Success Measured in Numbers

While it is increasingly evident the impact social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Blogging have on our society, the statistics on the frequent use of these outlets are very shocking. 

Let's look at Facebook. Here are some statistics about Facebook use and Facebook users:

 - According to InternetWorldStats.com out of the 6,845,609,960 total world population (as estimated for June 2010), 1,966,514,816 people are Internet users. Out of those 1,966,514,816 people, 500,000,000 people actively use Facebook, according to Facebook.com. That means around 7% of the world population are active users of Facebook. 

-    According to Facebook.com, the average user creates, on average 90 pieces of content per months. Content being groups, pictures, status updates, messages, events and more. 

- 250 million people a month access Facebook from external websites. Facebook has paired with over 2.5 million websites. 

- Facebook can also be accessed from from mobile devices. Currently, at this moment, there are over 200 million people accessing Facebook from there mobile devices. Facebook data shows that people that access Facebook from their mobile devices are twice as active as people that strictly access it from a computer. 

These statistics show the immense amount of time and energy that is put into social networking today in societies across the world. Does this data show the success of social networking websites or does it exemplify the progressively obsessive nature of humans toward interactive media. Do people love being able to participate in media so much that they are now beginning to trade in outdoor activities and actual interaction with people for more time to social network and update their statuses? People must be wary of becoming too detached and losing sight of the things that are actually important in life like spending time with your family. Rather than scrolling through phones under the table at family dinner, people should take the little time they actually do get to spend with loved one and have a nice conversation. While people feel a strong attachment to self published media outlets, there is much to be said about good old fashion communication.