Last night I went to a birthday party for a good friend. It was strangely held in a pool hall somewhere in rural florida. The music was 1980's house music and the dress code was come as you are, even if you haven't gotten round to washing your clothes yet this year. You know the kind of place?

Being a Brit, I sit in these situations quite separate from the world going on around me, watching and listening to the local characters with fascination. So, Nascar was discussed, the love of Bar-B-Q and other general topics that surround what happened on a particular drunken night back in 2001. None of this surprised me at all in anyway and I actually enjoyed hearing this different perspective on the world.

Just as I thought the conversation could get no more stimulating an interesting topic was launched. The people collectively started speaking about Indian culture, music, communities and media. This seemed slightly out of place until it became apparent that this collective knowledge base was exclusively garnered from social media platforms and especially consisted of video content.

All participants were in their twenties and all used social networking to communicate and organize offline events with each other and without exception all used social media videos as an on demand educational resource. 

The people at this large table showed an interest in viral shock engaging content but also said the search for information was the largest way in which they used social media content.  I took away a true appreciation of the global reach and diversity of people who are taking this new media channel and using it in ways of furthering bonds and knowledge of the world around them. I walked away with a couple of bang-rah artists I need to look up and a new network of people.