Social Media and Society

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Social Media and Society
Dr.Sudha Pandeya
Guru Nanak College ,B,Ed. Wing
Dhanbad.
Abstract
Media is an instrument of communication like newspaper or radio. So, social media would be a social
instrument of communication. It is different from traditional media because it enables the users to
two-way communication. It gives an equal opportunity to every community members for content
creation. Therefore, it can be said that social media has converted a common man to the consumer
as well as the producer of the content. Social media includes internet, twitter, facebook pages,
youtube videos, blogposts, certain webpages and in the extreme case, the entire websites. These web
sources have been blamed for containing hate speeches intended to hurt people based on their races,
gender, age, religions, disabilities, language, ideologies, occupations and even some traits of
personalities. In order to check the propaganda on social media, government agencies banned
various websites on the internet which created a lot of controversies. But the traditional media is also
losing its credibility with the use of words like breaking news', 'sensational news' etc. However, social
media has become more democratic and reliable. But there should be mechanism to curb rumours
and propaganda which harm the society. Right to expression is not an absolute right of any country
and it is subject to reasonable restrictions. The government should frame objective definitions of
objectionable information and laws to check the same. This could only happen if the government
becomes open to change and devises an intelligent strategy wherein it does not ignore the value of
democratic opinion of people on the internet and at the same time it checks the spread of unwanted
elements from the internet.
Introduction-
Social media is different from traditional media in many aspects such as quality,
reach, frequency, usability, immediacy and permanence. It enables two way
communications to the user. It gives an equal opportunity to every community
member for content creation. Therefore, it can be said that social media has
converted a common man to the consumer as well as producer of the content.
Social media includes internet, twitter, face book, blog posts, YouTube videos, Quora,
certain WebPages and in some cases entire websites.
The purpose of social media is to promote and aid communication. However, such
technology is doing much harm than good. Sarah Zay of U.S.A. TODAY stated that-
"With the rise of websites such as face book, social networking may be on the verge
of replacing the traditional personal interaction for the next generation.'
Social media has become a part and parcel of everyday life. No one can imagine life
without face book or twitter. It has brought us closer to other parts of the world. We
can contact anyone around the world, share elements of our lives.
We can become a part of that person's life who was previously not known to us. It
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has made likeminded people to discuss important topics. It can also be used as
awareness campaigns.
The contribution of social media can be listed as follows-
1. It is a forum for support and safety information during crisis - There have
been several recent disasters during which social media provided only viable
venue for communication like superstorm Sandy, Kedarnath tragedy , most
people did not have power but some cell networks and WiFi towers were still
operational.
2. It is a valuable aid for crime solving - It helps Police Department to nab the
gangsters and their masters who keep boasting about violent criminal activity
on social media.
3. It is a forum of political influence - It has given true voice to the people. Some
months ago, the rally for marriage equality spread throughout social platform
as Supreme Court heard cases regarding same sex marriages. The Supreme
Court still has not reached a decision in the ongoing debate, but justices are
aware of public opinion.
4. It is the best way to connected across vast -It enables one to connect with
people of different countries and take a glimpse into their life without being
physically present there.
5. It revolutionized the brand engagement- Social media has transformed
marketing industry. Kelsey Report says social media ad revenue will reach
$11billion by 2017. Brands have the ability to personally engage with
customers like never before and it's showing in sales.
6. With the growth of social media influencing consumer preferences and
purchase decisions through online social networks is an increasingly
important part of every marketer's job. Companies such as Dell, e-Bay are
adopting the traditional one-way message and using it as a stepping stone to
begin a two-way dialogue with consumer via social media. Marketers know
that theoretically social media should be a powerful way to generate
sustainable, positive word of mouth marketing. If marketers can only select
the right message and engage the right users to spread that message, their
campaign should be a success. But until now that is a big 'IF'.
Discussion-
Face book as social media: - The facebook usage has seen explosive growth.
Facebook users are primarily motivated by three desires-


