Social Media and Generation Y - Coursework Example

Relationship between Social Media and Generation Y Couse: College: Relationship between Social Media and Generation Y Introduction On a wider perspective, digitalization of the world has reduced the world into a global village. Means of communication have gone a notch higher with generation Y population being the center stage. Generation Y spends much time on-line via social media virtual communities such as Facebook, Twitter, Yu-Tube and many others. Dissenting argument are erected on whether there are more pros than cons resulting from this state of affairs. Overload has become one of the escalating challenged as a greater percentage of time is diverted to being on-line (Alba & Waters 2011, p. 89). The paper will reveal the characteristics of social media and the generation Y and will advance to show the close linkage between social media and this generation based on a case example on how social media has facilitated product e-marketing and will go a notch higher to reveal the pros and cons resulting from e-marketing such as increased sales and fraudulent and scamming acts through giving a platform for the scammers and the fraudsters which are mainly the generation Y’s component. Identity threat Identity distortion is a major issue in social media as people misuse this platform and hide their identities as they try to investigate on other peoples’ ware bouts and will get every detail of the targeted people which is later used to advance their ill motives on such victims. The belief on the existence of the data shadows has made it possible for the monitoring previous transactions made by web user online which are the generated into data necessary for follow ups. Privacy Definition of salient terms /issues Social media An explanation to the definition of social media can be highlighted as situation recently taking over the web presenting a more expansive exposure in respect to degree of connectivity and social networking that facilitates the continuous conveyance of information through the feedback and contribution of web users belonging to any given virtual community. Virtual community This refers as a wide variety of websites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter MySpace and Bebo just to mention a few. Generation Y This is a generation that is also known as Millenniums or Echo Boomers which precedes generation X and preceded by generation Z. generation Y is estimated to entail the youths born between the years 1977 and 2000. It is not clear as some state that this generation should the people born between 1978 and 1989. Due to this dissenting explanation is extended to include the age bracket from 1977 to 2000 (Bondarouk & Olivas-Lujan 2013, p. 111). According to Strauss and Howe, the period between 1982 and 2004 formed the bracket of the generation Y in USA. Generation 9/11 This was regarded as sub-group of generation Y which first came to light in 2001 via the cover letter of the Newsweek Magazine. Identification of issues Panopticon This is a model that is used as a surveillance which puts persons under scrutiny which a negative impact on the web users self-regulation and behavior Intimacy Social media has increased intimacy among the people as people are daily connected via the websites and through the application of various forms of social media. On contrary much negative friendship ranging from same sex intimacy has also been felt resulting from the use of these websites such as homosexuality as a particular virtual community has a range of different individual interconnected on-line and those with ill motives would use this platform to advance on their ill motives. Ousting of truth through the images Social made has made it easy to put the government in check as many bloggers have used such social media forms to sway the public opinions such as revealing the brutal police treatment against the public. Young general are seen to develop identities through the use of visual images that have led to stalking. The is no more privacy among the individual identities as there is no specific law in USA to regulation the intrusions on the web users which leads to infringement of human rights and stretches to elimination of use of subversive communication as people fear being ridiculed. Social marketing Social media has been used in many occasion in social marketing via the use of several marketing mix which are aimed at changing the social behavior of individual and also to create awareness. Prosumer society The use of social media has created a shifting relationships where consumers have played an active role in the production of commodities via the use of co-creation as opposed to earlier days where production was basically the role of producers (Waters 2010, p. 89). This shift has also been felt between the consumers and the marketers where it is argued that the consumers have taken the promotion of product through the marketing of such products without pay. Digital divides A gap has been created between the old aged people and this generation resulting from the ability of this generation to use social media at the expense of the ageing population that are left out. A society has thus developed within the society. Characteristics of social media Openness Social media service has a future of open feedback and participation from a wide range of participants who are able to vote, make comments as well as sharing information on various topics (Seo, Pellegrino & Engelhard 2011, p. 78). Their openness is pegged free entry and exists as there are obstacles as these barriers are kept to the least level as it only requires the user to be a member of the visual community. Conversation This is a major diversion future from the initial traditional media that involved away communication that only aimed at conveying particular broadcasted information to the audience without immediate feedback among the audience and the sender. Community The establishment of a community through the social happens in a matter of hours. Such communities effectively communicate on a common topic which may include love and political issues. Connectedness More effort