Crimes Against Humanity...

...well mine at least.

Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook have been surprisingly successful over the past couple of years. While these social networks have grown at an exponential rate, I have developed reservations about Social Media and Web 2.0. Not because of the tools themselves, but because of the way people are using them.

I have received far too many invitations to pointless apps whose only feature is to, “poke” my friends. The most advanced of these apps allows me to, “buy,” my friends, and make them, “poke,” each other. The best thing about these apps is that when I run out of fake money, they will gladly take my credit card number in exchange for more friend, “poking,” goodness. Even worse are the countless poorly written surveys that tell me, “Which character from Twilight are you?” (I’m Carlisle by the way)

This atrocious behavior is viral. E-chain letters and endless reposts of the same quiz for months at a time are growing at an alarming rate. I love those instances where I send my friends a great joke (and I only forward the very best) and they turn it around and copy it back to me (along with 225 of their closest friends). At the very least, my, “friends,” could listen to the words of Emily Post, “Don't send the joke back to the original sender.”

I can’t delete my, “Friends,” fast enough.

But I have had a slight change of heart over the past couple of days. On January 12th, 2010, a massive earthquake devastated the impoverish country of Haiti. Phones, power, and water were inaccessible for many of the citizens of Haiti, but surprisingly, internet access remained intact, and accessible, that is for anyone lucky enough to maintain power.

When hurricane Katrina destroyed much of New Orleans, communication was not available for several days. There were even cases with Katrina, where people could not reconnect with loved ones for months after the natural disaster. Residents of Port-au-Prince were able to communicate with relatives and friends outside Haiti, via Facebook and Twitter. Using this amazing tool, people with friends and/or family living on or visiting Hispaniola, were able to re connect with loved ones hours after the disaster, instead of days. Even more incredible, many people in Haiti were able to communicate with the outside world during, and immediately after this natural disaster.

If that wasn’t incredible enough, posts like this, "Text 'Haiti' to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross for relief. It'll add the donation to your phone bill,” spread to all corners of the social media network. Within 48 hours, this social media campaign had raised over 3 million dollars for the Red Cross and the Haiti relief effort.

This Recent series of events have shown me that if used properly, Social Media like Twitter and Facebook can be really incredible. But please, for the love of all that is holy, quit telling me the latest thing your dog, “Snuggles” ate from behind the refrigerator. If this abuse of social media continues, you’ll leave me no other choice but to help the Bilderberg Group achieve their "goals."

~ Kyle Jackson