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ICQ
I believe my first experience with Social Media began with ICQ as my brother was in high school at the time and it was quite popular. Being a younger brother, and an outsider to Social Media, I was undeniably curious about all the hype surrounding it and why people I looked up to (My brother) were so involved. -
Napster
As a music "junkie," the first Social Media tool that I used heavily was Napster. I would have been about 12 years old and purchasing CDs for more than $20 was the norm. As a kid without an income, Napster became an instant tool for me to download select music without puchasing the ENTIRE CD, while also sharing the music from the CDs I had previously purchased. -
MSN Messenger
One of the Social Media tools I also used often was MSN Messenger. This was an extremely popular instant messaging system throughout the years I was in high school. -
Wikipedia
Wikipedia was introduced to me during my first year at high school and was seen as a quick and direct way to search for collected and reviewed information. I couldn't begin to count the number of times this tool was used during that 4 year span and at some point or another I developed somewhat of a trust for the accuracy of the results given. -
MySpace
Iit was only a matter of time before MySpace was introduced to me. The customization and posting of music were the two factors which contributed to my decision to join the site. This was a great way to find out about other music that you weren't aware of as friends would post their own favourite music for others to listen. For myself, it was essential for finding out about music from other countries (overseas) which were not popular locally. -
Hi5
Many of my peers and I signed up for this site upon our departure from high school although it was never really used often as Facebook seemed to overrun the Social Media communication. -
Facebook
In comparison to others, I was never a habitual user of facebook. I never used it for daily communication but found it useful for storing picture albums online as well as keeping an "address book" or list of contacts from many friends who moved away after high school. I personally saw it as more of a yearbook which allowed everyone to "post." This messaging seems much more casual when you have not spoken in a while. -
YouTube
As I get older I seem to be using less and less Social Media. In some ways I thought it would be the opposite as many of us have less time away from work and family but I have found that it is somewhat immature and informal. Nowadays, I find myself using YouTube almost exclusively to other Social Media sites/networks. It is a great tool that allows everyone to get worldwide views and images through video sharing.