and research are aimed at ensuring linkages among the various websites and forms of social media. Making use to different sites forms one of attractive feature of social media as other resources and people are well connected. Characteristics of generation of Y Civic minded This generation was viewed will establish a community both locally and globally. This is based on the use and manipulation of the internet as they are born at the period of the technological advancement in USA. Digital native This phrase was coined by Mark Prensky to refer to generation Y as the first to grow up with the new technology of social networks. Have a lot of expectation and workplaces These people are viewed as having a lot of great expectation at job places and therefore have a characteristic of moving in between jobs until their expectation is met. Optimistic and team players Young generation are seen to have optimism in every undertaking merged with high self-efficacy and endowed with better skills which blends well with other stakeholders and hence team players (Waters 2010, p. 112). They are believed to have watched massive act of terrorist as well as enmity created among the students to an extent of shooting one another, they have managed to be hopeful in life. Confidence and tolerance The Y generation are viewed as confidence and very tolerant on their operation as compared to any other generation. Conformist The other generations are seen as more individualistic as compared to more liberal Y generation. They blend well with other groups and do not show off despite their massive skills endowment. They aim at being innovative to create legacy and at least create an impact on a global perspective. Connectedness They are believed to the generation that has the largest online social networks developing more friends than any other generation. On the hand, this generation is found to have as strong attachment top their family as they are the lot that is grown under close parental care. Love making money Generation Y are considered more effective in making money while at the same time they engage non-income generating activities. They believe in quality products regardless of the prices attached and hence would evaluate the value of the commodity before remitting such payments. Relationships between social media and the generation Y Case example The case example here involves the relationship of social media and the e-marketing. It is realized that there is a direct relationship between the social media and e-marketing as more sale volume as well as increased market share have increased based on the use of current trends in marketing which is pegged on the digitalization aided by the social media virtual communities. To add on this, many economic development have been felt among the countries that have adopted the e-marketing on their products leading to less cost used in advertisement (Patrut 2013, p. 80). On the other hand, it is worth noting that scamming and fraudster activities have also been on the high rise resulting from rapid trends in social media website and the increase search-engines. Co-creation Many marketing activities have been used through the use of social media ranging from co-creation where consumers have shifted the role of being consumers but are forming part of the company’s product promotional team (Diuk 2012, p. 123). Social network has enhanced this based on the future of being native digital of the Y generation as they connect with friends through web pages developed through social networks. Theft promotion This results from the features of connectedness among the Y generation and the love of making money (Noor & Hendricks 2012, p. 231). Social media thus presents this platform where the scammers and fraudsters have come up without trickery ways of manipulating the minds through e-marketing on a global perspective thereby stealing from them with an aim of making money resulting from on-line selling. Adverworlds and advergaming These have presented the platforms for interactions and hence have made it easier for marketers to electronically via the openness of the social media to advance the degree of awareness creation. Virtual worlds created through this condition have this facilitated the online selling and buying (In Beheshti & In Large 2013, p. 124). The relationship between the social media and the generation Y is thus revealed in this regard and particular the features such as community in social media and the generation Y being connected as well being described as digital native. Conclusion Social media has been the driving force behind the characteristics of the generation Y. a direct relationship is noted between this generation and the virtual communities. Several social media forms ranging from the social networks to blogs have been used by the Y general in carrying out their daily activities. Many social media benefits and costs have been felt by this generation as they are understood to be at the center stage for the digitalization era and in particular, the establishment of the social networks. Reference Alba, R. D., & Waters, M. C. (2011). The next generation: Immigrant youth in a comparative perspective. New York: New York University. Bondarouk, T., & Olivas-Lujan, M. R. (2013). Social media in human resources management. Bingley, U.K: Emerald. Diuk, N. (2012). The next generation in Russia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan: Youth, politics, identity, and change. In Beheshti, J., & In Large, J. A. (2013). The information behavior of a new generation: Children and teens in the 21st century. Noor, A.-D. H. S., & Hendricks, J. A. (2012). Social media: Usage and impact. Lanham, Md: Lexington Books. Patrut, M. (2013). Social media in higher education: Teaching in Web 2.0. Hershey PA: Information Science Reference. Seo, K. K.-J., Pellegrino, D. A., & Engelhard, C. (2011). Designing problem-driven instruction with online social media. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Pub. Waters, J. K. (2010). The Everything Guide to Social Media: All you need to know about participating in todays most popular online communities. Cincinnati: F+W Media. Read More