The Pros and Cons of Social Media - Case Study Example

 Most people today are willing to admit that social media is changing the way the world works. People can do everything from chat with their nearest neighbor to conferencing with experts on the other side of the world through the simple expedient of logging into Facebook or Linked In. Even elementary school classrooms are deeply immersed in social media as they use instant video chat software now widely available on the world market to hold classes with 'sister schools' in vastly different countries. Corporations have realized the possibilities of reaching a self-identified target market for goods and services and public relations people have jumped eagerly into the social media festival. However, there remain numerous problems associated with using social media. Since it has the power to transcend all borders, infiltrate every language system and instantly connect with a world that is ready and waiting to connect back, it also has the ability to deliver erroneous messages instantly, fails to take into consideration the possibility that what is acceptable in one place may be diametrically opposed to values held in another place and the people receiving these messages are just as capable of revealing and preserving failures. It is very easy to approach social media as if you are having an intimate conversation with your closest friends no matter how far away they are, but you may actually also be talking with the worst enemy you haven't yet truly met. While there are many advantages to having social media access, there are also some major disadvantages. To understand the benefits and disadvantages of social media, it is helpful to start with a basic definition of the term. Social media includes a number of online connection and communication tools. Some examples of this include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and Skype. By the time kids reach college, most are already familiar with the idea of using smart phones to scan QR codes for information on everything from buying groceries to checking in to a store for discounts or being automatically connected to an informational website. Everyone has played at least one interactive, real-time online video game with friends living hundreds or even thousands of miles away, some of whom they may have never met in person. Figure 1: Available from http://seonewstoday.net/2011/11/a-brief-history-of-social-media/ These friendships are created through numerous real-time communication channels such as texting, chatting, tweeting or something that will be invented tomorrow. Within this mix of options, each function has developed its own specific niche. For example, email is common for personal, educational and business use. Twitter and Foursquare are favorite means of keeping up with where friends are going and what they're doing. Most people get their news of the world via YouTube video, streaming video or status updates sent directly to a smart phone or through updates on their Facebook or Twitter newsfeeds. Texting gives everyone the convenience of online chatting even when sitting in the middle of class. “Nowadays, we think nothing of emailing our aunts in Germany and getting an answer back within minutes, or seeing the latest streaming video full of up to the minute news” (Boswell, 2006). Growing up with this constantly improved technology has caused many people to expect instant answers, constant connections, and up to the minute updates regarding the most intimate details of strangers' lives. Through networking sites such as Facebook and Tumblr, this information can be requested directly from friends, but also it can be collected regarding former customers, potential customers, and from the companies that produce or provide what consumers want. All of this information can and does remain visible and available on the Internet for years. The constantly evolving technologies of social media make "social media" a difficult term to pin down, but all of these technologies share some key characteristics. Media expert Vin Crosbie (2006) says social media has two hallmark characteristics. First, it is "uniquely individualized information [which] can be delivered or displayed to a potentially infinite number of people." After this criteria is met, social media is also characterized by the fact that "each of the people involved - whether publisher, broadcasters or consumer - shares equal and reciprocal control over that content." Neither of these characteristics is dependent on a specific platform or physical device, meaning it is an open definition that retains room to grow. Figure 2: Available from http://blog.mclane.com One of the biggest benefits of social media is that it is accessible across a wide variety of devices so people from all levels of the social spectrum can take part in it at any time. From an individual's point of view, this is great because they don't have to buy the newest technology to still take part in the global conversation, but it is also great for the companies because they have a built-in opt-in target market to sell their products to. Even when faced with intrusive advertising, though, the end-user still has the option to click away from the page, close the ad or simply read around it without giving it any attention. The interactivity of social media is its greatest benefit. "Interactivity, as long ago defined by Dr. Jonathan Steuer in the Journal of Communications is 'the extent to which users can participate in modifying the form and content of a mediated environment in real time'" (Crosbie, 2006). Through Crosbie's definition, social media is a platform that creates a "many-to-many" method for people to communicate with which allows them to really expand conversations in unexpected ways. The Economist says, "What is new is that young people today, and most people in future, will be happy to decide for themselves what is credible or worthwhile and what is not ... they will rely on human editors of their choosing; at other times they will rely on collective intelligence in the form of new filtering and collaboration technologies that are now being developed" (Kluth, 2006). Users of social media are actually creating a new reality in which everyone has a voice in the global human design. The Arab Spring is perfect proof that this is true (Taylor, 2011). It is because of increased access to information through connections on Facebook and elsewhere that enabled people to really explore the issues they were facing and collectively make a difference. It is true that social media is helping us to change the world. Hofstede (1991) lists five types of cultural dimensions that enable the public to shape meaning, all of which are amplified and contested through social media. These five cultural dimensions are individualism towards collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, the power distance, the uncertainty avoidance index