Social Media: How It's Changing Our Lives

Michael Tutupalli

Social Media: How it's Changing Our Lives

Topic: "Media: Its Influences and Effects on Our Lives"

10/6/2011

Introduction

A. Attention Getter:

i. Twitter and Facebook are two of the most recognizable social media outlets on

the planet.

ii. Both sites average 100+ million "active" users a day. That's insane! Not to

mention the fact that millions of celebrities, business's and just the regular

average human being can get their word out to just as many people, as long as

they are "socially connected" in some way. A great means of communication, but

at what cost?

B. Significance of Topic:

i. To show how people in this now electronic-centric world what social media can

and has done for you already, and how it is changing our lives daily.

C. Thesis:

i. I am going to talk about three aspects of social media: first, what is social

media; second who uses and benefits the most from social media; and last, how

it influences decisions we make today.

II. Body

A. What can social media do for you?

1. Helps keep communication between you and loved ones, friends,

co-workers, anyone in your family, or pretty much any person that can get to a

computer every once in a while.

a. When I go on Facebook, I can see what my friends are doing, where

they are, what they are thinking, "poke" them, but if you get the picture, I can

communicate with them in some form, that doesn't necessarily have to be oral. I

can see who's dating who if they want to make it public, comment on a photo of

me and a friend or friends of friends. It helps everyone come together as one and

share our experiences.

b. Twitter on the other hand is a little different from Facebook. It has a

character limit of 140 meaning you can only get about 20-30 words in there, not

including periods, commas, etc. Twitter has made itself a factor in the game

because even with one sentence, it can drive people to action or make an impact

of some sort. for instance when the President of the United States wants to tweet

that he is eating one of the best sandwiches in America at such and such a

place, instantly 9+ million people know this because of how strong social media

has grown.

2. Business's are started and help keep other business's going a lot of the

time now through social media in some way or another.

a. It is almost inevitable to watch any commercial these days and not see

a reference to a social networking site of some kind. When you go home and

watch that new Tosh.O or even CNN news that night, at the end of each segment

they always mention to follow them on twitter, making an instantaneous response

to people who are very active in social networking and can help or destroy the

show. which is the same way for business, it gives them a way to keep the

people of the world involved and interested in what they are saying, or at the time

offering. It is a very smart business plan to have your name all over the social

media world: youtube, Facebook, twitter, tumbler, myspace. The bigger the

better.

B. Who can use social media to there advantage the most?

1. Celebrities build there fan bases now quicker and more efficiently

through social networking, giving their fans access to their lives, what they are

thinking, and their experiences. More than 13 million people follow teen

sensation Justin Bieber. Meaning anytime he wants to make a fans day, he will