Thursday, June 3, 2010

If You'd Unfriend and Unfollow the World


And so I was reading the other day how social networks are being so popular to us, to the point when we no longer need to face someone to tell them how good friends they are. It's a no brainer, I know, but if you think about just for a bit you'll agree we are still learning from it all. From kids to adults we all use these services and all seems to be in harmony (for the time being).

Five years ago we didn't use these websites, either because we didn't know about them or some were still using diapers. Now we can spot their full potential, not only keeping in touch with people we hardly see, but also to keep in touch with people we see all the time, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. Then we had the chance to upload our own pics. Long are the times where you had to take a bunch of snapshots, then you needed to go to reveal the film and come back later to get your pics and then going to some friend's house to share them and to see half of them were out of focus. And now all is done without standing from your seat.

Then it came something even better: videos. Not only we were given the chance to upload photos and share them with the world (or with anyone who would like to watch) but also our videos could be seen online. Now all this could be done in one website and in one account. The rest is pretty much history… we keep track of birthdays, invitations, friends we didn't know we had (literally!) and all in a seamless experience our parents would do anything to had it when they were our age… or even younger.


And if you noticed, I've just sticked to one website: Facebook. The other one worth talking is Twitter… whoever thinks it's just a toy they don't know its potential, because it is a toy, and then some more. Again, it all started as a way to keep track of friends activities, what they do in a regular (or important day), but then we were taught it could be done so much more. Advertisements, news, networking, trend topics and the list doesn't stop there.

People a bit more conservative think of it as a threat to privacy, a world with less secrets, and they're right in their own way. Though many are capable of turning on a gadget or a computer, not many are capable of handing such a responsibilities with themselves. I'm not saying there should be a school to learn how to use Facebook or Twitter (would be funny though) since that knowledge is called responsibility and common sense, and we gotta learn it daily in life.

The more registered friends you have or people you follow are mere numbers if you never see them in the real life, treat a friend as such, both online and offline. All this amazing services are changing the way mankind lives, to the point where some people pay more attention to Facebook's relationship status than the real status of a couple. 

And it's funny to think about the word unfriend (it's 2009 word of the year by the Oxford American Dictionary), even they can create words and make them real. As a final thought, for many people (not all, of course) if you lack of social networking is like you're off the radar, you simply don't exist in this virtual world. Everything has grown so much that it seems if you don't take part in these sort of networks is like you'd unfriend and unfollow the world with just one click.

1 comment:

  1. I really believe that facebook and twitter are the best social nets in world... really... i can know everything about people that i dont see long time ago. Also this web site is my door to my real world.
    I dont imagine how sad will be life without them!
    M.. thanks a lot for this wonderful blog... you are right... having technology is the best!!!....
    Very proud of you!

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