Inarguably the advancement in technology
has nurtured the emergence of various interactive platform primarily masked as social media sites. With time, social media sites have become an integral part of the global community, a phenomenon that has redefined various concepts. When breaking down the defining process, communication, both written and verbal dimensions emerge to be one of the main concepts that have been redefined by social media integration. When written communication is contrasted to the verbal alternative, the former emerges to be more affected by social media usage, when compared to the latter. An analysis of social media's impact of communication will reveal how the platform has positively and negatively affected communication, with the negative context surpassing the positive impacts.
Overview
A social network, when defined, refers to an interactive platform that enables people from different parts of the globe to intermingle freely, either by sharing events, photos, status updates of occurrences happening in their lives, or within their minds. Common examples of social media include; Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp, and YouTube (Sponcil, & Gitimu, 2013). When focusing on its impact, it is essential to note that social media as a platform, has transformed the manner in which written communication is crafted and presented to the audience. Interestingly, the primary mode of communication utilized on social media sites is written communication (Thomas et al., 2016). However, the rendition of the modern day's written communication has significantly transformed thanks to social media, an aspect that will be subsequently expanded in depth.
Advantages
The first advantage of social media is that it has helped the audience become consistently aware of prevalent mistakes that manifest whenever one is writing down a comment. There are primarily two ways in which the interactive platforms have managed to promote better-written communication. In the first instance, all of the social media platforms are defined by an autocorrect feature that generally underlines misspelled words that manifest when one is typing a response (Baruah, 2012). The feature has triggered the audience to become conscious of the mistakes they make while crafting written contexts and provoked them to implement steps that will enable the users to avoid the manifestation of similar errors in the future (Sponcil, & Gitimu, 2013). In the second instance, social media has been utilized as a platform by critics to point out various grammatical errors that manifest in a given post. It is a common occurrence to identify readers pointing out grammatical errors in different posts within social media platforms, an aspect that provokes the audience as well as publishers of posts to sharpen their written communication skills.
The second advantage of utilizing social media is that it has nurtured the emergence of speedy and affordable communication, especially within the written context. Prior to the emergence of social media platforms, the only available mediums for written communication were either by mail, email or texts. However, all of the three platforms had severe limitations in one aspect or another (Baruah, 2012). For instance, post mails would take a while before the sender and receiver got their feedback. Emails, on the other hand, were limited by prevalence, as they were commonly used in formal settings, while texts were essentially expensive especially when communicating with an individual in a different time zone (Thomas et al., 2016). All of these limitations were averted when social media was introduced, for the platform offered the audience an interactive and appealing medium where they could communicate in the written context. For instance, social media platforms were particularly famous for the use of emoji's an aspect that cultivated the appealing aspect of written communication (Sponcil, & Gitimu, 2013).
Disadvantages
One of the main negative aspects of social media on written communication is that the platform has nurtured fragmentation of the communication context, as a result of variations that have emerged with each generation. How so? When comparing the baby boomers generation with generation X, there several observable differences that emerge in their written communication such as in the use of short forms, or slangs. The given aspect is evident when generation X is compared to Xennials, and when Millennials are compared to Generation Z (Macnamara, & Zerfass, 2012). From a practicality perspective, the different transformations of written communication in each generation will cumulatively lead to the severe fragmentation of the construct, an aspect that may at one time impede communication between different generations.
In the second scenario, social media has nurtured a decline in quality associated with interpersonal communication. How so, more people as a result of being on the interactive platforms consistently have preferred written communication to face-to-face communication. The worrying concern about this aspect is that most of the social media users have nurtured the impoverishment of written language, as a result of using shortened versions of words to express their ideas and thoughts. It is common today for one to identify constructs such as "gr8" (great), "tia" (thanks in advance), "k" (Okay), "cu" (See you), "ur" (Your), and "ttyl" (talk to you later) in written conversations (Thomas et al., 2016). However, these abbreviations have emerged to ruin grammar and syntax especially amongst the younger generations who will at one time occupy senior positions in official capacities and may be tempted to apply the conventions (Sponcil, & Gitimu, 2013). Cumulatively, most of these terms have eroded the beauty that was once associated with language for slangs that are only conversant with a segment of the social media platform users.
Professional Analysis
From a professional viewpoint, it is crucial to realize that although social media has played a pivotal role in uniting people from different regions who share a common interest, the platform has been instrumental in nurturing significant challenges, especially in written communication. The primary cause of concern emerges from the fact that most of the platform's users are the younger generations who are either employed or pursuing education (Macnamara, & Zerfass, 2012). From an application perspective, the fragmentation, as well as impoverishment of written language, has emerged to be a problem that will affect expression and performance of people in the workplace. It is vital to note that written communication compliments verbal communication, and when the former is fragmented, so will the impact stretch to the later construct (Macnamara, & Zerfass, 2012). Cumulatively, when people are conforming to the transformations of written communication presented on social media platforms, they are crafting a foothold for danger, one that is defined by the manifestation of difficulties in real-life interpersonal communication.
In conclusion
social media as a platform has been effective in transforming the manner in which people interact as well as communicate. However, when the impact of the platform is assessed from both positive and negative perspectives, the negative impact of social media on communication masks the positive elements, primarily because of the longevity fact that most of the negative impacts are long-term. To conclude, It is disheartening to note that social media has masked the beauty of written language for unconventional slangs, an aspect that may soon appear and overwhelm expression within the formal space.
References
Baruah, T. D. (2012). Effectiveness of Social Media as a tool of communication and its potential for technology enabled connections: A micro-level study. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 2(5), 1-10.
Macnamara, J., & Zerfass, A. (2012). Social media communication in organizations: The challenges of balancing openness, strategy, and management. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 6(4), 287-308.
Sponcil, M., & Gitimu, P. (2013). Use of social media by college students: Relationship to communication and self-concept. Journal of Technology Research, 4, 1.
Thomas, J. D., Morin, D., & Kira, D. (2016). Social Media and Communication Skills. Allied Academies, 3.
