February 4th, 2010 Concordiensis article from Union College by Katie Manko.

"A look at the way that social media has changed our lives"

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 In the past half a decade, social media has become as common as breathing among people of all ages.

Statistics show that Facebook added 100 million users in less than nine months. If the website were a country, it would be the fourth largest in the world in terms of population.

Over 80% of companies are using LinkedIn as their primary tool for finding employees and with twitter and online advertisements, we no longer search for news-the news finds us.

"A large cohort of people in their late 20's and 30's are using social networking sites to post advertisements and make fan pages that promote their businesses. Small local businesses use word of mouth through these sites and it is easy to post a picture of a product online and buy an advertisement for it to display on facebook or twitter at a very low cost," said Matt Milless, Director of Student Activities.

Social networking sites have also had a major impact on the world of dating and relationships. Last year, 1 in 8 marriages were the result of couples meeting through social networks.

These sites have thus provided a service for people to connect with others in a way that otherwise would not be possible.

For example, back in February 2008, Kelly Hildebrandt, a 20-year- old from Coral Springs, Florida, searched her name on Facebook and discovered a 24-year old man with the same name living in Texas. The female Hildebrandt messaged him and the two ended up developing a relationship via facebook. Now, two years later, the two Kelly Hildebrandts are engaged to be married.

Twitter, a microblogging service that allows users to post tweets to both the public and their followers, is another major online social phenomenon. Twitter in particular has allowed people to post their thoughts and feelings and follow celebrities.

"Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres have more Twitter followers than the entire population of Ireland, Norway, and Panama," stated a YouTube video entitled "Social Media Revolution."

Many companies use Twitter so that employees can follow announcements. Twitter also gives people the opportunity to post their reactions to national events. When Michael Jackson passed away in summer 2009, so many users began tweeting that the site had to shut down. This temporary system failure was due to too much traffic even though the star's death was public knowledge and plastered over the news worldwide.

The same is true for natural disasters such as the recent earthquake in Haiti. After the earthquake, people tweeted prayers and some users posted advertisements for organizations such as the Red Cross in order to raise money for the victims.

New opportunities have opened as a result of social media for young entrepreneurs. Some businesses run solely on the advertisements they get from Facebook and other similar social media networks because of the attention these sites get online from viewers.

"Twenty years ago it would have been hard to market and build businesses while being in school. However, social networks provide an inherently easy, inexpensive way to market oneself, especially as it pertains to young entrepreneurs like college students. The use of fan pages and Twitter to announce special sales contests draw peoples' interests and drive hits to your sites so these pages are very accessible for students who are constantly online," said Milless.

Here at Union, social networks are used in a plethora of ways. Students use these sites to find out about events, keep in touch with friends and family, view pictures, spread information, as well as to meet and connect with others.

The members of the incoming freshman class know each other months before arriving on campus in the fall because they can find both their roommates and their classmates from nearby areas on Facebook.

Entrepreneurial, tech savvy spirit is very alive at Union.

Guss Firestein '11 and Brett Sussman '11 recently started Grublink to make student life more efficient. One of the main ways that the two students have promoted the company to the student body is through a facebook fan page.

Another way that social networks have played a role at Union is by getting students' attention about new organizations and fundraisers. The Schenectady chapter of MEDLIFE, a non-profit healthcare organization, was started this fall by Mark Chaskes '12. An early member of the Schenectady chapter of the organization used Facebook to recruit members and advertise the mission of MEDLIFE.

Every day hundreds of users continue to join these social networks to connect with more people and post messages. These sites have changed our society so drastically over the past several years that it seems impossible to predict what our lives will be like in decades to come.