Short History of Media – How Social Media is shaping the future!FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20TH, 2009
A major revolution took place in the 16th century, called the Protestant reformation. It’s not surprising that when we look back at those events we discover that much of these events were fueled by a major change in media at that time, specifically the invention of the printing press which change education and the control the Roman Catholic Church had on influencing the world. Wikipedia notes that Martin Luther translation of the Bible into the language of the people (instead of Latin) made it more accessible, causing a tremendous impact on the church and on German culture. It fostered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation,[4] and influenced the translation into English of the King James Bible.[5] His hymns inspired the development of singing in churches.
There is a another revolution going on right now in media, it’s called social media and if you aren’t aware of how it is affecting you, and most significantly your business I’d suggest you watch this video on Social Media Revolution to understand just how big an impact it is stirring.
It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million users. If you’re not over 50 you’re probably don’t recall the impact that radio once had in our lives. TV reached 50 million users in 13 years, while the Internet required just 4 years, and iPod 3 years. Compare those numbers to Face book which required just 9 months to reach 100 million users. iPod reached 1 Billion downloads in 9 months.
What does it all mean? Did you realize that 80% of companies are using LinkedIn as their primary source to find employees? Wikipedia is considered more accurate than Encyclopedia Britannica? 25% of searches are linked to user generated comments. 78% trust peer suggestions while just 14% of us trust advertising. Did you realize that 38% of books sold on Amazon are Kindle?
We were shared this YouTube video at the Growth Summit in Dallas. I’m hopelessly not alone in my failure to utilize these new media. I spent 20 years in the broadcast business, and it’s time for this old dog to get with the program and enter the new revolution in media. Are you already invested? If not you need to recognize how this is going to influence how you do business now and what it will mean to your future business, or you will become a dinosaur. Extinct!
As the video states, “Social Media is not a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.”
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