The Fantastic Five on Social Media...

What is on the menu?

What is on the menu?

A warm welcome to all you blog lovers J. Ever logged onto your social media accounts and wondered who to follow? Well, guess what? We all have experienced or dealt with that dilemma before. And to those of you that are still sailing on that boat, let us just say it is your lucky day. I am here to help, or shall I say, I am here to give you a slight insight as to who are the who’s who currently buzzing on the social media platforms.

The who’s who buzzing on social media

Who's who buzzing on social media.

In this digital age, we have seen the impact social media has on its stakeholders and their daily lives. The social media platforms have certainly evolved over the years, as we see new platforms being introduced to us and the current ones getting more and more advanced. This then makes it very tricky for one to fairly identify the top five social media influencers. In this post, I’m focusing on the following platforms; Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as my guide. As these platforms offer engagement or content sharing and a pleasant way to get to know about your favorite celebrity or interact with them, even when we know that they have someone that personally handle their social media accounts. See below the mentioned who's who buzzing on social media.

The Fantastic Five…

 According to my analysis and opinion, the following names that are listed below are the best influencers on the social media world. Although these results are from the year 2014, we will just have to wait and see what 2015 has in store for us. Who knows, it could be you. Ladies and gentleman, I introduce to you, the fantastic five;

• DeirdreBreakenridge, one of the most influential human-being on Twitter. She is the CEO of Pure Performance Communications, speaker, author of Social Media and Public Relations & PR 2.0, adjunct professor & co-founder of #PRStudChat. @dbreakenridge if you wish to follow.
• Richard Branson, a man known for being a, tie-loathing adventurer, philantropist, who believes in turning ideas into reality. @richardbranson
• Kim Kardashian, a well-known celebrity that has been very influential over the past years to young women and teens and we gather this from seeing on her instagram account that she has 27.2 million followers. Her instagram page made a buzz when she posted her nude paper magazine cover. To follow her, here is her handle, instagram.com/kimkardashian/
• Scott Monty, the man who was able to get Ford onto the Twittersphere in its early days. And if you ever wondered where the term "tweetup" came about, well you reading about the man. 
• Justin Bieber, the Canadian singer/songwriter. He is adored by many across the globe. In 2012 he was named as the third-most powerful celebrity in the world, but as time went on, he dropped a few spots. Even though he dropped, he is admired by many fans, from the ladies to the "wanna-be" Biebers.

Do what’s right J

We are social.

Growing up, the most influential people in our lives were our folks, well It would not hurt to have other influencers. We live in a digital world now, so we are bound to find more influencers other than our own folks. So let us get cracking and start following the above mentioned influencers. Now I know some of you bloggers are asking yourselves why should you follow the about mentioned people, as they are human just like you, they do not add value to your life. In that sense, that is 100% correct. But have you thought about the fact that we all might learn a few things from these people, for it is said in life you never stop learning. We learn from an elderly person to a child, thus I edge you to following them. From a wise woman’s words to you, “If you get, give. If you learn, teach”.

The Icy Ice Bucket Challenge in South Africa

The power of social media.

In this day and age, our lifestyles have been modernized. We have transformed from being a traditional generation to being a technological generation, thus making social media a very powerful tool, which educates us, connects us to our loved ones, as well as keeping us updated as to what is going on around us, nationally and globally.  

And so it began…

Pete Frates, doing the Ice Bucket Challenge

It is unclear at this stage to determine the origin of the Ice Bucket challenge and when it was introduced to the public but with the help of the social media, we have an idea as to who is accredited for the creation of the challenge.Pete Frates, a Bostonian who was diagnosed with ALS in March 2012, is most commonly associated with its origin. With that being said Pat Quinn, a friend of Frates who was also diagnosed with ALS in 2013, is also credited with creating the challenge.

Did you know???

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is an activity that involves the dumping of a bucket of ice water on someone's head to promote awareness of the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and encourage donations for research. The challenge often called the "Cold Water Challenge" became popular on social media in areas of the Northern United States in mid-2013 to early 2014.

Through social media, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was rapidly popularized. This goes to show how much of an impact social media has on campaigns and organisations in the current technological age. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram instantly made people aware as to how serious this disease is.

Stop die lorrie!!! Said the South Africans

South Africans have certainly not been left in the dark when it came to this initiative. The trend quickly grew popular in our country and we have seen on the social media platforms from the likes of Top-billing presenter, Jeannie D, iconic golf player Gary Player and so forth take part in this charitable campaign by posting up their videos doing the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Although it has not reached large masses yet our celebrities are playing a role to help promote the awareness and fight against ALS. One of our very own former springbok scrum-half, Joost van der Westhuizen has recently publicly admitted that he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). News of his diagnosis challenged the entire springbok team in order to raise more awareness.