Celebrate Social Media Day Every June 30
With as much time as most of us spend on social media these days, you might call pretty much every day a social media day.
But believe it or not, there’s an actual day set aside to celebrate social media. Yes, it’s called, appropriately, Social Media Day.
The folks at Mashable came up with the idea for #SMDay in 2010. They wanted to celebrate how much influence social media has come to have in worldwide communications in recent years.
In the years since, it has grown to be a truly worldwide event, recognized and celebrated in countries from the US (of course) to Egypt, and Spain.
What Social Media Do You Use?
Today social media is everywhere.
And it’s not just Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. (or MySpace, which believe it or not still exists. Sort of.).
Blogs are social media. So is LinkedIn. And the relatively new Ello.
And Vine, Snapchat and Pinterest
Don’t forget Tumblr, StumbleUpon and Ning.
And dozens (if not hundreds) more. New ones pop up regularly. And old ones disappear (including a few of the ones listed above).
Some social media outlets are for everyone. Or at least anyone who wants to be a part of it. Think Facebook or Twitter
Others are for certain groups of people or specific activities. Think Goodreads for book lovers, Flickr for photography and PatientsLikeMe where you can find others with your same illness.
Even smart businesses are getting more involved with social media. They’re learning how to connect with customers and fans on different platforms. Learning the difference between sharing and selling. And sometimes giving us a good laugh with some epic social media fails.
Social Media Helps Shrink the World
No matter where you live, social media allows you to easily connect with people anywhere else in the world (well, almost anywhere). Whether you’re playing games on Facebook, sharing business-building tips on LinkedIn or creating boards on Pinterest, you can share these activities with people you’d never have had a chance to meet just a few years ago.
And of course, reconnect with people you haven’t seen since grade school.
Social media has been used to influence world events, too. The Arab Spring back in 2010 might have been very different (if it happened at all) without social media, especially Twitter.
Social media drew back the curtain on Iranian elections and the protests that followed in 2009.
Electronic media has been important in the unrest in Ukraine for more than a decade. And social media continues to provide the news traditional media can’t.
Scroll down for some ideas on celebrating this unofficially social holiday.
Celebrating Social Media Day
Social media exists in the virtual world, but the point of Social Media Day is actually to celebrate in the real world.
But of course, social media can help you organize your real-life events. So tweet and share your plans for the day. Invite your followers, fellow bloggers and tweeters to join you. Remember to create a hashtag for your event, too!
Include the official #SMday too.
Get more #SMday ideas on the @mashSMday Twitter feed. Mashable turned over “ownership” of #SMday to its fans in 2018, so it’s no longer updated much, but you can still get inspiration from past events!
What ideas do you have for #socialmediaday?
[…] Social Media Day: On the last day of June we celebrate the virtual world of social media by getting together in the real world! Of course we’ll still use social media to organize our real-world events. And share pictures of the events. […]