Around the earth, billions of us employ social media every day, and that number just keeps growing. In fact, information technology's estimated that by 2018, 2.44 billion people will be using social networks, up from 970,000 in 2010.

Nosotros use it for every function of our lives – in our personal relationships, for entertainment, at piece of work and in our studies. To put it into some context, every infinitesimal nosotros collectively transport more than 30 1000000 letters on Facebook and virtually 350,000 tweets.

Image: Information from Socialnomics and Mass Planner

Our growing love of social media is not just changing the way we communicate – information technology'due south changing the mode we do concern, the mode nosotros are governed, and the manner we live in social club. And information technology'south doing so at breakneck speed. Here are half-dozen observations and predictions for the fashion social media is changing the earth from experts from the Global Agenda Council.

1. Across industries, social media is going from a "nice to have" to an essential component of any business strategy

It started in the newsroom, as Claire Wardle of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism explains: "In just seven years, newsrooms take been completely disrupted past social media. Social media skills are no longer considered niche, and solely the responsibility of a small team in the newsroom. Instead social media affects the way the whole organization runs."

Information technology'due south a trend that is already spreading to businesses beyond the newsroom, whether it be because of digital marketing or new client service communication channels. Other industries should look to the lessons learned – or not – by the newsroom and ensure that they're one step ahead of this social media-enabled disruption.

2. Social media platforms may be the banks of the future

Imagine being able to pay your rent or brand an investment through your favourite social network. That might non be too far off, says Richard Eldridge of Lenddo. "Social media is transforming cyberbanking relationships in very significant ways, from improving client service to assuasive users to transport coin to others via online platforms. New financial technology companies are using social media to assistance people just open a depository financial institution business relationship. Social media tin even impact your ability to become a loan."

Simply it won't be without its issues: "The biggest challenge is maintaining security standards and ensuring customers knowingly provide personal information. Banks will also have to implement sophisticated social media policies."

Read Richard's total blog.

3. Social media is shaking upwardly healthcare and public health

The wellness industry is already using social media to alter how it works, whether through public health campaigns or virtual doctor's visits on Skype. It'due south also helped groups of people, such as patients suffering from the same condition, stay in touch on, say Shannon Dosemagen of Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Scientific discipline and Lee Aase of Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media and its Social Media Health Network: "Social media has been responsible for relevant changes in both personal and customs wellness, peculiarly by making it easier for large numbers of people to speedily share information."

That's not always a skilful thing: while social media does help official agencies and experts share important information fast – such as during a disease outbreak – it has a downside. "Social media is a two-manner street, and allows non-experts to share information just as rapidly as health agencies, if not more and so." It'south this future that the health manufacture will demand to plan for: "Health agencies need to have plans in place ahead of fourth dimension to be able to respond to and counter misinformation or support accurate information shared via social media."

Read Shannon and Lee's full blog.

4. Social media is changing how we govern and are governed

Civic participation and engagement has been transformed with social media: "Social media allows citizens to be the source of ideas, plans and initiatives in an easier way than ever earlier" says Eileen Guo of Impassion Media. In the futurity, we can await more and more leaders to encompass this type of transparent governance, as information technology becomes easier for them to interact with their constituents: "Whereas politicians and government officials one time had to travel to interact with citizens, at present online boondocks halls strengthen the connections betwixt them, while providing a platform for directly input on government initiatives."

Before the dawn of social media, governments, forth with the traditional media, were the gatekeepers of information. This relationship has been turned on its head, says Taylor Owen of the University of British Columbia: "This largely symbiotic relationship has been radically disrupted by the concurrent ascension of digital technology and the social media ecosystem that it enabled. Nowhere is this challenge more than acute than in the earth of international affairs and disharmonize, where the rise of digitally native international actors has challenged the state'south authorisation."

Wikileaks and the rise of the social-media savvy terrorist organisation ISIS are only two examples of this shift in power, which will call for a complete rethink of the concept of governance.

five. Social media is helping united states meliorate respond to disasters

From Facebook's Safe Check – which allows users in disaster zones to marker themselves as safe – to the rise of the CrisisMappers Network, we've seen many examples of how social media and digital communications more broadly are helping respond to disasters.

That looks fix to go on, says Heather Leson of the Qatar Computing Research Institute. In fact, more and more of us will be using social media to contribute to disaster relief from wherever we are: "Digital responders can immediately log on when news breaks about a natural disaster or human-created catastrophe. Individuals and teams are activated based on skill sets of volunteer and technical communities. These digital responders utilize their fourth dimension and technical skills, also as their personal networks in an attempt to assistance mitigate information overload for formal humanitarian help in the field." These digital humanitarians will assist close the gap in worldwide disaster response.

Read Heather's total weblog.

6. Social media is helping us tackle some of the globe's biggest challenges, from human rights violations to climate change

The Arab Spring is perchance one of the all-time-known examples of how social media can modify the world. Merely it's well-nigh more than but bringing together activists: information technology's too about belongings human rights violators to business relationship. "Content shared on social media has increasing potential to be used as evidence of wartime atrocities and human rights violations, explicate Esra'a Al Shafei of Mideast Youth and Melissa Tyas of Crowdvoice. "Following verification and forensic reconstruction by prosecutors and human rights advocates, these videos are potential prove that may one mean solar day be brought earlier an international court."

Read Esra'a and Melissa's total blog.

This capacity for social media to bring together disparate but like-minded people is also helping fight another enormous challenge: climatic change. "Social media has go an important tool for providing a space and means for the public to participate in influencing or disallowing ecology decisions historically fabricated by governments and corporations that touch on united states of america all. It has created a fashion for people to connect local ecology challenges and solutions to larger-scale narratives that will bear on u.s. as a global community," says Shannon Dosemagen.

Read Shannon's full weblog.

Take y'all stopped to think how social media is impacting you, your business or your community?

This blog series was edited by Shannon M. Dosemagen, Farida Vis and Claire Wardle, from the Global Agenda Council on Social Media. Read more than about the ways social media is irresolute the world in The Bear on of Digital Content: Opportunities and Risks of Creating and Sharing Information Online white paper with principal contributors Shannon M. Dosemagen, Farida Vis, Claire Wardle and Susan Etlinger and other members from the Global Calendar Council on Social Media.