Our Blog: where do you stand?

"Way Back Then:" Why I Know More about Social Media than You

By: Susan Iskiwitch | 01/08/2008

This title isn't supposed to sound snooty, its intention is to depict how my generation (Y) is made up of know-it-alls – we're multitaskers, we're the first to jump on the bandwagon and we always want more. I'm a product of my generation. While many professionals began to use social media tools for business purposes, I began using them mainly as a social outlet. I have had to shift my thinking and usage of these tools now that I'm a professional. You know, those college photos have been “de-tagged” on Facebook and the blog posts removed (although, nothing is permanently removed thanks to the Way Back Machine).

Take a look at how I became familiar with three of the most popular social media tools out there:

Facebook – I signed up for my Facebook account the day it became available to my academic institution, in September 2004. “Way back then” it was only available to select institutions of higher learning (and my school was a late addition since it was a liberal arts college rather than an Ivy). I remember the controversy when Facebook elected to allow high school students to become members – let alone the general public. Today I have close to 770 friends (leading one of my colleagues to question whether it's truly possible to know that many people; I'm here to tell you that yes, it is … and compared to my generational peers, I'm not in the lead).

Flickr – I uploaded my first photograph on June 13, 2005. “Way back then” tags were a novel idea and instead of communities based on interest, there were chat rooms. I used the service to host photographs from my five-month voyage through Europe in the fall of 2005. As I was backpacking through Europe, never did I imagine that my future employer (and its clients and friends) would eventually use Flickr as a client tool.

Google Talk – Originally ("way back then"), in order to receive a Gmail account and have access to Google Talk, one had to work at Google, be friends or family of its employees, or bribe one of these people. There were Web sites set up where want-to-be Gmail-ers could post what they were willing to barter for access to an account. What was I willing to barter? Ten coupons for free boxes of Cookie Crisp cereal (my family had won a lifetime supply when I was a kid, parting with ten boxes meant nothing). I was thrilled when a few of my friends were able to score accounts, and you can't imagine my elation at the fact that many of my co-workers are now using this service to increase our productivity.

So why might I know more about social media than you? Sure it's a component of my job (as well as a hobby) and I now read more about it than I used to, but the simple answer is time. I'm sure that in three years, most of you will know as much as I know now. But by then, us Gen-Y-ers will be overshadowed by Generation Z.

Posted in Social Media, Digital Communications