Social media; a fad or revolution?

Social media has expanded its network in no-time and has outreached the capacity of any imaginative thinking. It started almost a decade ago with few networking sites launching their platforms on internet for ordinary people to interact in a more casual manner than e-mails. Among those few remained a hit while others were wiped out in this giant wave of social networking. In terms of real success, Orkut was the first networking site though it took sometime to mark its presence in the new roaring age of internet. Personally too, it was my first experience of being in this new lime-light of social media, where you can reach far out to the outer world. I made the most of it by opening account on it, later shifting to the blogger to give a vent to my feelings into the outer world. I still remember refreshing my homepage again and again to see some new update on my scrapbook, roaming on to the scrapbooks of others; some were clapping with happiness while others fuming with disappointment. It looked as if everyone had got in a relationship with the social media, a personal space of your anonymity expressing your thoughts in your very own way, giving a very little importance to what others would think of you. It became a voice for voiceless, a source of power for the weak and backbone for the spineless human.

When some thought it might be the end for this new fad of social media, networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn gave it a new meaning. It explored a new dimension of people, a new media to interact for all levels of communication, It suited every age-group; from a teenager looking for his/her crush to older ones trying to reunite with their batch-mates and family spread across the world. With six months,the number of Facebook users surpassed the population of majority of nations. It became a new tool for the industries to market their product and giving the real insight to the reviews of same product for the consumer market as well. A brand become a synonym to one's lifestyle and showing off your new gadget could set you apart from the bunch of ordinary men and women. With the expansion of this era, more companies started pouring in this new business with a wide set of ideas and culture values. Invention of new applications converged all sources of information to just few websites. Surfing on these websites for few hours will make you feel like visiting some community fair, discussing and exchanging your ideas with people from entirely different backgrounds. To listen to some song, i prefer surfing Facebook rather than YouTube. Companies who couldn't afford a separate chain for marketing their products got a new media much more efficient and powerful than its outdated counter-part. Some firms made millions of dollar using it wisely by reaching out to its customers while others were dusted from the market for not giving due attention to its customer-care chain.

The author has put it so lucidly to define its importance in present marketing world : From Social Media to Social Strategy.