The internet is a living thing. It breathes and grows just like any other living thing. As it grows, things emerge that are entirely new, but can completely shape the way our lives work in a short amount of time. The two "genres" that have developed that I want to discuss both touch on social media- something that has become so prevalent in our online lives that there is almost no way to escape it.
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"See? It says right there: if we don't send this to at least 10 people
by tomorrow, something terrible will happen."
http://anakam.equifax.com/ |
Way back when in the stone ages of the internet, when you found something you liked and you wanted to show it to people, you emailed them.
What an awful system. Luckily, we've made several leaps and bounds from that time. The biggest one being the advent of social networking sites. Now, when you wanted to share something with your friends, you could just post it in one spot, and everyone would be able to see it! But the story doesn't stop there. Facebook developed the "share" button, a simple gadget that would allow you to instantly post things to your wall without having to copy and paste the url address. As Facebook became more integrated with various websites, the button migrated outward across the web. This is not only an easier way to share things you find, but also things other people have found as well. It promotes the viral nature of the web. After the share button, pictures began cropping up all over newsfeeds, typically poignant images with some sort of under-covered news story attached. These images got shared by the tens of thousands, spreading instantly across hundreds of miles to different people all over the United States and the world.
This is significant. This has changed how we do things. But this is not the true legacy of Facebook. The thing that Facebook has done that will persevere long after Facebook itself has faded is the "like" button. This little feature revolutionized the way we interact online. It has gone so far as to even affect what we associate the very word with. The "like" of 2010 is a different thing entirely than the "like" of 1990. As with the share button, this has also spread it's roots across the web, spawning an entire mindset around the rating of ideas and comments. You'd be hardpressed in this day and age to find a major website that does not feature some sort of rating system (made now even more prevalent with Google's +1).
Who knows what the future holds?
I like how you chose to highlight Facebook's use of the "like" button, (no pun intended, ha). Many people post certain statuses, activities, pictures, etc. merely to try and amass the most likes for their post from their friends. This reminds me of the South Park episode "You Have 0 Friends," which pokes fun of how social networking, especially the giant Facebook as of now, has crept into our lives and has grown immensely. I also immediately thought of the huge following of people who have wanted a dislike button from day one the like button was introduced on Facebook, (I support it because who hasn't seen something they disliked on Facebook?).
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