Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19
You’d be pretty hard pressed today to say you haven’t heard of any of the social media companies, even if you don’t actually use them. But I’d hazard a guess that if you are active on the internet at all that you have an account on at least one of the major social media platforms. And by the major ones I speak of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or TikTok. There are others out there and they’ll probably grow and become major with time, but the big four right now control the lion’s share of the social media market.
There have been other up and comers who come and go. One of the biggest was MySpace which had a brief run in the early 2000s and still exists in some form today but isn’t considered as a player in social media. There is also YouTube, which while it is massive, if you want my opinion, it is not a social media platform but is instead just a library of various videos that people want to upload and share via other platforms. I could be wrong though and welcome your comments.
What I really want to write about though is the value to social media and it’s impact on society, both good and bad. I have accounts on all four of the major platforms, but am most active on Facebook and Twitter, although my Twitter activity has declined over the past few months. My connection on both platforms is completely different. On Facebook i use it mainly to stay in touch with family and friends who I know or knew in real life, whereas on Twitter very few of my contacts I have actually met and only know them through contacting them on social media.
If you’d like to send a little money to support my blog being published you can always support via PayPal: Donate to Shiny Side Up
Is there true value to social media or is it just a waste of time? Personally I find true value. I share my life and experiences, especially as I went through my illness. I also find that I can share my religious journey and gain support from my friends and family. It also gives me the opportunity to reach others that may not share my same beliefs and I can listen to their opinions too.
I stay in contact with my church family and can share upcoming church events through various groups that I belong too. I belong to major group for my illness (Guillain Barre Syndrome) that offers support to myself as well as a place to ask questions and share our successes and failures. Overall my social media experiences are positive but there is a dark side.
I have often found that if you make a comment on a post in social media and someone disagrees with you, that instead of having a discussion or debate, they will instead attack the person that made the post or comment. These posts very quickly turn into venomous attacks that continue to degenerate as more people join the discussion. I will quickly distance myself from such discussions as I am not one to have arguments with people as there is no profit in it for either side.
I have friends who have very little internet presence and no contact with social media. I honestly cannot understand it, but they have their reasons and I respect that. I think there is incredible value on having a social media presence, because without it my blog would not exist or have any followers or readers. I need to be able to promote my blog through the various social media platforms to inform of new posts and get you to read.
Hopefully the various social media platforms will continue to evolve so that they are here for a long time to come and I can continue to share my experiences and my love of God.
God bless.
Shiny Side Up 