Social Media: A Powerful Means of Communication
Social media is the means that individuals share information or communicate over the internet using devices such as Smartphone, tablets, and computers. In the current world of telecommunication, many apps and websites make this communication possible. The rapid advancement in technology that has occurred since the beginning of the 21st century has significantly influenced the growth of social media causing it to become among the leading means of communication in popularity worldwide. Since 2000 social media platforms have captured millions of users because of its ability to enable sharing of real-time texts, photos, videos, and other news from across the world. Social media has become a tool that is used across all ages in the modern world, but it is widely used by the young generation mostly the school going youths. Social media because of its broad usability it has become of fundamental value in the 21st century and it can be used in many sectors such as education, business, communication and entertainment and therefore making life easy and exciting. There many debates surrounding the issue of social media with one group of scholars arguing that social media if used wisely it has many benefits to the world, however, the opponents of this technology claim that it has a lot of damaging effects to the society. The paper will look into the positive and negative impacts of social media and establish whether it is in anyway a beneficial technology to the world.
The Power Of Connection
Because of social media, users can now socialize and connect with new friends and form new relations. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter can now make it possible for users to connect with those people they had lost contact long time ago including their relatives, college or schoolmate and longtime friends whom they could have lost contact with due to geographical barriers or other communication barriers. These social media platforms can now provide new opportunities that never existed before of connecting people with others in the other parts of the world and establishing good relationships with those friends that situations have made meeting them in person not possible and exchange ideas as well as know what is happening in their lives. It is not easy to find like minded-people living in the same locality however due to web-based media like twitter one can meet and connect with individuals with whom he or she can share ideas with and therefore it is the best place for finding common ground that cannot be found easily off-line (Bryfonski, 291). People who are like minded can now form online communities of shared interests without having to struggle where they can seek advice and encouragements which in turn help them better their lives. Groups such as GraceFitUk on facebook that comprises of individuals participating in fitness have proved to be of significant effect to its members who operate like a community (Gummer).
Unleashing the Benefits of Social Media
The individuals that are opposing the fact that social media is beneficial by arguing that these social platforms are leading to isolation should consider their position because they are misled. This group believes social media has reduced face to face communication due to over-concentration of users on their online friends (Norman). However, I refute this claim because face to face communication is limited to people in the same location and therefore ruling out social media will means people should go back to the traditional system of using mail services which is tedious and not timely as witnessed in the Internet-based platforms. Therefore, basing on isolation to claim that social media is destructive while forgetting to consider the impact it has on connecting people from different parts of the world and allowing sharing of real-time information is not enough reason to dismiss that social media has a tremendous positive impact to the world today.
Empowering Businesses with Social Media
The emergence of social media has helped many businesses to open new opportunities. The companies are utilizing the advantages that have been brought about by the social networks, and they are making good use of this opportunity in promoting their products. These social platforms are also developing apps that are customized that business organizations use in promoting their brands and products. Because of the significant number of audience that social media platforms command many organizations are moving towards social marketing which is more efficient and cost-effective as compared to the conventional marketing strategies (Lomborg, 273). Also, companies are using these platforms in their recruitment process whereby they post the available job opportunities on to these sites where prospective candidates can easily access. On the other hand, it is beneficial to job seekers because they can be able to know whenever job opportunities matching their qualifications arises through accessing the companies websites, social media pages or social media sites like Mediargh on Twitter that posts regularly about jobs opportunities (Norman). Considering the mentioned examples of the roles that social media play in the corporate world it is clear that this technology has brought about a positive impact in the world.
Addressing Concerns
Blanchard Olivier in his book states that social networks are the major contributors to the decline in the productivity of the organizations because employees waste a lot of time during working hours on social sites like Facebook. According to this book, "Facebook shaves 1.5% off office productivity in organizations; British companies lost 2.2 billion a year to the social phenomenon" (Blanchard, 149). To remedy this problem, Blanchard Olivier recommends the leaders of various companies to ban the use of social media during working hours and in the place of work and also block new technologies that allow access to such social sites. I disagree with the position that Blanchard, Olivier takes on matters of social media because employees have a responsibility to uphold work ethics which entails the productive use of time and office resources. Going against this is against the rules and regulations of the company, and such individuals should be accountable for their actions. Social media has nothing to do with individuals' behaviors, and before any company can go for the measures advocated for by Blanchard, Olivier, it should consider the impact that social media has on providing a platform for finding and communicating with clients.
Fostering Creativity and Self-Expression in Teenagers
Social media encourages the development of a sense of self and creativity in teenagers via online services such as Facebook, interactive games that are real-time and blogs. According to the study by Couldry, the youth who are more connected and active on the social media are more adjusted and active even in their normal life than their counterparts who are not connected. These teenagers replicate the social interactions they have on the online media in their real life and their physical relationship. Due to the presence of internet, the world has become "Simply new and more multidimensional places for teenagers to do what tens have always done - form their own identities away from their parents" (Couldry, 1772). With the exposure that the users of the social networks get it is easy for them to build a knowledge base of what is happening in their surroundings and the entire world and this makes them realize that there is more out their than what they see within their villages and hometowns. This awareness on political and cultural matters helps in shaping these individuals to become citizens who are socially responsible. These platforms also build confidence in individuals and also give teenagers an opportunity to develop their social skills. These skills are vital in an individual's life because they make use of it while navigating through the modern world.
Cautions of the Online World
Goldman brings forward a counterargument to this point by arguing that teenagers can easily be taken advantage of or misled by cybercriminals. This claim although hold some truth, Goldman only focuses on one side of the social media while citing few incidences where cyber crimes took place and therefore it is invalid because of its bias (Goldman, 83). There is a need for the opponent of this technology to realize that for every good thing there is its disadvantage. Therefore they should consider how these platforms have been instrumental in creating awareness on issues happening in the surroundings of these youth and the world hence enhancing their knowledge base, promoting innovation and creativity, social interaction and in sharing information. These individuals as a result of social media they are growing up knowing the scope of their world a situation that increases the chance of them becoming more successful in the future.
Conclusion
In the modern world, social media has proved to be very useful in the functioning of various sectors ranging from communication, education, business, and many others. Through the use of social media platforms individuals mostly teenagers have been able to form relationships with other like-minded people from other parts of the world and share real-time information concerning what is happening in the world. This interaction with the web-based media enhances creativity amongst the youth and also equips them with vital information on the matters culture, technology, and politics which will be essential in their future life. Similarly, social media has become instrumental in the corporate world where organizations are now using it in the process of hiring marketing and brand promotion. Despite the argument by some people that social media is doing more harm than good to the world considering how much the world has been transformed because of it no one will be willing to give it up because without it life will not be as enjoyable as it is now.
Work Cited
Blanchard, Olivier. Social Media ROI. Que, 2011. P 270
Bryfonski, Dedria. The Global Impact of Social Media. Greenhaven Press, 2012. P 339
Couldry, Nick. "Social Media: Human Life." Social Media + Society, vol 1, no. 1, 2015, p. 2056, 30511558033. SAGE Publications, doi:10.1177/2056305115580336.
Goldman, Jeremy. Going Social. American Management Association, 2013. P 320
Gummer, Maia. "The Positive Impact of Social Media and Technology on Society." Pi Media. https://pimediaonline.co.uk/science-tech/the-positive-impact of-social-media-and-technology-on-society/. 2018
Lomborg, Stine. Social Media, Social Genres. Routledge, 2014. P 413
Norman, Ali. "Social Media - A Good Thing or a Bad Thing? Social Media Today." https://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/social-media-good-thing-or-bad-thing, 2012
