social media | The Pulse of Social Media

Is it me? Or is Facebook the king of social media and all the trimmings that come with it?

Some days, especially in the recent past, I feel as if I’m suffering from emerging media fatigue! There is so much information out there, and usually, just as I think I’m getting used to or finally understanding something, something new pops up.

It’s so hard to keep up with the ever evolving aspect of new media. Not sure that there are many like me who share my experience of feeling as if I’m always playing catch up.

And still there are those who excel at keeping abreast of this wonderful new technological era in which we now find ourselves. One such entity that like cream, always seems to rise to the top, is Facebook. Whether it’s good or bad, it’s hard to ignore the amount of Facebook that’s almost out there daily about Facebook. There is no denying that Facebook’s marketing machinery knows how to keep Facebook top-of-mind. And this time it’s no different. Facebook has developed an app for Windows 8/8.1.

So now I’m left to ponder. Is the phrase ‘give the people what they want’ the premise under which Facebook is operating? Or is Facebook continually producing additives making us believe we can’t do without them. Whichever you believe, there’s no denying that Facebook has positioned itself as a leader in emerging media, that millions of people do not want to live without.

I know that all the buzz this week is about the new iPhone 5, the craze that was with the lines both within and without the US and the fact that Apple has asked its manufacturer to increase production on the gold iPhone 5s by 1/3 due to the demand for it, but this week I wish to go in a different direction.

As we move forward in this new world of emerging media, which now more seems to be about social media, a question has piqued my curiosity. With all the talk of privacy issues and who monitors what and what can truly remain private, I wonder why this is such a concern when it seems that more and more of us are willing to allow almost limitless access to our information.

Is just me, or is there anyone else who is a little tired of having the option to sign in using a social media account? Why can’t I just simply sign in to the account I’m desirous of using with the requisite username and password for that account? Gone are the days when my only option was to sign into Yahoo, Google etc with my username and password, now nearly all access to web sites these days offers the option to sign in, with one’s social media account.

Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand the premise of applications like Hootsuite and Buffer for instance. That said however, as much as I can appreciate the option to use a social media account as a kind of one stop shop resource, doesn’t this by extension therefore allow easier access to us and our information because everything is grouped together?

In comes a site like My Permissions, which monitors connected applications across social media platforms. Through My Permissions, access to can be revoked if and when deemed necessary. Does this site mean that all hope is not lost in relation to the level of access we give sites to our information, or is this site simply another level of access that we allow? Only time will tell!

Until next time…