The Effect of Social Media on Society - Term Paper Example

The Effect of Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) on Society Introduction Social media is the medium through which communication is carried out using the internet and which also involves the usage of technology such as the internet. Around the world there are different companies or organizations that are well known for social media. These include Twitter, Face book, YouTube, My Space and other such companies. Social media websites are used by individuals for various purposes. For example there might be an individual who wants to stay in touch with his friends or family members, so he or she can use such web sites and then stay in touch with them. Similarly, there might b people who use these websites to express their feelings by updating statuses. This show that these sites are really beneficial and can be used for various reasons whether it’s related to business purposes even. The Positive Side of Social Media The social media has a lot of advantages and it for this reason it has influenced our lives to a greater extent. Let’s say there is an individual who has a business idea, but he does not have the required amount or money to set up a layout of the business physically. Such individuals use their creative thinking abilities and they make great use of the social media to promote their businesses. Now easily businesses could be launched using WebPages such as Face book and other related sites. This shows that these sites have positively influenced our lives and has contributed a lot to the society. If we carefully analyze these sites and its importance then we come to know that these websites they contribute a lot to the economic sector of a country and help the young entrepreneurs to launch their business ideas much faster as compared to other processes. Many top companies around the world have established and developed social media pages that they use to communicate with the customers. Through such pages the customers come to know about the latest products or services that are going to be launched by the company. Similarly social media plays and important and a pivotal role in the lives of individuals by enabling them to stay in touch with their friends and family members. For example millions of people have created accounts in these social media websites, if there is person who is extrovert and who wants to stay in touch with his best mates and family members then these sites are the best means to use. Friends could be easily searched by name and added to the lists. Similarly the sharing of photos and videos enables the users to experience more joy. These social media sites also help individuals to cope up with their stress we could say or we could say that if an individual wants to relax a bit from the busy schedules of life then social media is the best option for him or her. These sites allow users to play games in various forms. One thing must be noted and kept in mind that the games that these sites offer are unique in nature and are not offered generically by everyone. Similarly, if an individual is in a good mood then he or she can also use these sites to listen to some good music. You could develop your own themes. Those people who are extrovert and want to make new friends, these sites are again the best options for them as people from different parts of the world come to together on a single platform and interact with each other and try to make new friends. One important feature these sites offer is the linking of mobile phones with these sites. It means that if you always want to know about the latest updates on your social media account, then an individual could easily create a link between his mobile phone and his social media account, this process would enable the users to stay in touch with those who are on the list with him. These social media sites which are a part of the social media arena gives the individuals a chance also to use their exciting applications, which are hard to implement in a physical world. Over the social media sites users could use some cool and exciting applications. Some people claim and believe that the social media world is purely virtual. They believe that these virtual worlds would expand and create new and exciting products. For example over these sights an individual could easily stay in touch with his family or friends, but along with it we can tag their photos and videos as well. Games and other exciting applications could also be used altogether, so this shows that these sites offer a different mode of comfort to the users. The usage of social media also allows us to follow our motives. For example if there is an individual and is contesting against different candidates in elections, so the social media sites could highly be used for communication purposes to stay in touch with the supporters and the fans. In terms of coverage it also gives us an important idea. If individuals used let’s assume other modes such as television etc then it would have been much costly to communicate with the fans or supporters as compared to these social media sites. Issues related to Social Media and the psychology. There are also some issues that are related to these social media sites which are a part of the social media arena. Keeping in mind the affordability factors, not every one in every corner of the world own a computer. So this means and gives us an idea that not every gets the privilege to use these sites. On the other hand social media sites and other means related to social media are simply considered as wastage of time. Many experts claim and believe that these sites are of no use and thus a simple psychological effect on the users. For example if there are fans of a particular celebrity, so the fans could easily follow them on these social media sites and stay up-to-date about them. This shows a psychological bondage which is created over here. We must also keep in mind that as social media plays an important role in the society, messages and communication irrelevant or unethical could also be communicated to different individuals which could create many problems. These problems vary in structure. One other factor must also be noted. If companies want to promote their products or services then they will have to concentrate on the coverage issues, such as in developing countries or under developed countries many people still do not use these sites . Conclusion Social media has had a profound influence on the mind of every individual, if it’s negatively or positively. However, it is up to the users of the social media tools to concentrate on the advantages and disadvantages of these social media tools. We as individuals must also keep in mind that it is our duty to contribute towards the social media tools and applications as it has a direct relationship with us. Contributions in terms of innovations, in terms of systems and controls, by systems and controls we mean that proper control or monitoring systems must be implemented so as to make sure positive results are produced. Once implemented a lot of changes could then be brought in this arena keeping in mind the agendas of the society. Work Cited. Agichtein, Eugene, et al. "Finding high-quality content in social media."Proceedings of the international conference on Web search and web data mining. London: ACM, 2008. Print. ‎ Gilbert, Eric, and Karrie Karahalios "Predicting tie strength with social media, "Proceedings of the 27th international conference on Human factors in computing systems. London: ACM, 2009. Print. Gillin, Paul, The new influencers: A marketer's guide to the new social media. NY: Quill Driver Books/Word Dancer Press, 2007 Print. ‎ Shirky, Clay. "Political Power of Social Media-Technology, the Public Sphere Sphere, and Political Change, The " Foreign Aff. 90 (2011): 28. Print. ‎ Read More