Social Media: obligatory or voluntary?
As the exponential increase of social media traffic occurs a blurred line begins to form over its preconceived necessity.
I was waiting for a tram into the city the other day and had the intriguing pleasure of being able to eavesdrop into a conversation between two sprightly teenage girls waiting along side me. Their discussion surrounded the intricacies of the new Instagram update where by one could upload to their story the ability to ask questions to the individual, a clever engagement technique I must add.
““You can’t not get the update! Everyone is using it!””
One of the girls seemed reluctant to allow her Instagram to update while the other in contrast seemed completely taken aback that her friend would even delve into the possibility of not installing this update as soon as it came available. Simply remarking "You can't not get the update! Everyone is using it!" As the fact that everyone around her was utilising it was justification for her friend to get involved, or be left behind.
These two girls albeit likely unknowingly, perfectly summed up the present state of social media, the idea that this medium has become so entrenched into the modern day lifestyle that there is no choice but to engage it or face the risk of being disconnected. Sounding like the synopsis of an future post war apocalyptic blockbuster this interpretation is becoming all too real.
An ideal demonstration of this is the way in which the NSW Police Force in conjunction with their Facebook Page have fully re branded themselves and distanced them self from the previous stereotypical distaste with the police force. They have now cracked over 1,000,000 likes on Facebook. 50,000 more than the official AFL page. Using humour and relatable content to attract users they have cracked into the viral atmosphere and perfectly took advantage of the monumentally large reach that social media platforms like Facebook can provide. Simply reinforcing the notion that organisations must embrace the world of SM to effectively survive in this twenty first century landscape.
Considering that we now deal with the most powerful and influential man in the world dictating his thoughts and proposed legislation through Twitter and that currently there are 2.46bn social media users worldwide, business and consumers seem to be tunnelled into no longer having that elusive freedom of choice when it comes to obtaining and maintaining their social media presence. Thus lending itself to SM realising that perhaps it hasn't become a way to connect with friends and family but a way to not detach oneself from society.
Food for thought.