social media is Extremely powerful!
It makes me smile sometimes, when I hear people refer to Social Media as being a trivial, chattering activity. That silly stuff you think of as being trivial is responsible for enormous shifts and changes in our society.
There is a widespread lack of understanding, and appreciation for what is taking place in the world. People tend to cling to old ideas and patterns of thinking because they are comfortable and provide security; they are not however real!
Prior to 2016 many among the mainstream media were condescending and dismissive about social media. The news anchor might have said, “Comment on our Facebook page” as an after thought at the end of the bulletin, but I recall the awareness of the alternative media community was pretty thin, and if you mentioned ‘YouTube’ all you got was sneering about ‘Cat videos’.
The geo/political shifts which we all witnessed in 2016 were not expected, they were not predicted, they were outside chances according to the monsters of mainstream media – they more or less told us how it would play out; and it turned out to be 360 degrees the opposite.
Do you know where these movements were not trivialized? On social media.
We are still experiencing the fallout, and shock of those results. But what is also very clear is that the mainstream community now understands that social media, and digital media as a whole is very powerful.
The 20 years from 1996 – 2016 represent a maturation, an incubation of steady growth. For the mainstream community it seems as if the internet has only just emerged.
So, what is the source of this power, what governs the influences, the content producers of digital media? People, and ideas basically.
The established mass media power groups seek to know, and to seize control over this Kraken of populism, this public momentum, but they can’t; the rules and the conditions of participation are very different.
The nice girlies who run social media boutiques in towns all over the world don’t know, and the ‘experts’ who dispense their generic wisdom don’t know anything either.
The power of social media is rooted in authenticity, it arises from groups and communities. We are experiencing a major shift.
The ownership of communication has moved to the people end of the spectrum. The old media barons have been toppled, the propaganda factories no longer have dominion.
Interesting times, changing times, if you do not understand social media you will be at a distinct disadvantage. #social.
