The History of Communication and the Power of Social Media
Social media has opened up endless opportunities for all of us to instantly communicate and allows us to share exciting stories.
No matter which industry someone enters post-college, communicating with co-workers and bosses is a skill that everyone will have to develop. It’s also crucial for hanging out with friends and family members during one’s everyday life.
Communicating with one another hasn’t always been as seamless prior to the evolution of social media and technology. In the early days, the only way that people would be able to get in touch with each other was by sending letters.
Before the invention of the telegraph in 1792, long distance messages would be delivered from a rider on a horse that would take days, weeks or longer.
In the 1800s, the creation of the pneumatic post allowed news and information to be sent quickly from one place to another through air tubes. Later that century, the formation of the telephone and radio set a precedent for modern-day communication methods, which allowed people to send messages to one another immediately and in the moment.
Communication technologies drastically changed in the 1900s as a result of computers and the development of the internet. In addition, software such as email and virtual newsletters allowed people to interact online.
It wasn’t until the 1980s that people started owning home computers and internet relay chats, or IRCs, were first implemented later that decade. The first social media site was Six Degrees in the late ‘90s that allowed people to create a profile and make friends online.
Social media has only grown since the start of the 21st century, and it allows people to instantaneously communicate with each other either in person or on the internet. Internet users have implemented these forums in numerous ways, whether through networking with employees on LinkedIn, talking with friends through text or phone calls on Snapchat, or sharing personal photographs and stories on Facebook or Instagram.
The most powerful social media outlet is arguably Twitter. Prior to enrolling in #LUComm197, I never fully realized the endless opportunities and aspects that Twitter presents to users. It has allowed me to create an online platform to share my own personal thoughts about my life and real-world events. Twitter also allowed me to expand my connections with peers, professors and professionals in my desired career.
If someone wants to enter the journalism industry after graduating from college, Twitter will help them expand their network.
I have learned from some of the best reporters in the country over the last six weeks about how to make the most out of a Twitter experience. Whenever they have covered a major event such as the George Floyd protests, all their live news updates and posts were first published on Twitter.
It’s not just about showing the public everything that is happening. It’s about adding your own perspective and analysis to anything that is occurring in the news or in one’s surroundings.
One of the best Twitter moments from the last six weeks was capturing and telling the story about robins being hatched in a nest right next to my front door. I had never fully appreciated the fact that animals were being born right in my surrounding, and I told their story for two weeks. In that time span, they went from being born in a nest to flying away to who knows where.
Those are the small moments that all of us should hold onto and cherish while we have them. Social media has made it easier for all of us to share these incredible and powerful moments instantly, especially during a time when the world is in chaos and everyone is uncertain about the world’s future.
