Reflection 3

Reflecting about Social Media... That is actually not hard at all since social media plays a very big role in our life nowadays. It's hard to imagine a life without Facebook or LinkedIn. And even though that might sound a bit superficial, I think for most of my friends this is a true fact. Some interesting facts about Facebook? It has over 800 billion active users and the age categories by which it is used most commonly is the category we all belong to; men and women between 18 and 25 years old. But while my main reason to use Facebook is pleasure, the last two classes really stipulated the other reasons why in the world we live in today it is almost impossible not to use a form of social media.

The network and corresponding opportunities are endless. Even though most of us students do not realize the true value of building a useful and powerful network or aren't even thinking about it at all, we all started doing it the day we joined Facebook or another form of social media. I am convinced that everybody already enjoyed the benefits of your network on Facebook, even though one might not have realized it by that time. Who hasn't found the title of that one song you had been looking for, for so long, or who wasn't be able to find a great way to spend you evening or got into contact with somebody you met once but really liked? These are all minor examples, but they are examples of which Facebook influences our lives. A really great youtube video you'll find enclosed. Unfortunately there are no English subtitles but I think just viewing it is enough to understand the meaning. The world without Facebook... for this generation impossible to imagine, while before 2004 it did not even exist at all. Actually kind of crazy that a website can gain such a significant role in one's life in just seven years...!

I think the opportunities of not just Facebook, but the entire world wide web are endless and their importance in our lives will increase every day. But, next to endless opportunities I see pitfalls as well. With the digitalization of our lives the personal touch tends to get lost. People spend more time behind their computer or phones than actually with people. That is exactly the reason why I am not a big fan of Twitter. Why would someone want to post (or even worse; read!) every brain fart another person has?? Why can't you just enjoy the moment instead of immediately wanting to post a witty comment about that? That is hard for me to realize and that is exactly the reason why I am not a Twitter user.