Social Explosion — Antithesis of Progress?

In this every expanding and growing world, we are surrounded by one of the most powerful tools around. The power to voice and share our opinions. Start-ups such as Facebook and Twitter have come a long way. Facebook recently hit a billion users. Other sites are picking up users at a breath-taking speed. But what are the grass-root impacts? Are these helping us? Why are people attracted to it? Well let’s find out.

** Article includes public opinions as well. This is my first original topic. Hope you like it.

Back in 2008 Facebook was in it’s mere childhood. It was something that had slowly grown over the years. Started as a project in a Harvard dorm room, Mark Zuckerberg had become the patriot of something that was going to revolutionise the way we interact over the internet. Chatting was there even in the Gmail days, but Facebook brought forth a more cohesive and streamlined way of doing things. Gone were the days of storing email addresses. We could simply look up on people by their names. Share to the world our thoughts, and add pictures and videos as well. But as time passed, surely Facebook did evolve, but it had ushered a new era. An era where it was bound to have competition. An era where it would have to battle it out to maintain the sprawling user base it had acquired over the years. It had to fight out Twitter, Google+ , Instagram and many such alternatives. The list just keeps on going.

You may argue that these websites have a totally different approach. Twitter allows us to send only 140 character messages called tweets and Instagram takes photo and video (recent inclusion) to a whole new level. Google+ is Google’s aim at bringing all it’s services under one roof. But in my opinion their essence was the same. All these had come with one objective in mind, that is to cut down on Facebook’s dominance and spread their own roots. Many of them were successful although now the trend is all these run in parallels. A person uses all of these. It’s just become a daily habit to check our feeds in all our social connections. Very rarely can we move away from something we have been using over the years, but the latest always attracts us.

Competition certainly led to significant improvements by either sides to lure customers but yet the co-existence couldn’t be conquered. Each site took up the other’s major point and included it in theirs thinking it would be enough to lure the mainstream. Facebook got #hashtags. Google+ added the ability to view 360 pictures at very high resolution. Instagram got video. And it keeps going on. The point is what is the users opinion on the constantly growing unrest ( in my opinion ) in the social sphere.

One thing would be that people love innovation and trying new things. You spoon-feed them with more and they will happily gulp it down no matter how full they are. This is a personal experience. I myself use Facebook, Twitter , Instagram , Google+ and numerous other variations and check each one of them atleast once throughout the day. Best thing about it is, it’s free! And people just love free things. This also gives them something to pass time while travelling. On a train journey navigate through an endless plethora of pictures, or check out what your friends are upto? Its all there, in the palm of your hand. But is it really worth spending so much time with? Won’t a single combined platform be a better approach?

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Pandora’s Box for Social Elements?[/caption]

I asked this question to a friend of mine. (Ayushi Kabra — Mumbai. Thank you for your valuable inputs.) Here’s what she said: “She enjoys using new and innovative ways of connecting with people, also adding to the fact its free. But worth mentioning is the inclusion of spammers and strangers who exploit this power and misuse it. Plus she said that it’s a great distraction and many people get addicted to it. She also added to the fact that some people over-express themselves which can be harmful.” Frankly this supports my views. I can count it as a ‘Necessary Evil’ . It has harmful effects , but it simply is necessary. (Where would I share these articles then? )

We can predict Facebook and all the others are no where to go. User bases will continue to rise (they have been at a breathtaking speed) , profits will keep rising and new ideas will keep popping up. Growth is never stagnant. But one day, something will rise which will obsolete all these. A suitable example is Whatsapp which has virtually replaced the need of Facebook Chat. But something is always better than nothing. So hoping all these have a long lifetime and they don’t fall into oblivion soon. But we can’t predict what the future beholds. What do you think? Do you like so many choices? Or are stuck to one community only? Do let us know by commenting below. Hope you liked this thought process. Thank You for reading this article. Don’t forget to share the word and like our community spheres. Have a good day ahead.

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Some Brain Whacking Facts[/caption]