Do you really care about social media?

Slightly more than a year ago, the term 'social media' was foreign to me. I had no idea that

1. chatting with my friends online was considered 'Word of Mouth Marketing'
2. uploading blog entries, photos and videos was 'user generated content'
3. connecting with friends and other local bands on Friendster and Myspace was 'social networking'
4. downloading a Radiohead album would change the way the recording industry saw itself
5. sharing knowledge on wikipedia and forums would be 'crowdsourcing'blo

i was just a user, and i'm still a user. i find it strangely hard to accept terms like 'social media strategist' or that this blog will end up being a 'guru' blog that will tell you how to do great 'blogger relations' and that my opinion could be seen as an expert opinion.

i just happen to be in this space, where the tides of information are changing at such a rapid rate that people are becoming increasingly connected that i don't really know what to expect, except an explosion of signal and noise.

more wisdom will be shared with the rest of society, we'll be able to put our brains together and come up with solutions much faster. information will travel at the speed of light, that today's news will be yesterday's news.

and the murky depths of the human condition will also be more apparent as we upload all the filth that has accumulated in our unplugged lives, and everyone's opinion will seemingly matter. everyone will suddenly become an 'expert'.

i think signal will be harder to find, so hold on to the current signals that you have today, i think they'll come in handy tomorrow.