The Impacts of Social Media

The impacts of Social Media are multidimensional.  In the modern world, Social media has become an integral part of people’s lives. Apart from networking people from around the globe, it has become the most important source of breaking news. People no longer wait for the television to broadcast or the newspaper the print the news. In the age of social media, people can access  news from all over the world through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter etc, where news is spread all over the world with just a single click, in moments. (Amin & Thrift, 1995)

One of the boons of Social media is the increased level of interaction between people from various cultural and geographical backgrounds. McLuhan and Powers (1989) stated that with the advent of social networks, people are able to keep in touch with each other at their convenience irrespective of their geographical barriers. In simpler terms Social media has diminished the time and space constraints.

Apart from the social influences, Social media has had its fair share of influence in the field of politics as well. Ranging from the Iran elections, and Obama’s reelection for a second term as US President, and political unrests in Egypt, social media has transformed several political landscapes as well. (Grossman, 2009)

Further, social media has also rendered its invaluable contribution towards education and promoting the importance of literacy. Through the means of regular social networking, children often develop better communication skills and are often perceived to be more aware of their surroundings. With the growth of ICTs and the Internet, information is now readily available on a wide range of topics, which arms the users with facilities like never before.

Finally, Social media has also changed the dynamics of marketing as more and more companies are now inclined to communicating directly with their consumers than spend all their resources trying to produce advertisements on TV. Direct communication with the customers has helped them understand the needs of the people better making the marketing policies much more acceptable and consumer-centered. (Gefeb & Straub, 2004)

 

References

• Amin, A., and Thrift, N., eds., 1995. Globalization, Institutions, and Regional Development in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Gefeb,D., and Straub, D. W., 2004. Consumer trust in B2C e-Commerce and the importance of social presence: experiments in e-Products and e-Services. Omega. 32 (6), pp. 407-424.
• Grossman,L., 2009. Iran's Protests: Why Twitter Is the Medium of the Movement. TIME. [PDF] [Online] Available at: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/classes/AY2011/cs4001_summer/documents/Time-Iran-Twitter.pdf [Accessed 10 December 2013]
• McLuhan, M. and Powers, B. R., 1989. The Global Village: Transformations in World Life and Media in the 21^st Century.New York: Oxford University Press.