Top Three Social Media Sites

Social media was created to share information on a personal level. This is unique because people learn about products, services, news, issues, etc. from a hand picked group of people (that is people that they choose to follow). Over the last few years, many different forms of social media have been born to cover anything from professional networking to home decorating.

What are the top three social media sites?

1. Facebook has about 800,000,000 users. Despite the fact that their population is aging, they have more than three times the number of users of any other social media site.
2. Twitter has about 250,000,000 users.
3. Linkedin falls slightly behind Twitter with about 200,000,000 users. 

What does social media mean for the Internet?

If it weren't for the desire to share information, the internet would not have been created. Social media is a natural progression from that initial desire; it hones the Internet's intent by targeting people on a personal and social level.

Social media is widely used in business because it is an easy and direct way for consumers to engage companies in discussions. Various social media accounts are platforms for marketing, but they are also platforms for social change, advocacy, political agendas, etc. The uses are endless. Social media is the most important contribution the internet has made since 2000.

Prompt for blog (2): Discuss one important event in Internet history since 2000.

Ten Website Design Problems

Ten website design problems:

1. PDF files that aren't labeled
2. Non-scanable text
3. Violating design conventions
4. No responsive design
5. Posts that look like advertising
6. Google searches (when you search a site and it takes you to Google)
7. Low or limited SEO
8. Busy color scheme/strange fonts
9. When the site plays music or a video when opened
10. No search function

Example: Good Website

Harvard Health Books - I helped design this site in my old position at Harvard Health Publications. The white background and minimal color scheme allows the attention to be drawn to the books, which was what we were trying to sell. This site has a search function and uses SEO.

Example: Bad Website

Africa Calling - This site has no search function. The background has a busy color scheme, which is distracting.

How do I use the internet?

I use the internet for nearly everything in my personal life, as well as my professional life. My smart phone is always available whether I want to look up the meaning of a word on google, listen to the radio, instagram pictures of my dog, read an ebook, or on rare occasion make a phone call. It is my personal assistant, my alarm clock, my watch, my navigator, but without the internet it would just be a phone.

For my 83-year-old grandmother, a phone is just a phone. She has a flip phone that family can call her on but still uses her home phone for most communication. In fact, the voicemail on her cell phone is my voice, because I set it up for her when she got it four years ago. My grandmother's internet use is restricted to checking email and buying ebooks, which she does on her computer and her Kindle respectively.

The 58 year difference in our ages means that we go about many things in life differently but especially our internet use. Not only do I rely the internet for personal use, but I work as a communications coordinator handling social media and websites for the Maternal Health Task Force. Thus, I use the internet all day every day. Since jobs like mine didn't exist while my grandmother was working, it's difficult for her to understand what it is I actually do all day. The internet daily connects me with people all over the world; however, it has created a gap in communication for me and my grandmother.

Prompt for this blog (1): How do you use the Internet? How does your Internet use compare to some other person in your family?