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INTRODUCTION
The human race is the most civilised in the world and this civilization is as a result of the continuously evolving communication system developed by humans over the years.
COMMUNICATION IN HISTORY
In the early years, pigeons were used to convey messages from one end to another. Later, with the advent of the printing press, men upgraded to letter writing; a slightly advanced means of communication. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell invented the first telephone device, making communication easier and faster than ever. But prior to the late 1980s, no one knew these eras would be nothing compared to the era of the internet. The late 1990s and early 21st century witnessed a drastic advancement in communication, thanks to the invention of smartphones which birthed a sophisticated means of communication; the social media.
EVOLUTION IN COMMUNICATION
Being an essential of human existence, every era of development in communication comes with its own job opportunities. In other words, many people have been deriving their means of livelihood from every means of communication the world has known from the ancient times till date. In the era of the pigeon post, the pigeon keepers were the ones cashing in. During the peak of letter writing, those who were literate, post office workers, mailmen and transport workers were the ones making financial gains. The invention of the telephone, fax machine and telegraph created more earning opportunities for people. The bottom line here is that with every modification to the human communication system comes one source of income or another for certain people; those who take the opportunity to capitalise on it.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media are digital platforms used mainly for the creation, distribution and reception of information through the internet. These media play a huge role as far as human communication goes in our world today. As a matter of fact, due to the leveraging on social media by certain people, the number of world billionaires have spiked greatly in recent times than ever. Wikipedia records the average number of billionaires in the world at the beginning of the 21st century to be 470 but in the year 2020, this has quadrupled and the average number of billionaires in the world today stands at 2095. No doubt, this surge in wealth is largely influenced by the advent of social media. What makes it more interesting is that, unlike other communication systems that tend to favour a selected few like the inventors, operators, pigeon keepers, literate people and so on, leveraging on social media is an opportunity for all and sundry!
Therefore, this publication attempts to look at the ways social media can be leveraged for financial breakthrough. However, before that, an in-depth discussion on what constitutes social media, the different kinds that exist, their distinctive features and the content types each offers shall be provided in similar publication.