Blog Post 5- The Social Future and You: The Social Butterfly…Effect

The Social Butterfly…Effect

‘The Butterfly Effect’. For those of you who don’t know what this is, although I’m sure everyone has heard some sort of reference to it, is the idea that things we do in life, our actions, or occurrences can become the product of something so much bigger. On a scale that we, could never fathom, due to things we have done in our own lives that effect others or the globe or a colony of ants you washed away with the hose. Metaphorically at it’s basic level, I see it to be every action, spoken word, or thought has consequences. Good or bad, something will come of it.

Easy enough concept to grasp, but at our point in time people have come to experience life on a grander scale. The speed at which we interact, communicate and share information is far greater than our past ancestors and civilizations in the past. And for better or worse, that pace is growing quicker by the day. Today, with the use of various social media platforms, instant messaging and online communities, people can share with one another and communicate almost instantaneously… if you have a good connection. What we may fail to realize or forget sometimes is that even our online actions hold consequence and carry a possible greater weight along with it.

A viral video is an excellent example. Something happens, it gets recorded and thrown up on the web. Whether it’s meant to have the viral magnitude or not, the action of putting it on the Internet gives this video the potential to be seen by pretty much anyone with access to the Internet. Think about that. You’re silly video. You’re dog with its head stuck in a box, which the cat also is stuck in. Shaving your buddy’s toes, or your bands rough take at an original song, can all be seen and shared by millions of people. Our actions and rants can have a faster impact compared to the times that have past.

To think about it, it’s almost a little scary that my twitter feed updates and photo posts might have a greater impact on someone else’s life or lives. Not to sound vein or anything, like my social media interaction smells like roses so to speak or that anything we do in life will grow to be such a global issue. But remember that we still have an impact on the lives of people around us and in our online social or else we probably wouldn’t be there, doing what we do. And the notion is an interesting one. How has our butterfly effect changed with social media? Or has it at all.