Creativity

New media has clearly had a major impact on society and has changed the way people live their day-to-day lives. Whether they are finding friends on Facebook, reading up on Twitter, or meeting people through online video game communities, new technologies have changed the way we interact with people and have opened up the door to limitless opportunities. In an online and virtual world where almost anything is possible, the boundaries of technologies continue to be pushed with each passing day.

Aside from the various benefits in communication and information processing , new media has also helped foster creativity as well. It enables everyone to be a contributor and lets anyone with an idea share their thoughts. Millions of ideas are shared across different mediums every day, and although some may not be thought out clearly, others have the opportunity to change the way we live. By expressing an idea on Facebook or Twitter, you are allowed the opportunity to spread the word on your thoughts.  Those who read it may pick up where you left off and formulate their own ideas and this pattern may continue exponentially. Technology and new media has allowed this world to become a smaller place, as it has bridged the gaps in communication across borders. The environment and processes in which new media create and allow undoubtedly help foster creativity and present the opportunity for the formulation of new and exciting things.

A perfect example of this was stated in in Claire Cain Miller’s article “Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers.” In it she talked about how most of Twitter’s innovations, such as lists, retweets, and hash tags were ideas that were actually proposed by users and consumers, rather than the company itself. By holding an open panel for the world in order to gain insight on how to improve the site, Twitter was able to gain points from various perspectives and was not limited to the ideas of only just a few internal technology experts. I believe other companies should start doing this as well. In the technological world we live in today, resources and ideas are vast, but it takes a good leader to recognize this. This example proves that the flow of knowledge is a continuous chain and the use of new media has enabled us to constantly add to it.