The following are 20 key points I would stress if I were addressing an audience or speaking to a classroom on the subject of social media, its importance and influence.
(1) The key sites, so far, are Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.
(2) We’re in the pioneering days for setting up personal accounts on such sites and understanding their role and importance.
(3) Our children will take social media for granted.
(4) It will be common practice for our children to have their own “platforms.”
(5) Our children will have personal Internet contacts and friends that will be with them for life.
(6) For many of us, the current use of social media is largely about branding and marketing (e.g., a self-published book or willingness to deliver a speech).
(7) The publishing industry is being transformed.
(8) Anyone with access to the Internet can order and be reading a digital book within two minutes on their Kindle or Kindle apps.
(9) The future for publishers and bookstores is uncertain.
(10) New kinds of books will be available in the future (e.g., themed short stories from within one book or several books)
(11) Authors are writing for a great number of mostly young people who read over their cell phones.
(12) Political barriers are being broken down.
(13) When “talking” to someone on Facebook or Twitter, it hardly matters where they live.
(14) We’re all just people – some political regimes will be slow to recognize the shift.
(15) Partly due to social media (and partly due to a host of other entertainment/interconnectivity options), there is a huge amount of “noise.”
(16) It will be increasingly tough to get anyone’s attention.
(17) Short attention spans will become even shorter.
(18) You join this movement or you get left behind.
(19) The world is separating into two camps – the computer savvy and the not so savvy.
And finally,
(20) That everyone, (okay, not quite eveyone, but most) should follow me on Twitter ( @Alex_Carrick )
