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While social media has been around for years, the amount it has changed is drastic.  The general definition of social media is “social media is understood as the different forms of online communication used by people to create networks, communities, and collectives to share information, ideas, messages, and other content” (1).  Dating back to when it began, internet was big, but great advances hadn’t been made yet… we still needed dial up internet, it was slow, and we were focused more on what song we wanted playing on our Myspace and who we wanted in our Top 8, rather than the impact it had on our culture.  It grew quickly because it gave us a way to communicate with others and meet new people.  Over time people quickly learned we could use these applications to network for our careers and help build meaningful and lasting relationships.

The main social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube are huge throughout many generations.  Facebook is a great way to stay active with family and friends.  You are able to share messages, memes, photos, etc. to anyone on your friends list.  You are also able to set your privacy for who is allowed to view your information and the stuff you post.  Twitter on the other hand, used to only allow 140-character messages.  It was more a way to share random thoughts that popped into your head at any given time.  LinkedIn is a great tool for networking in your career.  Since its business focused, you are able to see followers work goals, promotions, and follow companies you like.  It also works to match you with companies or jobs you are focused on.  YouTube is probably to most different form of social media from this list because its main content comes from creating and watching videos.  Any user is able to upload a video pertaining to whatever topic they wish and express themselves how they wish. They all have their own purpose, and while they have evolved over the years since their creation, they still fit into their mold of what they are most focused in.

A hashtag is simply a word or phrase used on social media to allow people to search for similar things.  It’s a great tool for companies to use in marketing because it allows individuals to see different markets products might fit in.  It allows content to reach far more people than the main group of followers. Say you are on Instagram and you want to see baby animals, going to the search bar and typing “#babyanimals” over 1.2 million posts will show up with baby animal pictures and videos for different users, along with other suggestions you may be interested in.   The same concept applies when promoting a business, whether it is make-up or cars or anything.  There is a make-up brand I found on social media a few years ago, they do not have a physical store. Instead they promote and sell everything through their social media accounts and post photos from other people’s accounts who use their products.  They show results from others to inspire others and show off their product using hashtags and photo tagging.

While some may use social media as a gossip medium, others will use it to uplift and inspire others. Christian’s can use social media as a way to spread God’s message and encourage others to believe and help them find their way.  Using hashtags can bring like-minded individuals together and help them focus on important issues in their lives.  Social media should be utilized as a tool to help grow each other and companies.