Positive and Negative Effects of Social Media - Essay Example

? 24 September Social Media Introduction Social media has played a very important role in the activation, empowerment, and modification of perceptions and their impact on change. Television and radio have remained very important sources of information across the globe for many decades, but have lost their credibility with the advent of social media. Until the Internet was introduced into the society and common people learnt how to operate it, people had little choice but to rely upon what they were fed by the television news channels and radios. The Internet has brought a revolutionary change in the world in many ways in general and as a source of information in particular. Social media is such a rich source of information that it has become very easy for people to know the root-causes of problems, and make informed decisions as to what side they should support. Just like everything has certain positive and negative aspects to it, social media also has both kinds of effects on the society. Positive effects of social media include creation of awareness in the society regarding the real issues whereas the negative effect of social media is primarily the disorganized and uncivilized retaliation and protest of the people after they realize the potential ways in which they have been targeted. Positive Effects of Unbiased Reporting by Social Media Creation of Awareness in the Society about the Real Issues News channels like CBS and Fox News have lost credibility in the eyes of public since people learnt how these channels have tried to manipulate them and feed them with wrong information about the threats to the USA from Iraq, when there were none. There are a lot of ways in which the television channels tend to dodge the audiences in order to streamline their perceptions according to their agenda. An example of the ways in which the television channels play with the audiences is here; “The Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) Wednesday evening newscasts devoted more than 9 minutes (9 minutes, 28 seconds) to the flap over Mitt Romney's statement criticizing the administration's handling of the Libyan crisis but spent just 25 seconds on questions regarding Barack Obama's Middle-East policy, a greater than 20-to-1 disparity” (Dickens). This was intentionally done to make the audiences’ attention increasingly diverted towards Romney’s criticism of Obama’s policies and at the same time male the audiences overlook or pay least attention towards the Middle-East policy of the president. In many cases, interests of the television channels are aligned with the interests of specific political parties either in charge or in opposition and the channels make use of its programs include talk shows, news, and discussions to brainwash the audiences in the best interest of the political parties which the channels serve. There are numerous factors that contribute toward making the news spread through social media more reliable. A person’s profile on such a social media website as Facebook is essentially his/her virtual identity. People know him/her in the virtual world by that profile. Owing to this fact, people tend to remain as much truthful and honest in the expression of their views and opinions on the social media websites as possible because whatever they write on their profile has an effect on their image in the public eye. In order to construct good image and avoid their image from getting tarnished in the public eye, people support what is right and condemn what they really think is wrong on the ethical grounds. Another concrete example of reliability of social media is that it is a fairly accurate medium where one can learn cultural perceptions about the latest events around the world as well as debatable topics like gay marriage and euthanasia. All one needs to do is read the comments under the videos on Youtube, and one can know what the people of a certain country generally think about a certain issue. Not only can one understand the generic perception of a vast majority of people of a country about a certain issue, but one can also identify specific variations of views within the same nation as the people making comments often share which country they belong to in their comments. This is what makes the social media networks the most reliable and most important source of information amongst all other sources in the contemporary age. Example Recently, the genocide of Muslims instigated in Burma. The whole media and press were silent about this issue in almost every country around the world except for the social media networks. The mediums that played the largest role in the spread of awareness about the genocide of Muslims in Burma were Facebook and Youtube. People updated their statuses resenting upon the mass-killing of innocent and helpless Muslims in Burma. This is how the news spread, friend by friend, all across the globe. To learn more about it that the media-controlling authorities and the governments in most of the countries did not want the citizens to, people browsed videos on Youtube showing pictures of mass-killing of the Muslims in Burma as well as interviews with the Burmese Muslims that tried to migrate to Bangladesh in their attempt to escape the genocide but were returned to Burma by Bangladesh as she is not ready to allow them into the country. A political leader of the suffering Muslim community in Burma, Nurul Islam shared the current state of killing in these words, “We are now getting calls daily from Rohingya living in fear and not knowing what will happen next. Piles of bodies have been noticed in the houses of the Rohingya and