Our favorite social media sites are constantly undergoing renovations to become quicker to navigate, easier to interact with, all encompassing, mobile, and everywhere. Imagine the same thing about your community – how will they evolve, improve, and grow?
I remember the first time I saw a commercial on TV telling everyone to get more information by going to this World Wide Web address. It was the craziest thing. And it just took off from there. I started a computer learning class in high school—had to practice our typing skills; then how to write online correspondence; and get familiar with this new and amazing thing. And then I got my first computer! It has evolved since then and it will continue to do so.
With Google+ now, we see how email is evolving. You can now categorize everyone into circles and just see what they have been doing, who is connected to who, etc. I think google will only continue to improve. How? I am definitely not the expert. Because right now we can send emails, search online for ANYTHING, call and facetime with anyone in our phone book; watch movies; read books, all at our finger tips.
Who am I do say how that will improve? I can only imagine. But to me it's like that movie Walle. Where basically all the humans got so lazy that all they had to do was sit on their butts because this magical chip inside their head did everything for them. I sure hope it doesn't come down to that.
As far as social media goes, Facebook is by far the coolest thing for keeping touch with everyone. I am talking to my family from ARGENTINA on a day to day basis. Not having to worry about the time difference, or if I missed a major thing that happened in their life. Now we all know what happens—right as it happens. Which is really cool—and weird—in a sense. It will continue to connect people after years of not knowing where they were; it will connect adopted children to their biological parents(and has already done that); connect families after natural disasters. Leaders have even taken to Facebook to create groups on their organizations advocacy issues.
Twitter is also a great tool for online activism as well as pushing out important messages. Especially when natural disasters happen. The Red Cross is great about sending out tweets and updates on their efforts. In that aspect, it will only continue to improve the technology and presences to reach as many people as they can. Twitter has also been great with all the elections. To think that President Obama was the first president to fully incorporate social media into his presidential campaign was a huge leap in that department. He was reaching demographics they never were able to reach in the past. Online activism? Of course.
Social media has been great at pushing out important news in the health field too, which is what I love. I am able to stay on top of the current health bills that are being past; what I can do as a psoriasis patient and mentor; the representatives I can reach in my community to speak to personally and so much more.. If it wasn't for the National Psoriasis Foundation's online efforts to reach out to more people and bring awareness to this disease, I would never have been a mentor. Now I have the opportunity to do that as well. Health activism at its best.
It gives us those outlets we didn't use to have. It gives us a voice we didn't we have. And it will continue to give us a place where people can hear what we're saying and truly make a difference.
I look forward to what the future has in store and can only be thankful to be apart of all these incredible changes.
This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J
