If you look at the statistics of social media platforms like YouTube and Twitter you will notice usage percentages are continuing to increase. With the acceptance and popularity of smartphones more people are connecting to the Internet than every before. In the past half-decade the way people interact with media has been changing. Status updates and video uploading are functions that are more commonly being utilized thanks to smartphones the result is information coming in from the everyday world and in real-time rapid speed.

What is most interesting about social media’s growth is not how people are connecting to it but what they are producing. It’s not all about entertainment and communication. Much of what is uploaded is a reflection of the state of humanity. Uprising began on Facebook and spiralled into the streets and the video of state-ordered atrocities are being broadcasted from cell phones to the globe.

Whether it is a car crash or revolution it’s being understood because of social media and we are all apart of it. Below are 5 examples of how serious the world has been changed in the past year thanks to the acceptance of social media.