Social media has altered the face of the global society in so many profound ways, yet I still hear and see people saying negative things about it. Not to say there are no flaws in this form of communication, but whenever I rarely hear or see a valid flaw being mentioned.
So what good is sharing cat photos, posting what you are eating, or just saying hi? A lot more than one may think. Any successful business person will tell you that it is not what you know, but who you know, that determines your success. What you know only determines how much you can potentially contribute to your species and society.
While I was growing up we were constantly reminded of this, one teacher I had even explained that one should learn for the sake of learning, but socialize with the goal of succeeding. I only recently discovered that this was the key to being influential.
The big problem was, when I was in high school, we had no way to connect outside of our neighborhood, and thus became victims of circumstance. Needless to say, I was never very successful.
Today we have an excess of contacts now, people from across the globe and in different societies connecting in ways we never dreamed possible in the past. I have also admitted we have a problem of information overload many times, the next generations are becoming far more capable of adapting to this though.
The benefits really do outweigh the flaws, and a few select people cannot stand the benefits. The largest group are religious leaders, who only stay wealthy when people are ignorant. These religious leaders are even willing to make, and maintain, hundreds of fake follower accounts to spread misinformation. With how much followers pay these con men for working only one day a year, they have plenty of time.
Many in the governments do not like this connection to information either, now everyone in the USA knows the USA is not the best country, and many of the troglodytes in power were only able to keep power so long as we didn't know any better. So they do everything they can to undermine the flow of information, even restricting those who have access to the internet.
The mainstream media and many outdated corporations are also against this freedom of information, competition they can't compete against. These dinosaurs are dying fast though, and soon they shall be extinct.
So why all the hatred for social media specifically? Activism. Yes, activism has become stronger by social media, and the proof is in the pudding, as they say.
Since activists started utilizing social media, our societies are changing for the better at an unfathomable of rate. Sane environmentalism has cleaned up much of the environment, from better innovations because of more minds working on problems, to demonstrating what information is bad. Even China is now seeing the need to change their ways, and that was a huge stumbling block for a long time.
People wrongly prosecuted or persecuted are getting aid that they need to fight back, like an atheist wrongly placed into a psychiatric hospital for being an atheist or the transgendered teen wrongfully imprisoned. These are but two of the successes I have seen in the last three months, yes, in less than three months we saw justice for these two when in the past it would take years.
The trick of it is to hit corporations and leaders where it hurts, their pocket books. Someone recently asked what good petitions are, they were trying to justify their own bloodlust and desire for war, but the answer is simple, political activism creates lasting effects while violence merely perpetuates violence.
Sea World is one of the recent targets of social media, and the results are encouraging. People are telling companies that support the business of nonhuman species being used for entertainment that their customers won't use their products or services if they do not stop. Many major corporations are pulling support for Sea World now.
With social media we are enacting long term changes without violence or destruction of the very things we want to protect. This is the greatest achievement of humanity to date, organizing our information and choosing our leaders instead of blindly following those we have been told to follow. We get information that would otherwise be hidden from us, from science to business records.
So the next time you hear or see anyone claiming social media is a bad thing, ask them what they have to hide.
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