How Social Media Changed Communication

Social media has changed our lives in so many ways. Here are 4 things that have changed for me:

1. Instant Access to News

No longer do I watch the 6 o’clock news or the morning news. I get the majority of my news from Twitter or with a quick visit to News1130 or Google News. Over the past year, when many world events broke (world disasters, local news, celebrity news or deaths…to name a few), I read about them on Twitter within minutes of them happening.

2. Play-by-Play Sports

Even if I’m not watching the hockey game I can still get the score and a general idea of what’s happening. I just search for “#canucks” and I’ll see all the fights, bad calls, and goals. Even during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, I always knew when we won another medal.

3. My Professional Profile

With LinkedIn and Twitter, we build up our online profile. Gone are the days when we walk in to a business and drop off our resume. Now we seek jobs online, submit resumes through the business’s websites, and we are sometimes head-hunted through our online profiles. It’s important to watch what we say and do online because you never know who may be watching.

4. New Procrastination Avenues

We didn’t really need another distraction. It’s really hard not to check our Facebook or Twitter accounts several times during the day. I feel lost if I don’t check these at least few times during the day. Since I get most of my news though social media channels, I feel lost when I can’t check them.

Other than the extra distraction that social media causes some of us, I think it’s changed my life for the better, I’ve met new friends, got jobs and contracts, and had some great conversations with people I’ve never even met!

I wonder what social media will look like in a year.

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