The Power of Social Networking

In recent months, world events in Egypt and throughout northern Africa have shown us the power of social media in bringing about change. Not only was Facebook where the revolutionary protests in Egypt began, it was a deciding force in organizing the people to change the way their country was being run.

Now a Web start-up known as Storify has started collecting trends making news from sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. The importance of a site like this, is that it shows the power of social networking. The events trending on Storify will be looked at by journalists to see what events are changing and affecting the news.

I find a site like this is signify a change in the ways that we look at social networking. Facebook has moved from being a site where people collected friends and party pictures to a way to connect and network with others in their industry. What people post on these sites is now something taken seriously both by people who have access to your newsfeed and to people who may not even know you.

The change in social movements from having to meet in person, to being able to share information and opinions online has drastically changed the way that changes will be made in modern society.

Now news networks like Al Jeezera have news programs based on the findings of social network trends. What a networked and connected world we live in where something posted online can become network news as long as enough people are involved and interested in your event.

For more information on Storify, read this New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/25/technology/internet/25storify.html?_r=1&ref=technology