1st Blog Post

In my psychology class this week we discussed the future of social media, and the continued existence of Facebook specifically. Can Facebook stand the test of time and remain an actively used site throughout the near and far future? Or will it eventually crumble and fade out like nearly every other social media site has experienced in the past? According to research conducted by Princeton University in 2014, they suggest the latter. Princeton University made an interesting analogy between that of Facebook and an infectious disease. By comparing a growth curve from a contagious disease to social media, Princeton University researchers found that Facebook will lose 80% of its users by 2017. We can now see that they were wrong. If you are like me, you may be surprised that such a prestigious institution had a horribly incorrect conclusion from the results of their data. The question that must be begged is why? I assert that their analogy was a poor comparison. Not for the reason of

     People often use social media to keep up with what is going on in their family, friends, or even nemeses, lives. It is a convenient way to keep tabs on people they care about without being bound by space or time to meet each of them individually and chat with them. I personally view social media as a newspaper. I read it every night before bed and it is part of my daily routine that assures me that I did not miss out on anything for that day. I think it is important to be “in the know,” and social media has the market cornered on this idea. In order for this system to work, however, the users must share information about themselves. If people only sat behind the computer screen and read others' posts without sharing their own, the system wouldn’t work.      Unfortunately, I must confess that I am the type of person who does this very thing. I have an account on several different social media sites and use them regularly. However, the people I follow would have no way of k