Social Media: Getting Content That Interests You

Social media is making the news this week with the launch of Google's new social network, Google+, and Social Media Day last Thursday. The Internet is becoming increasingly social thanks to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter which allow us to communicate with friends on the other side of the planet and followers who would otherwise be too busy to bother talking to us with a couple of clicks. That's very welcome, thank you.

But social networks have not only brought people closer, they also brought content closer. They've allowed people to share links to interesting articles, blog posts, videos, etc with friends and followers. And given that you probably share some similar interests with your friends and people you follow, the content being shared is probably of interest to you. In other words, the content is curated to your liking. This is social media.

Despite the power of social media, I have come across a number of people who either do not realize how useful social media can be or who have misconceptions of it all and deride social networks. This blog post is for these people.

Nowadays, I get most of my science news from social media, especially Twitter. With such a variety of ‘tweeps' (people who have Twitter accounts), there is an extremely diverse population out there-organizations, journalists and loads of other interesting people (and celebrities and teenagers who tell us about the fastfood they're consuming)-which is sharing content. And by following those tweeps who have similar passions as I do (I follow a number of scientists, science journalists, science bloggers and football tweeps), every day I can see a flurry of interesting content unveil on your Twitter timeline: FDA panel advises revoking endorsement of Avastin, Webb telescope delayed past 2018, How social interactions influence memory, interview of Liverpool Football Club's vice captain, etc...

And then Twitter extends beyond news. I know what's happening at conferences in real time without being physically present. For instance, the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings and the World Conference of Science Journalists have been thoroughly tweeted. I can communicate with the rockstars of science blogging and make connections. And I can share links to content I've enjoyed.

Thanks to Twitter (and social media), I no longer need to rely on search engines or big media conglomerates to get my news. I read articles and blog posts, watch videos, etc from a variety of sources, all handpicked by people I follow.

The one big downside of all this great content coming my way is coming to terms that there simply are not enough hours in a day to read all those great articles or blog posts.

Image credit: Danilo Ramos (from flickr)