Mediaboss Marketing

Social media wasn't a part of day-to-day life a decade ago.

People communicated through phone calls and letters sent via postal service. Photos were put into albums for later viewing and frames so they could be displayed. Classmates had to attend reunions to catch up on what everyone was doing.

Today, you can look up almost anyone on Facebook with just a few clicks. For many people, logging onto Twitter or posting a photo to Instagram is as common an activity as making a phone call or watching television. The number of social media outlets is growing exponentially as more people delve into social networking.

The key to not being overwhelmed by it all is finding the website or application that best suits your needs. Photography buffs may stick to Flickr and shy away from Twitter. A parent may only want to join a social networking site to keep an eye on the kids. These days, even Grandma is on Facebook, which makes sense because it's the most popular social media site with more than 1 billion users.

"Facebook is still king," says Scott Monty, global head of social media for Ford Motor Co.

"It's clearly the mainstream of social networking," he says. "Facebook has made it easy for us to share the things that matter to us and to connect with people around us. The reason grandmothers are on there largely stemmed from wanting to be part of their grandkids' lives because that's where they were."

While Facebook has a broad appeal, other social media sites cater to different personalities. Pinterest is for artistic and creative types who prefer images over text, while Twitter may attract folks who want to be the first to hear the latest news about celebrities, politics, sports, etc.

Karen McDevitt, new media instructor at Wayne State University's Department of Communications, says people flock to sites like these because they're easy to use.

"It doesn't take much effort," she says. "It lends itself to quick quips without much hassle."

Of Facebook, McDevitt adds it has "become a visual representation of our identity. It's who we are and how we see each other."

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Social media expands communication through words, pictures and videos