2008 has been an eventful year, in more ways than one, having shaped and even re-written history. Here is a synopsis of some of these significant events.

The Olympics
China, once the underdog, the begging bowl of the world or whatever diminutives that the western media has conferred, finally got a chance to redeem itself. The 2008 Olympics not only set the records straight, it was also a great boost to its image. If you saw the open or closing ceremony at the Olympics, you would agree with me that nobody could have done it better, it was simply the best. Of course, it also helped that in the overall medal tally, China walked away as the winner.

The Unprecedented President
These are not good times for the USA, the Iraq war is sucking in hundreds of billions of dollars, no one knows how long this will continue and looks like its heading to another Vietnam. What’s worse, the US President, the ultimate symbol of power and world authority was reeling under attacks from media, and other quarters.

And then came the unprecedented of events, an African American was elected President of the United States. History was re-written. It however, has tremendous implications, besides the fact that the President-elect is a black man, with Hussain as his middle name; the world has been tremendous in their acceptance over Barack Obama. One could almost hear the world heave a sigh of relief.

Acceptance of the Social Media
To the uninitiated, social media is interactive, engaging media and primarily driven by the enormity, heterogeneity and very virtue of the Internet. In recent times, social media has helped galvanize campaigns (Barack Obama used it greatly to his advantage), helped celebrities connect and speak their minds directly (Amitabh Bachchan has overridden the conventional media and got into a dialogue with his fans through his blog), been active messengers/information disseminators (the Mumbai blasts, and the role of Twitter).
Social media is no longer a fad; people are being affected by it. Not hundreds or thousands, but by the billions.