Socialites remain connected through the many networks that spring from the operating systems that underpin our mobile devices. The app marketplaces bulge with platforms with which we can stay plugged in to the social spheres that form our world.
Forming circles is so easy with apps like Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn – sharing with groups of friends with common interests, ideals and causes. As I delve deeper into the world of both microblogging and pressing it becomes more obvious that the digital network streams that we jump into, with or without paddles, connect us to unimaginable quantities of data. It is estimated that to store all of YouTube’s data it would take up between 10 – 20 exabytes of storage. Surfing through that is a mammoth task and not without it’s dangers. But when you find a data source, a social network or forum that connects with who you are and what you find makes sense, then the idea of millions of people ‘sharing’ sounds like quite a good idea. What have you ‘shared’ lately?
I read of and have been part of social networks where news, good and bad, has reached audiences faster than that news corps can write it. It is in those instances, when people bring the news to the people, that social network apps become social networking. People, like you and I, being connected to people, like you and I. Social networks cannot be compared to the notion of people sitting round a table, with a cup of the liquid black gold that is famously known as coffee and talking. True Social Networking.
But until the next time you visit your favourite coffee shop, here is a infographic from the clever people at Onavo on the usage of social networks apps, I see a trend developing. What do you see as the differences trending between the iCrowd and the Androidites?
Let me know your view in the comments below.
dean hogarth 