How Social Media Made Thanksgiving Better
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Fri, Nov 25, 2011
In the United States, the fourth Thursday each November is the start of the holiday season and the day people gather to celebrate their country’s history through epic feasting. Most of us know the clichés: lots of turkey, NFL, family time, arguments and mostly, eating. For some it’s a day to look forward to and to have fun, and some people just dread it (especially the person in charge of cooking!).
Now 20 years ago maybe we couldn’t do anything about the issues that come up around Thanksgiving: traffic jams, cooking gone wrong, flight delays, boredom once the meal is done. These days, however, the power of social media is here to get you through.
Social media helps plan Thanksgiving Meals
Yesterday, we asked around the table to find out what social media platforms people used to get through the biggest holiday of the year. We found out a lot more than we bargained for: social media is becoming an integral part of planning Thanksgiving. Social media can help with the planning of the big feast, travel and can keep the whole family entertained when the meal is over.
Using social media to put together a meal is easy. Some people used the holiday menu planner and the comprehensive website of the Food Network for planning their meal. Not sure how to feed your guests a vegetarian Thanksgiving meal? Just ask on twitter. Someone will have an answer! Need decorating ideas? Facebook sharing and the new website pinterest.com have you covered for inspiration.
Social Media Helps Thanksgiving Travel
If you didn’t do the cooking yesterday, then you were probably traveling. So those travel plans had to be made in advance in order to beat traffic, airline delays and high fares. The web was the first port of call these days for cheap fares: websites can help find the best airfare and the GasBuddy app helps find the cheapest place to fill up. Lots of people would have used these apps over Thanksgiving. Facebook and Twitter were two excellent places to get traffic updates from those that have first hand experience: especially those who got stuck in the snow yesterday. The Airport Flight Delays app also helped to inform passengers of delays.
So what were we thankful for yesterday? That’s easy: we were thankful for the web and especially social media, because it brings everyone together and makes life that little bit easier.
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