and the long term orientation (Hofstede, 1991). Where a particular person situates himself in each of these continuums of difference helps to affect how his message is interpreted and judged by those who receive it. As the process repeats itself through every individual who hears the message and then becomes further shaped by their collective discussion regarding this message, a new reality is created. This social cultural impact of constantly mixing and changing concepts has consequently influenced the progress of global public relations strategies and attracted significant research attention that helps us understand not only commercial interests, but personal reactions as well (Chang, 2006). However, for all the good elements that this connectivity offers, it also opens up new problems in communication. Unsurprisingly, values and beliefs are not the same across all cultures which can quickly lead to problems. What makes parents proud in one culture may be incredibly mortifying in another. Marketing studies show that even though consistent messaging was important, it shouldn't be exactly the same message sent to every country and region because of these cultural differences (Sriramesh and Vercic 2003). Although there are some concepts that are relatively the same across all cultures, for example men and women react to messages differently has been proven by Carsky and Zuckerman (1991), there are also some very important, and very deep, differences. Culture is still important to the way that people interpret messages and when those messages are transmitted immediately and perhaps not even with facial expressions or vocal tones to help mitigate the meaning, misunderstandings happen frequently. This is one of the major challenges in trying to find a way to send out one message on your social networking boards that communicates in the same way to everyone you may have made friends with - those who know you face to face and those you've only ever met online. Every society has its own standards and ideas regarding what is acceptable and what is normal. At the same time, social media open up all kinds of new avenues for companies and individuals to exploit the weak or unwary. In 2009, it was reported that more than half of all public relations departments in the United States used social media on a regular basis by engaging in blogging, social networking, or texting (PR News, 2009). It must be admitted that this trend has only continued to grow as now firms are hiring social media experts, people whose job it is to sit and post updates to Facebook statuses and Twitter feeds and respond to followers. There are plenty of people now who are perfectly happy to use the power of social media to strongly influence other peoples' opinions and take advantage of their fears and insecurities. Once an impression of a person or an organization is created, it is relatively easy to get people to trust in the 'brand' that is created. Social media and its associated search tools is making it possible to find these vulnerable people easily just by doing a basic search or by allowing them to find the predator. Enter a search term with a hashtag into a Twitter search bar and suddenly a person has a full list of individuals with a specific concern or interest which can be either irresponsibly used to take advantage of people or responsibly used as in the case of public relations officers attempting to provide high quality, timely customer service to their clients (Knights and Morgan, 1992). While there will likely always be a level of uncertainty between individuals on social media, there is also always the possibility that this relationship can be misunderstood or deliberately manipulated. The concept of social media is a very broad concept that can apply to a number of different technologies both online and material hardware, but they all share a few common characteristics. Social media enables individuals to communicate with each other in real or delayed time across long distances from a wide variety of access points at any time of the day or night. It helps to connect people in often strange ways, grouping them by interests, locations, memories, family ties, political affiliations or through other commonalities. In this way, social media is very beneficial because it helps us all stay in touch with each other. No one has to feel alone because there is always someone else out there. When people are able to find others with shared interests and compare notes, they are able to collectively change the world. For proof of this, one needs look no further than the Arab Spring in 2011. However, social media also has many disadvantages. The things you put up on social media stays there forever and can be viewed by people you may not want to show it to. For example, there are enough differences between cultures that problems can and will arise regarding misunderstood messages and images. What is acceptable and even expected in one setting is completely not acceptable in another. In addition, companies and others can easily prey on the weak and vulnerable by collecting easily obtained information about someone and then making them feel as if they are best friends. People are easily exploited through social media tricks and easily found through social media tools. While social media has many advantages because it can expand your world, opening up all kinds of new possibilities that had never been dreamed of before, it also has many disadvantages since it can destroy lives, retaining better-forgotten information that can forever be used against you. References Boswell, Wendy. (2006). “How the World Wide Web has Changed Society.” About the Internet. Web: http://websearch.about.com/od/whatistheinternet/a/usewww_2.htm Carsky, M.L and Zuckerman, M.E. (1991). Gender Differences in Marketing Communication: A historical analysis. 13(5): 375-85. Chang, C. (2006). Cultural Masculinity/Femininity Influences on Advertising Appeals, 23.6: 315-23. Crosbie, Vin. (April 28, 2006). "What is New Media?" Corante. Web: http://rebuildingmedia.corante.com/archives/2006/04/27/what_is_new_media.php Hofstede, G. (1991). Culture and Organizations: Software of the mind: Intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival. Mc Graw-Hill, [i.p. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] Kluth, Andreas. (April 20, 2006). "Among the Audience." The Economist. Web: http://www.economist.com/node/6794156?story_id=6794156 Knights, D. and G. Morgan. (1991). "Corporate strategy, organization and subjectivity: A critique. Organization Studies. 12: 251-73. Sriramesh, K. and D. Vercic. (2003). The global public relations handbook: Theory, research and practice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Taylor, Chris. (February 24, 2011). "Why not call it a Facebook revolution?" CNN Tech. Web: http://articles.cnn.com/2011-02-24/tech/facebook.revolution_1_facebook-wael-ghonim-social-media?_s=PM:TECH Read More