Social media is pervasive and touching on more and more elements of our lives – education, work and play.

Last night I listened to an old friend’s record collection. I haven’t seen him for over 15 years, but we’re connected on Facebook and we both use Spotify. Spotify has just added the facility to connect with your Facebook connections and share music. My friend publishes his ‘collection’ and anyone connected can peruse the list.

Recently I’ve been interviewing teachers about the way their students (11-16) use technology. Almost all the students have mobile phones and the vast majority use Facebook in some format on those phones. In fact 50% of mobile internet traffic in the UK is on Facebook.

In this video, Erik Qualman – author of Socialnomics – asks: Is social media a fad or the biggest shift since the industrial revolution?