Social Media

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Author’s Note

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Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Body ................................................................................................................................................ 4

References ....................................................................................................................................... 8

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Introduction

With rise in number of users’ presence on internet, the role played by social media on the society
has witnessed a significant increase. Global population today considers social media as a key
source for gaining information revolving around their areas of interest, be it educational,
entertainment, political or general info. Over the years, social media has strengthened itself as an
indispensable part of one’s life. The way people are communicating today is majorly influenced
by technology. Accessibility of internet through Smartphone, tablets, computers etc. have made
it easier for people to stay in touch with friends and family sans the need to visit them physically.
The ever-expanding social media helps people to communicate every day. With growing
popularity and usage of social media, when it comes to keep the near ones informed about every
event that is happening in life, no matter bigger or small, social media has become the new norm
(Bolton, et al., 2013).

(impressico.com)

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Body
With the evolution of dozens of websites, mobile apps and different forms of technologies for
empowering people to easily communicate with others, social media has brought a revolution in
the world. Various social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube etc. have
allowed millions of people to be digitally active by sharing photos, videos, text messages and
other information on a regular basis. Although internet for more than 20 years has continued to
be source of seeking news, entertainment and education for global users, social media about ten
years ago had not attained the kind of mainstream popularity it enjoys today. The craze for
platforms like Facebook and Twitter has significantly increased because of their ability to allow
the users to share whatever they like with the world thereby, hypothetically expediting social
interaction. Positive social behaviour has been promoted by these digital platforms, combined
with convenience, simplicity and perceptive design. Social media has encouraged interaction
amongst friends, relatives and co-workers. Apart from facilitating communication between
individuals social media has also fostered a subtle sense of society. The rising trend of social
media has exemplified communication in today’s contemporary world and is also extensively
used by businesses irrespective of their size and sector as a key marketing tool with intent to
communicate and reach a wider audience of a target market. Businesses are shifting their focus
on spreading their network through social media as a mode to advertise their products and
services. Presence on social media has empowered entrepreneurs to reach millions of users
globally who can be their potential customers. By creating their official Facebook, Twitter and
YouTube accounts businesses are not only indulging into promotion but are also offering their
fans with discounts, coupons and gift vouchers (Husain, et al., 2016).

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(Self designed)

However, people need to also understand that with the rapid evolution of social media, there has
been a change in the communication domain. The world is witnessing a change in how people
are communicating on a daily basis with the advancement of technology in addition to social
media, making it swift and more efficient. A birthday reminder of friends on ones list is send by
Facebook, further allowing the user to drop a birthday greeting on their page immediately instead
of going the traditional way by making a phone call. Another mainstream social media platform
YouTube empowers its users on sharing personalized videos, creating their channel which gives
foundation to virtual communities where people with common interests unite. Other than this
YouTube has emerged as a useful tool for promoting ideas. Performativity is the apparent feature
of YouTube in such case mainly because users uploading their videos largely focus this. In the
absence of performativity YouTube will tremendously fail in attracting millions of users, making
it virtually useless. Social media if used wisely is an extremely compelling tool, enabling one to

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broaden his/her social ambits. It has allowed people to know new peoples, start fruitful
acquaintances with individuals whom other was impossible to meet personally and learn new
skills. These prospects have increased flexibility in today’s youth in comparison to their previous
peers. With wider use of social networks in business promotion, it is more likely that youths will
easily grasp the techniques applied in the business processes and apply them for making brighter
future. Since social media has become an integral part of one’s lives since adolescence, it will be
comparatively easier for them in optimizing their benefits by integrating them into marketing
strategies and become great entrepreneurs. The user base of social media has significantly grown
with more Americans opting for it. The earliest adopters of social media are the young adults
however, there has been a rapid increase in usage by older adults in recent years as revealed by
Pew Research Centre (Tseng, 2017).

(pewinternet.org)

Figure: Who uses social media?

Amongst different major social media platforms, the popularity of Facebook has grown
tremendously and is most-widely used, which is followed by Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and
LinkedIn. For millions of people across the globe in past few years the kind of advantages social

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media has served is quite interesting in terms of both observation and participation. People can
conveniently and simultaneously communicate with their local neighbourhood and the ones who
are geographically dispersed. Moreover, through different social media platforms people have
formed online communities where they can not only seek support and educational information
but many independent small entrepreneurs are primarily using it for promoting and selling their
products. Sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have emerged have cost effective means to
spread a word and gain support. A major section of population is getting inclined towards social
media for keeping themselves abreast about global and local developments rather watching
television news. In last few years, the influence of social media can also be seen on politics and
with rise in awareness and involvement of young voters in their country’s politics, every political
party has jumped on the wagon to attract the Gen Y. Presidential elections of US are the most
suitable example to understand the impact of social media on politics. Professionals, on the other
hand are using LinkedIn for supporting and improving the credibility their careers and business
(Udanor, et al., 2016).

Social media sadly too has certain downsides. The biggest drawback is that people have become
addicted and have restricted themselves to their Smartphones and refrain from face-to-face social
interaction. This virtual interaction has increased introvert personality amid youngsters making
them socially reclusive. Social media has taken over lives, people engrossed in their phones even
if they are in groups or on a family holiday is common sight. The craze of social media and
constantly checking the updates or updating even a minute detail has reached to an extent where
it has become a serious problem. People today have confined themselves from the outer world
and are rather feeling safe in their digital contraption. Addiction to social media has not only
badly affected personal lives but even the corporate world is witnessing its adverse impact.
Workplace productivity is taking a toss with unregulated usage of social media. According to a
report published by TeamLease an employee spends an average of 2.35 hours of his/her working
hours on social media causing a loss of 13% of total productivity at workplace. With rise in using
social media as the main communication medium, there has been significant rise in fraud cases
and scams. Since there is less or no scope of meeting physically many fraudsters create fake
profiles friendly others with criminal intentions. With both pros and cons it is important to
understand that social media must be used for positive purposes and not for harming others (PTI,
2016).

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References

Bolton, R. N., Parasuraman, A., Hoefnagels, A., Migchels, N., Kabadayi, S., Gruber, T., ... &
Solnet, D. (2013). Understanding Generation Y and their use of social media: a review and
research agenda. Journal of Service Management, 24(3), 245-267.

Husain, S., Ghufran, A., & Chaubey, D. S. (2016). Relevance of social media in marketing and
advertising. Splint International Journal of Professionals, 3(7), 21-28. Retrieved from
https://search.proquest.com/docview/1906047118?accountid=30552
PTI. (2016). Social media affecting workplace productivity: Report. Retrieved from
http://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/social-media-affecting-workplace-productivity-
report/story/238716.html

Tseng, M. L. (2017). Using social media and qualitative and quantitative information scales to
benchmark corporate sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production, 142, 727-738.

Udanor, C., Aneke, S., & Ogbuokiri, B. O. (2016). Determining social media impact on the
politics of developing countries using social network analytics. Program, 50(4), 481-507.
Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1844295277?accountid=30552