As I read up on the recent exploits of Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook IPO valued at over $100 billion, I caught a related article that talked about the anticipated boost in divorces and marriages directly attributable to the IPO. Millionaires and potential billionaires are in the making! With new wealth comes the freedom to choose; be it tying the knot with a long-term companion, or severing it to explore new pastures. The six-month lock-in period is just prep time, as wedding planners, divorce counselors, real estate agents, and financial advisors sharpen their pitches and aggressively court the millionaires to be.
Amazing! Especially when you consider that Social Media was not around ten years ago.
So how much impact do the Internet and Social Media have on your life? Most of us have seen the famous Peter Steiner cartoon “On the Internet, Nobody Knows You’re a Dog”, published by The New Yorker in 1993. Well, looks like we may need to append the caption of that cartoon to “Until now” thanks to all the social networks and our general propensity to promote the brand “Me” to the world.
Many people that we consider timid seem to have shed their introverted demeanor to declare to the world that they are open to scrutiny. Clearly, there is little expectation of anonymity. Lawrence Lessig, professor of law at Harvard Law School, recently referred to the term Internet privacy as an “oxymoron.” So what is it about Social Media that makes some of us clamour for attention?
The power of Social Media is undeniable. When was the last time a friend sent you a link that required you to have a Facebook account to view it? Or have you noticed that subscribing to a new website or application is hassle-free if you have a Twitter account? The Arab Spring and the Occupy movements may feel like someone else’s revolution, but they are real! Attached is a very powerful video named The Social Media Revolution 2012 that includes some mind-blowing stats on the subject.
To quote Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics, “We don’t have a choice on whether we do Social Media; the question is how well we do it.”