Thanks to the Internet in general and social media in particular, the Chinese people now have a mechanism to hold authorities accountable for wrongdoing - at least sometimes - without any actual political or legal reforms having taken place. Major political power struggles and scandals are no longer kept within elite circles.
Judging by informal observation, most young Americans burn up their spare time buffing their emotional IQ and self-esteem with social media and non-stop texting. That's great for eye-thumb coordination, but what about the satisfaction of actually making something?
I started using Twitter a lot and realized I had a lot of fans. Then I saw that I can share my music on Twitter and share my YouTube videos on Twitter. That's how I knew social media was going to be a platform to show my music. That's how I started. I started with Twitter.