Social media has rapidly evolved over the last decade. With the first email sent in the 1970’s, social media has since taken over. What has been interesting for me is the way that different age groups and generations use social media. I, along with the rest of society, have been trying to figure it out. It’s the topic of conversation throughout the world. What’s the deal with social media? How is it useful for me? How does it affect business? What is the future of social media? These are all questions that I hope to be able to answer by the end of this course. Social media is not just a trend; it is the future of our culture.
Upon entering the business world, I want to be well informed on how best to use social media. I believe that many people have not had a formal education on social media and its effects on business and society as a whole. This leads people to be misled and make assumptions about social media that might not necessarily be true.
The topic of debate has been: is social media good or bad? As with everything, there are different perspectives and sides to the argument. I believe that it is in between and cannot be considered good or bad. It depends on how you use it or abuse it.
THE GOOD
Connections
It is an easy and convenient way to stay connected to people. People are able to maintain strong relationships with others that are far away, that they are unable to meet personally. After graduating from high school and college, I have friends in all different parts of the country. Social media allows my friends and I to easily keep each other updated on our lives. People are also able to meet and connect with others that share the same interests.
Information Sharing
Information is more accessible through social media. News gets to people faster and people are able to keep up with what is going on in the world. In addition, people are able to voice their opinions to a large audience.
Businesses
Social media is useful for businesses in promoting their products and/or services. Businesses are able to get customer feedback through social media to better align their products and/or services with customer needs. They can reach an audience that they previously were not able to and get their brand out there. Employees are able to connect and share information across the business.
THE BAD
Addiction
To some, social media runs their lives. They are constantly checking all of their accounts for the latest updates. It distracts them from their schoolwork and/or jobs. People are more concerned with what their friends are doing on social media rather than on their obligations in their careers or school life.
Isolation
Face to face interaction and traditional relationships has been replaced with online interactions. People hide behind their computers or phones and isolate themselves. They are losing their social skills due to social media.
Good general overview of pros and cons of social media today. While I definitely agree that social media use can get to the point of addiction and isolation, I think these cases are the outliers, rather than the norm. I certainly know people that constantly “check in” on Foursquare the minute they arrive somewhere, or automatically tweet about who they are hanging out with. However, I think social media is just another aspect of our lives that needs to be used in moderation. I love checking my Facebook and Twitter while bored with extra time before class, for example, but I was taught my manners way before I created social media accounts. I still know when it is inappropriate to pull out my phone or use my accounts while having a conversation with someone. I think it is getting too common for people to assume social media is ruining face-to-face communication. I still have in-person conversations and interactions with the people that are important to me; I don’t speak in 140 character responses nor do I think my communication abilities are deteriorating with every News Feed refresh. I think it’s just one of those things where people need to recognize and be more aware of when to turn their phone off and wait to check their accounts.
I very much appreciate your perspectives on the positives and negatives, and that will be a key focus of the class. I suspect your views of them will become more nuanced as you think more deeply about it. For instance, “connections” is a far more complex process, if you think about the people you might NOT want to connect with (ex boyfriends, parents in some circumstances, bosses in others). I think the ease of connections is very much a double edged sword. Nevertheless, nice post, and I hope you’ll keep thinking about these pros and cons as you continue to understand social media more deeply.
I enjoyed this blog. A lot of points you touched on are things I constantly wonder about. I agree that social media is great for sharing information such a world news etc. and useful to businesses for promotion and feedback. Its interesting that you say that social media can help maintain strong relationships with people that are far away. I find my self thinking about this constantly. How strong are the relationships that depend on social media? I guess if you are facebook messaging back and forth and having in depth conversations it can help maintain a relationship (but is that any different than email?). I think the majority of the time these people you are trying to stay connected with are just checking out your pictures, writing happy birthday on you wall, sending you a snap chat, or reading a few tweets. Maybe its me (I’m not that active with social media) and other people do actually use it to TRULY stay connected with friends (I hope that is the case). The last point about people losing social skills and not interacting face to face is another thing that scares me about social media. And what about online dating sites? Its scary to think that all interactions could be done over the internet in the future.
I’m curious to know – where do you come down on all of this? In general, do you find that the societal positives of social media outweigh the negatives, or vice versa? Is it all just a matter of perspective?