“We are a nation of Google and Facebook” –President Obama 2011 State of the Union Address
Photo from Ryan Witt
As Mashable posted in “This Morning’s Top 3 Stories in Social Media and Business”, the buzz around social media sites and their ties to innovation, the economy and industry trends is not a surprise. Being a social media professional myself, I was not surprised that President Obama classified Americans as being such a nation of connectivity. Listening to his State of the Union address, I had some moments of self reflection. After all, before delving into the social media world I never classified myself as “connected” or “tech-savvy”. I often laugh a little when someone asks me how I hear about certain news stories, or know about special promos, free events, and more taking place around the world and locally. Twitter and Facebook, along with Google and other sites have become an integral part of my professional and personal life; drastically changing how I keep up to speed on the latest news or topics of conversation.
When discussing my switch to social media marketing, I often find myself explaining to others that it just…well, happened. My journey started with an MSU New Media Class. And through my studies and experience I can only explain to people that it’s not that we Americans have undergone some huge change. We’ve just changed how we are doing it. “It” meaning anything from conducting business, banking, talking, publishing, forming relationships, etc. Precedence is still given to who you know, more so than what you know. This generation has just taken that up a notch and we are now managing who & what we know online through a variety of site and emerging web technologies. With social networking, news, business, etc. we can connect and get what we need – fast!
Through these new mediums and future technologies that are only now emerging, the future is bright, and there is a lot we can do to drive our own messaging, bring about a new era of entrepreneurs, improve our economies and change the way we do business. I’ll close with what may be the most popular quote from President Obama’s speech: “This is our generation’s Sputnik moment.”
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