Social Media—Expectations and Changes.

Social media itself is a changing trend where we see more and more people of all ages and ethnicities adapting social media tools. Social media continues to expand not because we develop more technology, but because we develop more relationships. As stated in The 6 Pillars of Social Commerce: Understanding the Psychology of Engagement,

            “Social media is about social science not technology. As such, its value is not realized in the Likenomics of relationship status nor in the scores individuals earn by engaging in social networks. The value of social media comes down to people, relationships, and the meaningful actions between them. As such, its value is measured through the exchange of social currencies that contribute to one’s capital within each network. Through conversations, what we share, and the content we create, consumer and curate, we individually invest in the commerce of information and the relationships that naturally unfold. It is in how these relationships take shape that is both in and out of our control. This is why the age of social networking, relevant engagement counts for everything.” (Solis, 2012)

In the future, people can expect to see social media more prevalent in the work place as employers are turning to the Internet world to seek potential candidates, and cross-reference candidates with their online profiles. Businesses and entrepreneurs are using more social media tools to advertise and market themselves to consumers. In the workplace, within an organizations social media tools are being used to complete teamwork and assignments, and to host mass conversations, experiences and opinions. Social media is becoming the way we in personal and professional lives communicate, to build relationships and to create connections. Social media reinforces the popular saying, “Its all about who you know.”

As social media transforms from a trend to the way we live our lives, it changes and shapes the expectations and actions around privacy. As a culture, we already see the shift whereby people blur the line between what is private and what is not. On social networking sites, such as Facebook, it is increasingly more acceptable to post pictures, opinions, likes, dislikes and even your whereabouts. To what degree and magnitude of those private things are acceptable to be exposed? That is up the profiler. As more and more people are pushing the envelope (and relaxing) we are exposed to more and more personal information, and this is becoming the norm. In this illustration, social media is changing the way in which the user develops relationships because the users online “friends” on Facebook now know more about them than normally expected, and therefore, online relationships are becoming more and more personal. Also, employers can search an employee’s name, and find more information about the employee than he or she would like. Is that an invasion of privacy? If people allow complete strangers to access their most valuable and private information, where is the line drawn? The privacy expectations around social networking sites will have to change, whether or not people completely agree with the invasion of privacy.

Along the same lines, I believe that people will see a predominate relationship between social media outlets and the mobile phone developing.Previously, people would wait to be in a private setting before engaging in social media networking. As the number of people using mobile phones with social media increases we see a larger number of people engaging in social media acts outside of private places, such as, at work, at school, at the mall, at restaurants, in the car and on public transportation. The increased usage of technology with readily available social media tools is on a positive note, increasing response times, but on a negative note also blurring the line of privacy. It is becoming acceptable for the user to always be available to be contacted and engaged with, if the user is not, it is seen as neglecting social networking responsibilities. For example: In class, how many of you were engaged with the social media application Draw Something? And how many of you experienced harassment from others when you did not respond and play the game quickly—even though you were in a learning environment and supposed to be focused on the course content? Even though, always being connected and available for interaction is a good thing at times, when is there time for the much appreciated and needed personal down time?

Solis, Brian. "The 6 Pillars of Social Commerce: Understanding the Psychology of Engagement." Social Media Today. 05 Apr. 2012. Web. 10 Apr. 2012. <http://socialmediatoday.com/briansolis/484521/6-pillars-social-commerce-understanding-psychology-engagement>