Social Media Relationships Through the Years

Dawning of New Social Media Networking Circles!!

      Once there was a time when you turned on your computer and the words, “you’ve got mail!” were a source of excitement, breaking the monotony of the daily grind.  Then with the advent of Facebook the new message that set your pulse racing was “you have a friend request.”  Didn’t it make you feel good when you received the message on your Facebook profile page, “(insert a friend’s name here) has accepted your friend request?”  Be honest, you were one of those social media types that kept track of how many friends you accumulated!  We all did it!  It made us feel good that others wanted to know what we were thinking, view our pictures, and our posts.  Then along comes Twitter hot on Facebook’s heels, and now you could tweet your thoughts in less than 140 characters! Amazing!  You were also able to be Twitter buddies with celebrities, famous authors, anyone in the Twittersphere!  Your were filled with pride, when you received tweets from famous celebrities and television personalities, and you were able to view their personal photos giving you a more intimate glimpse into the world of the rich and famous!  Blogs were next to gain popularity among the public with people writing opinions, promotions, posting pictures of their children and pets doing cute and crazy things.  The advent of YouTube only further enhanced the blogging experience since bloggers were able to upload and reshare videos to their sites.  Now enter Google+ which is rapidly overtaking the social media world!  Now the message you receive is no longer for friend requests, but states “____has added you to their circles!”  Yes Google+ has cornered the market when it comes to categorizing your followers into neat groups called circles!  You have the option to share information with specific  circles, for instance if you have a writing piece you wish to share you might only reshare it with your circles that include writers, authors, publishers, and freelancers.  Since the start of 2014 the increase in creating and sharing circles filled with followers numbering in the hundreds, has started taking the G+ community by storm!  I must admit, I’m right in the mix, sharing circles, creating my own circles, and enjoying the opportunity to  meet people from all over the world!  Google+ members seem to have a very positive, mind-set among them.  The members found all over the world refer to each other as friends and exhibit a sense of comradre with fellow members who they may never in their lives get to meet face to face!  It’s a wonderful thing to see! These friendly attitudes are refreshing  and inspiring, helping to create positive bonds between individuals on this social media platform.  I’m not saying there aren’t wonderful people and relationships to be created on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, WordPress blogs, and various other sites, this would be untrue. However,  I’m simply noting that with the creation of the many circles shared among Google+ users, no one seems to be alienated, or judged based on their appearance or job status.  Social media overall is a wonderful way to make connections with magnificent, interesting people throughout the world.  It allows those who wouldn’t otherwise have access, to network with those higher up individuals in their respective fields.  Right now G+ appears to be leading the pack when it comes to networking due to the large number of individuals sharing circles consisting of 500+ members or more!   What will be the next way to  connect people via social media?  I can hardly wait to find out what the future has in store for us all!