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1. To voyeuristically peep into other's life.
2. To create a distinctive identity for themselves.
3. To act on their inner narcissistic tendencies.
Social network such as facebook was created with sole purpose of helping
individuals to communicate along with other reasons. There are many situations that
do not allow the use of telephones.
People of all age group are facebook addicted. This is an unproductive addiction
which is wasting time and energy of people.
Twitter as social media- People who do not use twitter tend to write it off what can
you say 140 characters. In fact, the richness that twitters packs into its tiny updates
is amazing. It has caught on because it's free, it's open and it connects people and
gives them power. Twitter has become a key part of reporting on and extending
activity in everything from blogs to social network and given twitter users an
outsized level of influence. It can be turned into a potent force for connecting with
people for listening, talking, energizing, supporting and embracing. McDonald had
used twitter to accomplish all of its social media goals. Twitter has recently been
used for making racist remarks on Indian origin girl Nina Davulur winning Miss
America title. Such use of twitter is harmful for the society.
Social media for strategy focused organisation - Social media are useful for more
than just social connectivity and entertainment. Political revolutionaries are using
social net work to topple regimes e.g. Tunisia, Egypt. Not only this, angry customers
can launch social media campaign against organizations e.g. the Dell Hell blog
Blog posts as social media - Blogs are usually the work of a single individual,
occasionally of small group and often covered a single subject. Many blogs function
as personal online diaries, other function as online brand advertising of a particular
company. Most blogs are primarily textual although some focus on art, photographs,
music and videos, Blogs are also used as a medium of news dissemination.
Bloggers sometimes lead the way in bringing key information to public light. Blogs
were the driving forces behind the Rathergate Scandal. Dan Rathergate presented
documents that conflicted with accepted accounts of President Bush's military
records. Bloggers declared the documents to be forgeries and presented evidences
and arguments in support of that view. This scandal was the advent of blogs
acceptance by mass media both as a news source and opinion and as a means of
applying political pressure.
You Tube as social media - It is a video sharing website on which users can upload
views and share videos. Most of the content of You Tube have been uploaded by
individuals although some media corporations also offer some materials .lt is said
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that roughly 60 hours of new videos are uploaded to the site every minute. It is the
third most visited website on internet behind Google and Facebook. But sometimes
it is used to post hate speeches and some offensive material for some races.
Access to You Tube was blocked in Turkey during 2008-2010 following the
controversy over the posting of videos deemed insulting to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
You Tube is not for posting silly video of sleepwalking dogs and other embarrassing
moments. It can be used for benefitting the society.It can be used to show off our
knowledge, market the products, for teaching public speaking skills, and conduct an
interview with expert.
Quora as social media - Quora is the best source of knowledge. Here one can ask
any question and get real answers from the people with firsthand experience. It is a
decent question-answer website created, edited and organized by its community of
users. Quora users can upvote or downvote answers. They can also suggest edits of
existing answers provided by other users. But by default Quora exposes its user's
profile including their personal names so privacy of user is not maintained which is
not socially viable.
Conclusion -
Right to expression is not absolute right of any country. And it is subject to
reasonable restrictions .The web-sources like internet, twitter facebook pages,
youtube videos etc have been blamed for containing hate speeches intended to hurt
people based on their races, gender age, religions, language, ideologies, occupations
and even some traits of personalities.
In order to check the propaganda on social media, government agencies banned
various websites on the internet which created a lot of controversies. But the
traditional media is also losing its credibility with the use of words like 'BREAKING
NEWS', 'Sensational news 'etc. However, social media has become more democratic
and reliable. But there should be mechanism to curb rumours and propaganda which
harm the society. The government should frame objective definitions of
objectionable information and laws to check them. This could only happen if the
government becomes open to change and devise intelligent strategy wherein it does
not ignore the value of democratic opinion of people on the internet at the same time
it checks the spread of unwanted elements from the internet.
Overuse of social media will affect our communication, self-expression, bullying,
isolation friendship and humanity in a negative way. There is nothing that can
substitute for personal interaction .Overuse of social media must be checked for the
sake of our future generation and upliftment of society. Overindulgence in social
media is making our future generation self-centered, unhealthy due to sedentary
habit, unsocial, non-cooperative, lazy, without creativity. 



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people to be more vocal about their personal lives which reduce the privacy.
Addiction to social media is decreasing the productivity and its misuse is harming
the society.
References-
www.hbr.org.
www.halfmantr.com
www.wikipedia.com
www.google.co.in