Most people seem to believe that the best way to become popular online is to be a member of every social media channel. To me, social media popularity does not mean you need to be everywhere for everyone. For example, companies can have "fan pages" on Facebook and personal accounts on Twitter, but they don't need to be the dominant force everywhere.

The pure outreach on social media is even wider when individuals are the ones with the accounts. There are some people who own accounts on every single service and feel the need to consistently update. For one, the content will begin to become redundant and two, you begin to spread yourself too thin. The best way to take advantage of social media is to know how to use each platform, but not go overboard. Know how to use Last.FM, Twitter, BlogSpot, Wordpress and the like, but don't feel that it is a requirement to keep a working presence on those accounts. Social media allows others a peak into our lives, but there is a line where it goes from harmless interest to borderline Big Brother.

When Twitter first began to gain popularity, every human being who has ever come in contact with Strunk and White cited it as the downfall of communication and one of the worst tools for proper language. The way I look at it is: although by limiting the user to only 140 characters communication can seem constraining at time, it does not mean the downfall of proper language. As an exercise in originality, 140 characters can actually be the catalyst to promote more creativity in the field of communications to get an idea across.

With the increase in communications channels the message can easily get lost within all the noise. One of the greatest features of Twitter is the ability to get snippets of news. Instead of reading a two-page long article to get to the point, a user can easily go to a news organization's Twitter feed to get the main point. As a recreational tool, yes, it is possible that more and more abbreviations will enter the English language, but for those who are professional communication will at its current level. Unless the apocalypse is on the horizon, it is highly unlikely that CNN or the BBC will begin using the number "2" instead of "to" to prove their point. There will always be professional use and recreational use. The only addition that Twitter and its character limit is adding now is that the professional will need to become more creative to stay ahead.

Source:
Tirado, B. (2011). Communicating within 140 characters. Psychology Today. Link.

Social media has the power to not only make success out of nothing, but also to improve on success already attained. Kevin Rose has been a popular figure in the tech sector since his days co-hosting "The Screen Savers" on TechTV. After leaving the show shortly after it was restructured as Attack of the Show on G4 (the remnants of TechTV bought by Comcast), Rose worked more on launching Digg.

The original purpose of Digg was to function as an alternative to SlashDot in the field of social bookmarking. Digg gained more followers and users due to a more monitored functional design that aided users in sorting through useless and dated information. As an extension to Digg, Rose began the online show "Diggnation" co-hosted by his Attack of the Show part Alex Albrecht. "Diggnation" brings together the most popular stories on Digg in a weekly audio and video format.

With the online video-podcasting service of Revision3 and countless involvement in the development and funding efforts of several start-up (Instagram, Six Apart, About.me, etc.) Kevin Rose has been able to use social media to not only expand his own business ventures, but to also aid in the growth of the platform as a whole.

The final episode of the first season of Mad Men is called "The Wheel." This episode, which most people have linked to the reason behind Jon Hamm's initial awards for best actor based on his portrayal of Don Draper, is significant because it shows the genius of Don Draper. Over the course of 50 minutes Don Draper goes from watching his personal life crumble to coming up with the perfect name for Kodak's new projection machine.

"The Carousel," which the machine was eventually calls, pulls together the ability to provide nostalgia to the user while the world constantly changes and evolves. I have decided to name this blog "Another Carousel" with that idea in mind: the ability to comment on events in the past and present, keeping everything in perspective. Mad Men is about Advertising, but as any student of Communication knows, Public Relations and Marketing share characteristics close enough to comment on issues the same.

As a current senior in Public Relations I feel as though this blog will give me the ability to comment on events in the Public Relations field with the mindset of an undergraduate and a person who has grown up with social media. What may be new for some has been the everyday world for the current crop of graduates in the field of Communication. We are the first generation to enter a world in which technology is constantly evolving, but the old rules and routines of classic Public Relations is still the guidebook.