sites.

One trigger I think that set off the rise of social networks is people wanted a place to share and relive events of their lives with friends on the Internet. Social networks have allowed billions of people to relive events with friends and make new friends.

Some may argue that the rise of social networks has decreased one's ability to have conversations with others in person compared to behind the device they're using to connect to Facebook or Twitter with. Others may argue the exact opposite effect has occurred. It has allowed people to engage in conversation more easy. With each new social network, something new and innovative has come with it, and I would expect new and exciting things to come out of both existing networks as well as new networks in the future.