Social media and world

The social media, like Facebook and twitter have become sources of information…out there there is bad information and information from recognized sources. There is also information from people who sensationalize trivial occurrences and ask the users of Facebook to forward the same to as many people as they can. Graffiti steers clear of Facebook as a news source.

I have been a user of Facebook since 2009. However, my interest in it has waned, except for the fact that Graffiti has a page there and hopes to act as a small candle to guide people to good information. This page is a result of Facebook’s tools, and attracts readers who access Facebook.

Twitter on the other hand has spawned revolutions that overthrew regimes, from Egypt, Syria, Libya. In India twitter has become an alternative media…media houses, both electronic and print follow twitter. PMs and Presidents have their twitter handle, so also the tinsel stars who parade their intimate affairs. From Bollywood to Hollywood and other off springs of these two giants, we come to know what the Page 3 is doing by following the tweets. I do not.

There are other social sites that are not as popular as Facebook and twitter. Tumblr has the largest number of “Graffiti” readers. It is a very interesting site. Here I can discover old automobile ads, facts that are less known etc from good sources. It is very colorful indeed, quite unlike Facebook and twitter their is stress on aesthetics. One could say that one needs an anesthetic to browse the pages of Facebook, as the content creates patches of ugliness – it isn’t Facebook’s fault. Twitter on the other hand manages to disseminate reader content in a sober presentation. Despite the fact that over the years it has become a powerful media, it is not loud and proclaiming.

Gone are the days when twitter meant exchanges in whispers, and Facebook meant a family album or holiday album. Tape recorders were also used to record precious moments…a baby’s first words, etc. 8 mm and later 16 mm video recordings also charted someone’s life. Now it is all done on smartphones…at Villa Food court or some such with a picture of the food. Then there will admiring write ups known as comments, some people in a hurry click on “like,” and the number of likes would record the popularity of the person.

Something tells me that we would soon be going back to the world when there were no gadgets. It wasn’t primitive life by any account. The simple things are missing now, like the times when I liked ads.