Social Media is…

In an effort to lighten things up here at Leveraging Life and take a break from the cancer topics, I thought now would be as good of a time as any to drift into the social media arena, something near and dear to my heart as it has changed the way we interact with each other on a daily basis.

If we were to take a survey and ask people what social media is to you…the answers would be as random as the demographic of the people surveyed.

–It is something I use to connected

-It is a form of advertising and marketing

-It is a distraction 

-It is channel for communication

-It is just another form of noise

Regardless of what your opinion is or where you land on this subject there is no escaping the impact and influence social media is having on our lives. Like most things in our lives there is both good and bad depending on how we how we use them and if we find a healthy balance. With social media I think the same can be true and for the most part our lives are better because of it, provided we have a balance.

In my opinion there are three areas where social media has made has made the greatest impact in our lives. 

Communication

Information travels in a split second rather than in minutes or hours. Think about the major events of the 80’s and 90’s verses now. Something happens somewhere in the world and it’s on Facebook and Twitter the second it happens. Compare how the news traveled with the 9-11 bombings in New York to the recent Earthquake that was felt in New York. Both incidents one decade apart, yet it took about 15 to 20 minutes for the news to get out about the first plane crashing and about one minute for the news about the tremors.

Everywhere you look you can find breaking new and trending topics just like tonight on Twitter:

 Connection

Our circles of influence and the degree we are connected is higher than it has ever been thanks to social media. We connect through Facebook, Skpe, and Twitter with family and friends. We share photos through Flicker and Instagram, and videos via YouTube and Vimeo. The degree to which we are connected is a factor of how of much access we allow. 

An example of this is a quote I shared via social media which author and leadership expert John Maxwell used in his book Everyone Communicates Few Connect. Mr. Maxwell shared chapters from the book on his blog and asked for comments and feedback. I replied, he liked what I share and we connected,  and then I receive a request to use my quote in his book on communication!

Here is part of the quote he used in the book and something he used to promote sales via Twitter.

JohnCMaxwell– To connect is to join, but to make a connection there has to be rapport. -Tom Martin #ECFC about 13 hours ago via SocialOomph

Cause

For me one of the biggest impacts social media will have is in the area of educating the world where true need is. Social media will make the world a smaller place.  Some of you participated last year in a campaign which originated here for Charity Water and just last week I received this message: 

[tentblogger-youtube ja52lTaHfuE]

Like it or not social media is here to stay, and I believe it is making the world a better place because we are more aware, more engaged, and more connected to what is important to us!

~Tom

trusting God period!

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