Social media abounds…

The Social Media Bandwagon

While I was perusing Twitter, trying to come up with an idea for my blog, I came across Paste Magazine’s tweet: For #followfriday, we’ve published the Paste Guide to Twitter: The 100+ Best Users to Follow http://bit.ly/gLlrV

Curious, I clicked on the link about the Top 10 Musicians worth following. The page listed 10 artists and their top 2 most interesting tweets. They were all pretty entertaining, to say the least. (I especially liked Trent Reznor’s and John Mayer’s.)

After I stopped laughing at the funny tweets, I took a minute and again reminded how immersed society has become in social media. It is still a pretty recent phenomenon for people and businesses to interact through so many outlets. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Delicious, StumbleUpon, Digg…the list of social media sites is endless. It is so easy to find information and connect through these sites.

While some people are cautious about this much social exposure, I (as a journalism student who has been forced to explore these outlets) am becoming more enamored with the way these things work. I was reluctant to join Twitter in the beginning of the semester — I saw it as just another distraction like Facebook — but the more I use it the more I see the benefits. For example, I follow the Des Moines Music Coalition’s tweets, which tipped me off to Frank’s Place (see my earlier blog post about it). After exploring the shop, I decided to write a profile article on Frank for a class. It also informs me on concert updates and community music events immediately.

I also follow bands and artists. While some are professional tweets, others are just funny and indicative of the musician. Mark Hoppus‘ recent tweet said “There’s a fine line between using JUST ENOUGH hair product and looking like a total douchebag. I’m gonna use a do-over today.” Not exactly about Blink-182 the band, but entertaining and still very much their style.

Nowadays it’s simple to create your own blog, tweet about it by adding a bit.ly link to twitter, track your bit.ly account as people follow the link and see where your readers come from, watch your blog’s status spike as people visit the site, see their comments on Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon and Delicious, and sit back while your message is spread on the social media tidal wave. It’s an amazing thing.