There was a time before social media. Those dark days when we had to pick up the phone to speak to our friends and eat our food without the world seeing what it is we were eating. Before social media, our lives were glum, without hope, and worthless.
We are being sarcastic, of course. Life was great before social media, and it’s great now, even if people do knock us for being a little too obsessed with our use of the various social media networks. “Another picture of your takeaway darling?” “Shouldn’t you get out more?” Or perhaps that’s just what people keep telling us!
The fact is, social media is great, in moderation. While we shouldn’t become addicted to the platform and base all of our social interactions around a virtual keyboard, there are still ways social media has, or could positively improve our lives.
1. Social media helps you stay connected with old friends. While we should still make an effort to have those face to face chats with our mates (we are not talking about Facetime), we still have the benefit of Facebook and the like to help us stay connected with people who live hundreds of miles away from us, or with people we may not have seen since school. There used to be websites where you had to pay for the privilege of tracking old friends (or foes) down, but we can now do it with a quick search online.
2. Social media can help you in business. If you run your own business, you will appreciate the effort it takes to market yourself. It can also be expensive, especially when you are having to print out oodles of business cards and flyers. Well, that used to be the case. But thanks to the collision of social media with business, we now have a platform to market ourselves for free. Send word of whatever it is you are doing to your social network, and encourage them to spread the word on to theirs. You can also make contact with other business people on LinkedIn, find good advice on YouTube, and boost your profits through social media influencers who can push your business for you.
3. Social media can make you money. Aside from the advantages for business, there are other ways you can earn money from social media. You could invest in Facebook’s virtual reality stocks. You can monetize your own YouTube channel. You can sell your old stuff on the various Facebook classified groups. You can prove your musical credential on SoundCloud (and possibly attract the ears of a music bigwig). And you can showcase your skills with the written word through your Tweets and Facebook posts; perfect if you’re looking for a copywriter or editor job. There are many more ways to make yourself some cash, so do your research online on what the various social media platforms can do for you.
In short, social media is great, and we have only touched the surface of what it can do to improve our lives. You may have opinions of your own, so let us know how it has changed your life for the better. And then send this post on to all of your social networks, and enrich their day with our words of wisdom. Thanks for reading.