Social media in its current form is a miraculous marvel of digital communication recently bestowed upon the world. Or at least, this is how it is often perceived. Tracing the roots of this “social” behemoth to analog tools of yore, the infographic “Vintage Social Media” uses compelling visuals to make its point—a point that it makes manifestly clear—unlike an address book, unlike a corkboard, and even unlike a post-it note, which are analog tools of social interaction hardly worth fawning over. These static old-school methods of so-called “vintage social media” begged for betterment. They were begging for a digital equivalent. And as predictable as all bad writing is when it comes to any asset, trojan horse, or trend that may come on the scene, this digital incarnation of the old-school tools of social media begs for screens with glowing images instead.
Once, there was a time when communicating quickly and leaving reminders was the role of Post-it notes. But now, Twitter has taken on this dimension, enabling users to share prompt, snappy, and even pointed messages with a worldwide audience. The reimagining of the corkboard into Pinterest follows a similar line. Where once a physical space held the pinned memories, ideas, and inspiration that individuals wanted to revisit, Pinterest is now a boundless virtual environment for holding the e-pinned thoughts, the dreams, the repositories of creativity (and some would say, insanity) and the insane aesthetics that now constitute many individuals’ lives. The address book: Once the cornerstone of funny valentine-type social gestures, the address book has now been rendered almost obsolete by Facebook—Happy Birthday!—revolutionizing the part-time “Pal” that many of us have perform in. YouTube is now the go-to for scenic beauty on the part of humans who have abandoned Highway 1.
The equally dramatic shift in professional networking saw the Rolodex—a key tool for organizing business contacts and an almost ubiquitous office accessory—give way to LinkedIn, where connecting with other professionals and expanding one’s career has moved into the digital sphere. Scrapbooking, an ancient method for curating identities and ideas, evolved into Tumblr, a platform where the sharing of all sorts of multimedia is done with unparalleled ease and boundless creativity. Skype, too, has dramatically transformed the experience of digital conversation by allowing for not just voice but also free global video communication, while still embracing sound as the original telephone’s best selling point. Perhaps the most striking transformation, though, is one that photography has undergone. The Polaroid, which brought instant photos to the world, laid the groundwork for Instagram.
There can be no doubt that many aspects of communication have benefited from the advent of social media. The purely physical limitations that bound earlier forms of communication (like television) are now things of the past. In their place, not just television, but also the web itself, are absolutely jam-packed with opportunities for virtual self-expression. But for every plus that internet protocol has brought, there’s a corresponding privacy concern or online security risk that has emerged as a downside. And yet, in a strange way, all of this merely amplifies the central premise of social media: that we should connect, might be better off connecting, and can find many more opportunities to connect if we make use of the digital tools available to us.