many people have (gone) missing” (Islam cited in Macan-Markar). These Muslims have no option but to return to Burma and wait for their turn to be killed. A vast majority of people would not have learnt about the genocide of Muslims in Burma had the news not been spread on the social media websites. Social media further helped the people learn that genocide of Muslims in Burma has only increased in severity lately, whereas the trend of minority killing has prevailed in Burma for long. “It's a conflict that has been going on for decades. The military junta of Myanmar continues to wage war on the country's ethnic minorities. The refugee crisis continues to worsen as horrific violence spreads through the jungle” (Kremb, 2007). Negative Effects of Unbiased Reporting by Social Media The fact that social media’s unbiased reporting generates certain negative effects is fairly understandable because every action is subsequently followed by a reaction. Whenever somebody tries to subjugate the rights of somebody else, a reaction is obviously expected. Likewise, unbiased reporting of the social media has created awareness among masses and learning about bitter facts has caused many people to take steps to react to the injustice inflicted upon them. Increase in the Dissatisfaction of the Citizens with the Government Unbiased reporting by social media has created tension between the government and the citizens in many countries. As more and more citizens have learnt about the way governments have tried to hide the truth from them in different countries, their confidence and trust in the government has subsided. While certain countries have managed to sustain their control over the citizens, conditions have not been quite as favorable for the governments in all countries. Specifically, people revolted against their political leaders in Egypt and Libya in 2011 as a result of the campaigns that started on Facebook and Twitter. A research conducted by the University of Washington found that like Facebook and Twitter, social media played a very important role in flaring up the revolutions in the Arab spring which engulfed North Africa and Middle East in the year 2011. According to the communications professor at the University of Washington and the leader of this research, Philip Howard, “Our evidence suggests that social media carried a cascade of messages about freedom and democracy across North Africa and the Middle East, and helped raise expectations for the success of political uprising. People who shared interest in democracy built extensive social networks and organized political action. Social media became a critical part of the toolkit for greater freedom” (Howard cited in Couts). Example Egypt was one of the countries in which the Arab Spring flourished. People gathered and formed a community against the political leaders by frequently updating their statuses on the social media websites and running campaigns online in an attempt to get rid of their leaders. The social media websites primarily used in the case of Arab Spring in Egypt included Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. In Egypt, the revolutionary tweets increased in number from 2300 a day to above 230,000 a day in addition to a dramatic increase in the number of Facebook updates, videos on Youtube, and anti-government blog posts (Couts). “During the protests in Egypt and Tunisia, the vast majority of 200-plus people surveyed over three weeks in March said they were getting their information from social media sites (88 per cent in Egypt and 94 per cent in Tunisia)” (Huang). Unbiased reporting by social media has played a huge role in creating the civil disobedience in the society. Conclusion Concluding, social media is the main source of unbiased information in the present age. What adds to the importance of social media as a source of information is the fact that the news is primarily spread by common people who openly express their honest and unbiased opinions to convey value information to others unlike the television channels that are controlled by political groups and parties that pass on filtered and biased information to the public to govern their minds and control their perceptions. Hence, social media networks are far more reliable sources of information than the traditional sources of information like television and radio. The positive effect of the unbiased reporting by social media is that it draws the public’s attention towards real issues. Negative effects of unbiased reporting occur because people take actions to stand up for their rights. It is understandable that people want to learn the truth for a reason. Unbiased reporting of social media makes them aware of how they are being manipulated by various forces within their country and abroad, so the people get united for a cause and the way of achieving this cause is not necessarily peaceful. However, everything has certain positive and negative effects. The importance of social media as a source of unbiased reporting cannot be overemphasized irrespective of its few negative effects on the society. Works Cited: Couts, Andrew. “Study confirms social media’s revolutionary role in Arab Spring.” 13 Sep. 2011. Web. 23 Sep. 2012. . Dickens, Geoffrey. “ABC, CBS, NBC Devote More Time (20 to 1) to Romney Flap Than Obama Mideast Mistakes.” NewsBusters. 13 Sep. 2012. Web. 24 Sep. 2012. . Huang, Carol. “Facebook and Twitter key to Arab Spring uprisings: report.” 6 June 2011. Web. 23 Sep. 2012. . Kremb, Jurgen. “The Silent Genocide of Myanmar.” 2007. Web. 24 Sep. 2012. . Macan-Markar, Marwaan. “Ethnic Cleansing of Muslim Minority in Myanmar?” Inter Press Service. 2012. Web. 24 Sep. 2012. . Read More