Theories and Methods in Media Studies - Essay Example

With this underlying root, Mark Zuckerberg along with his roommates back in college found the social networking Company and named it Facebook, Inc. in 2004. Students of the Harvard University and some of the American universities were at first restricted from using the online social networking service. Later, with a mounting demand from students and the public, the social medium of communication and network named Facebook spread all over the world (Miller, 2011). Facebook has gained such massive popularity mainly because it brings together people from different countries, territories, learning institutions, races, gender, and religion on a common platform.

The underlying theories of social media, social networking, virtual mode of communication, and digital marketing highlight the fundamental purpose and implications of Facebook. The social networking site allows the users to create, exchange and share ideas, data, and information via online and virtual communication platforms. The social network leverage advantage of the advancements of technology together with its anticipated benefits via the World Wide Web or internet. Due to various benefits that have resulted from use of Facebook and other social networking services, the people, organizations, and community groups increasingly consume products and services of social media.

The social media of networking has allowed the people to remain in touch with their friends irrespective of the distance that sets them apart. The formation of communities by the people who share similar thoughts, opinions, profession or likings have helped the users to remain together and connected on a continuous basis. The social media and the networking services are being used worldwide and widely accepted by the people in different communities. For this reasons, the social media and networking sites could also be used to form public opinions in case of social issues.

Apart from the people and the communities, the business houses and several organizations have also started to accept the networking services of social media like Facebook and Twitter among others to take advantages of the virtual platform and digital marketing opportunities. The social media and other virtual platforms for networking have been proven more advantageous relative to the conventional electronic and the print media. The worth of communication, the extent to which the information can reach users, the immediacy of the communication achieved by the online medium of communication helps to attain an improved performance of networking.

These advantages of digital communication with the help of internet-based services using various applications are useful for marketing of products and services by the companies. The information of the product and service could be spread to a wide range of target customers in order to complete the marketing activities at optimal cost. The shift in the trend of marketing and selling of products of the companies in various sectors of the industry have been largely due to the changes in the way of communication of the society and the inclination of communication and information exchange through the online social media.

The uses of social media like Facebook, Twitter, etc. by the companies on an increasing scale are being observed to tap the potential opportunities in the changing market scenario (Ryan, 2011). The applications of the social