Network Laws

      Out of the three laws discussed, I think I agree most with Reed's Law. His law states that the value or usefulness of a network tends to expand exponentially with each addition of a user. This law makes the most sense with today's main communication methods. Much of the interpersonal communication in today's world occurs through group messaging and sub-sections of larger public networks. Because so many connections rely on common interest, geographic, and professional groupings, these mini-networks are probably the most important element of modern communication. These public groups rely on their members to invite new parties, who can then make all the connections available within the single group. Since most people online are members of more than one of these organizations, they always have a chance to bring new users in, connect with the other new members of their group, and potentially find other organizations to be involved with. It follows that these types of connections are always being made, and there is no shortage of new users for any given group on the internet. As one sub-network grows, millions of others are growing along with it, every day. As such, the overall network is continually expanding at an exponential rate, given the vast amount of members and groups that are themselves always expanding.
        Five years from now, I think the way we get our information will remain to some degree unchanged for our generation. The expanding social network environment will undoubtedly continue growing and diversifying, but the changes made, as they have in the last ten years, will be minor in comparison to the initial change that social networks brought on. The differences between new social networks as they gained popularity (twitter, snapchat, instagram) always seemed to be some kind of gimmick or new "selling point." People are generally not interested with the same social network after a few years of use; it gets old. So developers will always be looking for a new format to create a new social network.
         However, I do think the baby boomer generation will  continue to adapt more than they already have to social media. Of course, a lot of younger people might not like that their parents are using Facebook or Twitter. This does not necessarily mean that they will give up on it entirely, but I do think it's likely to see a higher and higher ratio of older generations on these sites in the next few years.