The emergence of social media and networking has made it easier for people to send and receive information around the world. Through simple posts on Facebook, Instagram, tweeter, and other media platforms, it is undeniable that the society becomes aware of various issues existing across the globe. The origin of social media traces back to the early days when internet emerged in the world. The number of individuals using the internet remained limited due to the limitation of technology skills required in using the technology. Technology matured with time and people started using the platforms even without the technical background knowledge. In this case, social media encompasses all the platforms through which people can create, share, and respond to posts from other people. The effect of social media is that it creates an avenue through which the public can share information worldwide. Social media leads to increased level of public interaction thus improving human lives.
Social networking empowers the people by giving them the courage to express their thoughts and opinions and share ideas with others across the globe. The creation of the platforms creates awareness among the members of the society about the existence of other people who react to the posts. Also, it makes it easier for people to send and receive messages even at the international level. From this point of view, it is evident that social media improves the lives of people by breaking the barriers of communication experienced in the traditional society. As Gil de Zúñiga et al. (2012) notes, about 22% of the Facebook users comment on other people’s status while 15% of them like the opinions of their colleagues (p. 322). During this period, one could have an idea or a helpful message but the means of communication of that time restricted the news to the family members and close friends. Social media has search application through which an individual can look for a person who they have lost touch for an extended period.
Social networking has positive impacts in the economic sector. The platforms create the opportunity for businesses to voice their brands and interact with customers and workers. According to Laroche et al. (2012), 94% of all companies across the world make use of the social media to carry out their marketing exercises (p. 1756). It is possible for the companies to cut short the advertising expenses by posting the products on the social sites. The investors can choose to create a link where the customers can view the products that the business produces. Through the platforms, clients can pose the questions about the brand of the company thus receiving immediate feedback. The use of social platforms in business operations requires the investors to know the nature of their enterprise. Small businesses will need a social media that is entirely different from small businesses. However, social networking contributes positively to the success of the company.
The emergence of social networking relieves the companies the limitation of relying on the customers who visit the stores to make purchases. They can increase the sales volume through the application of online selling where customers can make orders for the products. In cases where the clients post their questions and complaints in Tweeter, Facebook, Instagram, or other platforms, the business operators can react to the customers in time before the messages destroy the reputation for the companies. If the organization serves interests of the customers through the social media, there will be the creation of a firm basis for clients’ loyalty. As Vinerean et al. (2013) note, 68% of the businesses that make use of social media in their activities experience an increase in their total revenues (p. 66). The employees make the social net-workings to share the issues affecting the company as the platforms create the opportunity for managers to remain in contact with the workers at all levels.
Social media has a significant change in the manner in which the recruiters select the candidate that fits their requirements. Before the emergence of the social platforms, employees experienced in advertising for the job opportunities thus receiving a limited number of applicants. This challenge compelled the recruiters to select candidates including this with limited knowledge in the sectors. According to Shirky (2011), the emergence of the social media enables the message to reach several potential candidates thus increasing the probability of making the right choice (p. 26). The search functionality of the social media allows the people to look for people with particular qualifications in a given area. Also, enterprises can use this application to find potential and clients who can purchase their products. The social platforms benefit both the recruiters and the job candidates as the employers advertise the vacancies through the media. The messages reach large audience including who would otherwise fail to receive the information.
The information that people gather from social sites is essential in predicting the outcomes of an event. In some cases, an organization or individual may find it difficult to collect comprehensive information from people that can rely on before engaging in the real activity. As Zúñiga et al. (2012) note, investors may be willing to get the reactions of individuals from the target market before getting into the establishment of the business (p. 325). In this case, they can post the target brands and depend on the reactions from the people to forecast the possible outcomes of the endeavor. The application of predictive role of the social platforms is attributable to the US elections where the community predicted trumps victory through the social media. People used a sample of 2000 tweets regarding the possibility of Trump winning the election. The final results matched the outcome of the information used in the sample prediction.
Social sites increased the response rate to natural calamities that affect both the society and the organizations across the globe. Before the invention of social technology, people used to delay in reacting to different problems that faced the people. For example, fire accidents and storms would occur and extend their impacts to several people before the community responds to the issues. Social sites have made it easy for the people to send messages to the public in circumstances of such occurrences thus receiving quick reactions. If the natural disasters split the members of the family or work, they can use the platforms for them to reunite. For example, the magnitude earthquake in Haiti the people spread the message through the social media for the people to receive rescue from the public.
Social platforms have brought transformations in the political sector regarding the manner in which the aspirants conduct their campaigns. In the traditional society, candidates used to rely on holding rallies through which they sell their manifesto to the public. As a result, they could incur transport expenses which made it difficult for them to achieve their targets. In this case, some of the potential leaders could not make it hold rallies thus depriving them the opportunity to clinch to power. The emergence of the social media has made it easy for the leaders to conduct campaigns as they only need to create and post their messages on the media platforms thus getting immediate feedback from the followers. According to Shirky (2011), 23% of the facebook and tweeter users convince people to vote for a particular candidate while only 10% of the voters are convinced through the rallies (p. 22). Therefore, the shift in the political sector due to social sites is evident through the increased number of people who rely on their campaign.
Through the social networking, the users get equipped with the knowledge of places they have never visited. As Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) note, the media opens up the world thus becoming easy for people to receive information from the dimensions of the globe (p. 62). The friends in the platforms do not constitute of only the family members and close friends. It opens up other social ties which connect people who have never met before. For example, most of the friends on Facebook are strangers who come together by using the site. People get to learn what is happening in different regions through reading a commenting on the posts of their colleagues. The website users can post their pictures together with the background thus giving the viewers the opportunity to experience the outlook of the regions before the actual visit to the place.
The society experiences the benefits of social platforms through the political, economic, and communication aspects of the community. The influence of the media originates from its ability to connect various people across the globe. From the economic point of view, the sites give the companies the opportunity to market their products through the social media. As a result, they experience an increase in sales volumes thus increasing financial benefits. In politics, the aspirants can make use of the social media to influence the people to vote for them thus reducing the costs of campaigning. Through the comments from the followers, media users can predict the outcomes of the events they intend to pursue thus deciding on whether to continue the activity.
References
Gil de Zúñiga, H., Jung, N. and Valenzuela, S., 2012. “Social media use for news and individuals' social capital, civic engagement and political participation.” Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication, Vol. 17, no. 3, pp.319-336.
Kaplan, A. and Haenlein, M., 2010. “Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media.”.Business horizons, Vol. 53, no. 1, pp.59-68.
Laroche, M., Habibi, M., Richard, M. and Sankaranarayanan, R., 2012. “The effects of social media based brand communities on brand community markers, value creation practices, brand trust and brand loyalty.” Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 28, no. 5, pp.1755-1767.
Shirky, C., 2011. “The political power of social media: Technology, the public sphere, and political change.” Foreign affairs, pp.28-41.
Vinerean, S., Cetina, I., Dumitrescu, L. and Tichindelean, M., 2013. “The effects of social media marketing on online consumer behavior.” International Journal of Business and Management, Vol. 8, no. 14, p.66.
