Social Media Making the World Feel Smaller… in a good way

Posted on by Leah Newton

There are a lot of different opinions out there about social media. What is undeniable, though, is that social media allows us to see more of the world with a lot less effort, money and time spent. 20+ years ago the only things people knew about foreign places came from the newspapers and first-hand accounts from people who had been there.

Now, we can experience foreign places through social media.

Boom. Now I feel like I’ve seen a bit of New Zealand just by sitting at my kitchen table and scrolling through Twitter.

Not only can we see parts of the world, but we can learn a lot more about them too. Before social media, foreign news was just that: Foreign. We only heard about things happening in other countries if it was really BIG stuff (like wars or terrorist attacks) or if it had some sort of impact on the United States.

Now, we can keep up with the news in foreign countries just because we want to. There are so many resources out there that allow us to be better informed about the world to whatever degree we choose.  In fact, according to the Pew Research Center, 62% of U.S. adults consume news on social media.

Some may call it random or even irrelevant if it doesn’t directly affect them, but without Twitter, we would have no idea about the initiatives clinics like this one in India are taking.

One major piece of criticism about the news in general is that it’s too negative. Social media adds a more fun and light-hearted side to the news business while also allowing people to be even more informed about the world to which they belong.

Here’s even more about the benefits of many of the different social media platforms.

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