Lots of people in the entertainment business are expected to be able to promote stuff via their social media channels. For example, if two actors are up for a role and one has a hundred followers and the other has a million, the more followed actor may have an edge.

On a more personal level, you might not see your nephew's piano recital.

Lots of people don't use social media and don't miss their nephew's piano recitals. You have many other options for communicating with friends and family that aren't social media.

That means the true value of social media is as a channel for advertising?

Why call somebody on the phone when you can write them a letter?

> the true value of social media is as a channel for advertising?

That's probably too narrow. The value for me would be as a channel of communication.

> Social media isn't faster or more efficient than email though.

What reality are you living in that Twitter is slower than email?

Same one as you. I can email my entire family just as easily as I could tweet them and with fewer restrictions.

Since you have directed this in an uncivil course: In what reality do you live where "email is to twitter as postal mail is to telephone" is a true statement?

It depends on how technically savvy you are. You may be able to post a video to your server and have a script automatically email all your relatives.

Less technical people will record a video, choose the share action to post it online, then all the people that are following will see it in their feed.

If the feed algorithm surfaces it to them. I’d wager many social media users only consume content though the feed and not by going directly to people’s profiles to see what they’re up to, so may never see everything.

That's a good point. Likewise, with email there's always the chance that the spam filter could hide the message and lots of people never check their spam folders.

Also a good point. That is just as much an algorithm!

> What am I missing out on by avoiding social media entirely?

Accidental discovery of things important to you.

I'm no fan of Facebook, but shortly after I signed up I found out that my sister, who was fighting cancer, was in the hospital again. I went to see her, and we had the best 1:1 talk we'd ever had.

She passed away a few months later.

Yes, in an ideal world I would have been in proactive contact with everyone and might have found out independently of Facebook, but maybe not: she was only there for a couple of days.

Anyway, there is something to be said for a central clearinghouse of information relevant to your interests, your family, your friends. There are many problems with social media, but there are many positives as well.

> What am I missing out on by avoiding social media entirely?

If you're a company looking to advertise your product or service: the largest audience in the world.

You're missing out on networking, an important part in getting business.