I sat there in amazement.
I had created an account and logged in.
The result was not what I expected.
The screen had filled with people I hadn’t seen in 20-30 years.
Global and personal networking at scale.
Social media’s potential was in front of me.
Shared human consciousness and connection enabled by technology.
Conversations, photos and videos.
Crowd sourced media.
The future
The promise and future was visible.
It was the beginning of the age of social media.
That was over 10 years ago.
Then we all became obsessed.
Logged in and created and shared content with increasing velocity.
Business and publishing was never going to be the same.
Media would be disrupted.
Influence and power was becoming digital.
But most media moguls hadn’t detected the danger to their business models.
It was just a fad.
A perfect storm
But then another shift emerged.
A small tech invention was added to the mix.
Another tech obsession crept up on us.
The smartphone became available to the masses
This was the perfect storm.
Two technologies that disrupted how we work and live.
The web was changed forever.
From an Internet of websites to one of mobile, apps and platforms.
The wild west of innovation and adventurous experimentation exploded.
We all leaped in and added to the data storm.
Growth was rapid.
Multiple social networks emerged.
It became a gold rush with thousands of players.
But with any industry there is a natural evolution.
Consolidation
Facebook bought Instagram. WhatsApp, Oculus Rift and…
