Social Networking (and blogging in particular) has already done much to impact how people behave and communicate. It's a movement. The shift has started for the way we consume media. This change was preceded by a more general change. The internet had already served to reduce the amount of time people spend with traditional media. People began to consume their news, shop and find love online.

Now, we have expanded our business and personal relationships and found a way to keep track of 100's of people with daily or even up to the minute updates. The news we consume is not always served up by a media powerhouse. We're reading personal opinions and following expert writings to keep tabs on the topics most important to us.

Writing for the Social Media Explorer, Kat French wrote about where our minds went 50 years ago:

"...mid-century folks had no idea what to do with the cognitive (time and attention) surplus created by modern conveniences. So they tuned in and zoned out."

Television does all the things we tell our kids. It slows creativity. It hinders imagination. We sit together and watch... but we don't communicate.

When I talk about working in social media, I often hear, “who has time for that?” Kat French mentioned another comment that I hear too, “So, you basically get paid to goof around on the internet all day?”

Fair question. Goofing around does happen as brief diversion. But these blogs and social networks and social applications are serving to reconnect people from the 50 year “zone out” that we allowed television to cause.

According to a recent article on Marketing VOX, 57% of people 12-17 years old are using social media once a day. 25% of online users are involved in social networking. Half of those visit at least once a day. OK. So... I guess I'm above average. Either way, this is the beginning of a trend – not a fad. These young users will grow up expecting to stay connected and have networks of friends and business colleagues. How will their job hunting differ from how you started?

So these tools provide great utility. I think something more will happen. To me, social networking and blogging are reviving a lost art – writing. I'd be curious to see a comparison of counts five years ago and today showing how many people (non-students) are/were writing 500-1000 words per week. We're writing AND publishing.

The energy that comes from this communication is intoxicating to me. It's overwhelming at times. I want to read more blogs than I have time. That aside, it's fascinating to think about how different people will be after 50 years of less television and more social networking and blogging. The evolution from mass communication back to person-to-person communication is well underway. I think we will all be sharper thinkers because of it.

Read Kat French and Jason Falls - http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2008/06/06/is-social-media-a-waste-of-time/

Read MarketingVOX - http://www.marketingvox.com/one-in-four-online-users-visit-social-networking-sites-039335/?camp=rssfeed&src=mv&type=textlink