I personally use it to keep in touch with family and friends, and keep up to date with things I find interesting, like my favourite bands. It's definitely more convenient for small businesses to reach a larger audience, considering that it's free advertising. It also helps larger businesses stay more directly in touch with their consumer base.
On the other hand, social media is a tool not to be taken lightly. There comes great responsibility with having the power to connect to anyone, upload any picture, or post any statement. It is slowly teaching people to be more careful, and exhibit better judgment when deciding what they want the connected world to see.
Would the world today be crippled without it, though? Not really. People would just go back to getting their news from the TV, radio, newspapers, internet, etc. Connecting with others would revert to just phone calls, instant messaging, emails, essentially slower methods of communicating. The world would just be a little slower, and go back to being more private. And of course, TMZ would be out of business.
