Dispensability is not effective communication

How Social Media Changed Everything.

Try to imagine when you first started roaming the web. Do you recall a time when there were no "like" or "share" or "tweet" tags? Do you remember having to email links to videos, pictures, or articles while staying within your allotted amount of storage space? It's rather difficult, I think.

It's almost beautiful in the way we can share information instantaneously these days, but such a widespread digital-social landscape has certainly brought its shortcomings. 

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Misinformation

The way we handle information these days can be overwhelming at times. Ideally, we could share relevant new stories, both "real news" and personal. We can completely specialize the content we consume.

Every digital revolution has brought meaningful ways to communicate on vast levels, but sometimes, what is newsworthy is often too subjective or even the impulsive result of popularity contests. Information with the most likes spreads the quickest and all too often draws in commercial potential, thus rendering the data as serendipitous and insightful as a cliche. 

Be honest with yourself: Do you see more memes than watchdog stories spreading on your news-feed? I cannot count the amount of misinformation or narrow-minded bits of information that has become widespread because it hit some sort of melodramatic soft spot. Even with all the falsehoods social media spreads, there are worse consequences. 

Dispensable Stories.

The way we share the news and personal stories in "real life" used to be something on a majestic level. There used to be a sense of permanence. 

Now, however, stories are a competitive sport. Everyone is sharing, sharing, sharing in order to achieve some sort of relevancy. This is both good and bad. 

The good new is, we are communicating so much faster. In some spheres, character limitations force us to choose our words more efficiently, but can also cause too much condensing. Too much condensed information begs to be tossed away for the next story. 

It's important that some stories remain immortal, but in most cases, we toss information around so quickly that the stories are lost in some sort of virtual abyss.

Multimedia Storytelling.

While I'm a novelist and traditional writer at heart, one of my biggest ambitions in life is to tell stories through as many mediums as possible. I want to share stories through all the forms of writing, video, music, etc. The more options that become available, the more I want to deliver a story through them.

Unfortunately, one of the greatest ways to share stories among limitless audiences has become too murky. Even I find myself watching a funny parody on Facebook, rather than stopping on an important article and reading it.

There are social media out there wishing to change the way we treat out stories. Such entities as Cowbird aim to keep stories alive in the most vibrant forms we can concoct. 

I've been researching Cowbird quite a bit, because it's all about storytelling. I hope to see more entities like this as social media platforms evolve. 

If you're interested in keeping your stories alive and not the subject of popularity contests, I suggest you check Cowbird out. This isn't any sort of endorsement; instead, it's encouragement to research the web and find the best ways for you to communicate. For instance, Facebook is a great for keeping up with family and friends, whereas Twitter is much better at channeling interests. Find what works best for you and use it to help keep social media effective.

Such sites as Cowbird aren't intended to replace the more prominent social networks. Instead, it aims to connect people in a more meaningful and intimate way such as photo galleries, stories, and poems. 

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Related Topics

Cowbird Website.
Rethinking Social Networking.
Why Do You Read?
Storytelling.
The Importance of Being Organic.
Does Literacy Matter?
Excluded.