Information and communication technology has changed rapidly over the past 20 years with a key development being the emergence of social media.
The pace of change is accelerating. For example, the development of mobile technology has played an important role in shaping the impact of social media. Across the globe, mobile devices dominate in terms of total minutes spent online. This puts the means to connect anywhere, at any time on any device in everyone’s hands.
For some of those who think that social media is a term used for sites or apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Google plus, etc. But as Wikipedia says;
“Social media are computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks”.
That means, places like Google, yahoo, etc. from where you can gain knowledge and share ideas also are a part of the Social Media.Or Shopping sites like amazon, Flipkart, etc. also can be considered as part of social media.
“Privacy is dead, and social media hold the smoking gun.”
Pete Cashmore, Mashable CEO
The Impact of Social Media on Society
Almost a quarter of the world’s population is now on Facebook. Because social networks feed off interactions among people, they become more powerful as they grow.
Without social media, social, ethical, environmental and political ills would have minimal visibility. Increased visibility of issues has shifted the balance of power from the hands of a few to the masses.
As we are living in an era of digitization and information technology is progressively growing, we are using websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat etc. Social media is a phrase that we throw around a lot these days, often to describe what we post on sites and apps like Facebook, Twitter etc.
As every coin has two sides. Social media also has to impacts, a positive and negative impact on society. Social media has revolutionized the way people communicate and socialize on the web. There is a positive effect on business, politics, socialization.communication as well as some negative effects such as cyberbullying, privacy, and fake news.
Positive impact of social media
Social media has definitely made us closer to other parts of the world. We can contact anyone around the world at any time, with just a few keystrokes. Since they have paved a new way for interaction between the two. Customers can tell brands exactly what they want. Businesses can then use that information to tailor their products of more appeal. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others are a cost effective means of spreading the word and getting support. The social media has gained attention as the most media has gained attention as the most viable communication choice for the bloggers, article writers, and content creators.
Negative impact of social media
One of the negative effects of social media or network is it Imleads to addiction. It can divert the focus and attention from a particular task. It lowers the motivational level of people especially teenager and students. Sometimes people share photos on social media that contains violence and sex which can damage the behavior of kids and teens and can involve them in crime related activities. In this, even with tight security, your personal information may leak on social sites. Some people commit suicide due to breakage of their relationship which they have built on social sites. They don’t know them personally and there are people who play with emotions of others.
Another negative aspect of social media is fake news. There are lots of cases that we have enquired about fake news recently. People shared pictures of missing people who weren’t actually missing, trolls created fake ‘missing friends’. So this is highly dangerous for society as if there is real news also then people will consider it as fake news. They will start not believing in social media.
Techthesiss 