Disruptive Innovation & SM

Before my latest class at Lake Forest, I was not familiar with the concept of disruptive innovation. Disruptive innovation is the creation of a new product or process that disrupts or replaces a current business model. For example, how the iTunes and the iPod changed the music industry, or how tablets and e-readers have shuttered bookstores.

It got me thinking about all of the tech disruptive innovations that have occured in my lifetime. Casettes, compact discs, the PC, fax machines, digital photography, email. But, I would have to say the biggest innovation I've witnessed is the birth of the internet. The implications are so vast I could't begin to name them all. How quickly it has evolved to become so mainstream. It amazes me how technology and information have permeated human lives. This can be said for the new landscape of Social Media. 

Although social media platforms are only a few years old, they affect billions of people. I think the Arab Sping that just occurred will be remembered in history as the turning point when the internet changed the course of human history. Just this week Twitter announced a beta project that would create instant translations. Aside from the cool factor, the implications are far broader. Humainty is on the cusp of being able to communicate with, and instantly understand any other human on the planet. Technology is a new language, a global language. And social mdeia platforms are becoming a primary medium of communication. 

It be interesting to see how social media evolves and continues to shape the human condition.