The Impact of Social Media on Society
The advent and technology and the invention of social media has single handedly brought about a great change in the society. It is worth noting that social media has altered completely the behavior of people and the way people view themselves and others entirely (Deshpande 2018). This has particularly been accelerated by the fact that many people now own mobile phones which can support various social media applications such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat among others. These applications provide different levels of interaction between people, and different platforms from which people can engage one another (Jensen 2015). Contrary to the past when information was limited, social media offers a variety of platforms and channels from which people can interact differently and spread information from one place to another. This paper seeks to explore the impact caused by social media to people in the society.
Influence of social media
Communication and information technology has rapidly changed in the past 15-20 years due to the emergence of social media. The rate at which the transformation is happening has been accelerated by the invention of mobile phones technology which has facilitated the adoption and use of social media in different ways. The increase in mobile use among many people has been the wheel behind the spread and the use of social media, tanks to the development of the internet (Deshpande 2018). This has enabled connection to social media to be done anywhere anytime, provided that people can access the internet.
A study by New York Times Consumer Insight Group
A study done by New York Times Consumer Insight Group revealed that people have different motivations for sharing information in the social media. The reasons range from advertising entertaining and valuable internet content to others, defining one's self, growing and nourishing relationships, as well as spread out their brands in order to attract support and clients too. These reasons have expanded the scope of the use of social media from a tool used for reaching out to friends to that of bringing families together as well as engaging different groups in the society at large (Jensen 2015). As such, social media has become a tool for influencing business, politics, education, careers, culture, as well as innovation, among others. Research has shown that more than 38 percent of Americans get news from social media, websites or apps. It has also been reported that more than 51 percent of people aged between 18 and 29 get their new or information through the social media (Deshpande 2018). The reports also show segmentation of social media use depending on politics, businesses, or careers, among other aspects. It has been observed that nearly a quarter of the world's population is on Facebook. In the USA, about 80 percent of the people have access to internet (Kim et al. 2013). These people also use social media as primary source of communication and interaction. This provides a platform for social interactions and networks which become more powerful each day.
Through social media
Through social media, people can now connect with each other across the globe, sharing ideals and principle. It enables people to bolster their world view on different issues, where they are able connect with a host of other people who have similar ideas and opinions (Sheth 2018). This way, people can create a pool of ideas shared from different perspectives which shape a course and influence their lives. People are able to push their ideas concerning the environment, culture, ethics, or politics, especially when they connect together to push for the same ideals.
Positive impact of social media
Over time, it has been held that "information is power", and this seems to be true as far as the use of social media is concerned. For any information to be useful, it has to be taken to the intended places and to the targeted people. As such, social media has become a channel through which information can be distributed from one place to another. Different platforms through which people interact have been used to pass on information until it reaches the right people. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other applications have enabled people to receive information at the click of a button. It has been shown that the life expectancy of any information posted in the social media is 3.2 days compared to 2.6 days when it is shared on the website. This is particularly because many people use the social media daily, allowing for information to circulate and generate more discussions (Kim et al. 2013).
The greatest single impact
The greatest single impact in the lives of people in the past few years has been the invention of the social media. The current era of social media with all its platforms has contributed positively in the way people do their things on a daily basis. The impact is felt across all classes of people, race, religions, genders, nationalities, among others. Since the invention of the computer and internet, social media has overshadowed the other forms of information technologies which came before (Jensen 2015). As such, social media has been regarded as one of the greatest impact on humanity, making it to be studied as a science. This is because of its ability to change to people's lives over a very short time. With its different apps and platforms of accessing information, social media has impacted human lives positively in regard to culture, behavior, norms, and attitudes (Kim et al. 2013). Social media has been a powerful tool than any other channel. It has caused people to be glued to their phones all the time. Many people sleep late due to the social media and wake up early on it again.
Due to the fact that many people use the internet
Due to the fact that many people use the internet, social media influencers have capitalized on this behavior in driving their agendas through distributing targeted information to the users. For example, President Donald Trump used Twitter to drive his agenda during the last elections. Using only ten seconds to compose a Twitter message, he could reach out to his large number of followers in a few minutes, in addition to the retweets from his supporters (Kim et al. 2013). As such, people who have studied the behavior of people in the social media, such as business, colleges, or universities, are able to market their products and services over a large number of people who use the internet. This is easy and quick because over 80 percent of young people have access to the social media (Friedrichsen and Wolfgang 2012). This has resulted in a new branch of marketing which is known as social media marketing. This has caused a revolution in the marketing sector where mainstream media marketing is being overshadowed by social media marketing.
The advantage of social media marketing
The advantage of social media marketing is that it has a targeted audience which ensures that the people receive information instantly and react to it. As such, social media has been used a tool which can transform politics during campaigns, for marketing in businesses, for raising awareness from different organizations in order to achieve their goals, among other things (Sheth 2018). Social media has been used to expand the sources of information where large volumes of information are being shared fast and widely to all people (Friedrichsen and Wolfgang 2012). This makes it easy for people to know what is happening in the world fast and make their conclusion. As such, there is no limitation to the amount of information which can be shared through the social media.
Negative aspects of social media
On the other side, social media has negative aspects although they may not outweigh the benefits of the positive ones. For example, it has been observed that many people spend a lot of time on social media, time which could have been spent in doing other beneficial things. Social media is also prone to internet bullying, causing depression and anxiety (Sheth 2018). Social media has also been cited for the spread of fake news; news which have not been verified. These evils from social media can be dealt with in order to make it more beneficial.
Conclusion
Social media has become a key part of people in this modern era. It has become an important marketing tool for businesses, where they can play on a level field. Additionally, social media has formed a wider platform from which many people can receive and react to information instantly. Volumes of information from various quarters can get information at the comfort of their phones, hence allowing them to know what is happening around them any time.
Work Cited
Deshpande, Sameer. “Social Media Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Social Change in India.” Social Media Marketing, 2018, pp. 123–135., doi:10.1007/978-981-10-5323-8_9.
Friedrichsen, Mike, and Wolfgang Mühl-Benninghaus. “The Social Media Management Chain, How Social Media Influences Traditional Media.” Handbook of Social Media Management, 2012, pp. 3–6., doi:10.1007/978-3-642-28897-5_1.
Jensen, Klaus Bruhn. “What’s Social About Social Media?” Social Media Society, vol. 1, no. 1, 2015, p. 205630511557887., doi:10.1177/2056305115578874.
Kim, Kyung-Sun, et al. “Information Seeking through Social Media: Impact of User Characteristics on Social Media Use.” Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, vol. 50, no. 1, 2013, pp. 1–4., doi:10.1002/meet.14505001155.
Sheth, Jagdish N. “How Social Media Will Impact Marketing Media.” Social Media Marketing, 2018, pp. 3–18., doi:10.1007/978-981-10-5323-8_1.
