Impact of social media on society
“Do you have Facebook?”
“Yes, of course. But I don’t think you’ll be able to find me, as there are too many people who have the same first name as me. Try searching with my last name as well.”
“Hey, you celebrated your birthday at K-Box, right? I saw the photos on your Facebook.”
“Brother, I saw your comments on the YouTube video that I posted on my blog. I’m happy that you are also deeply moved by the ‘Dancing Peacock Man’.”
Social media or “social networking” has almost become a part of our daily lives and has been shaken up in recent years. It’s like any other medium, like newspapers, radio and television, but it’s much more than just sharing information and ideas. Social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and blogs have made it easier to create and share ideas faster and more widely than conventional media. The power to define and control a brand is shifting from corporations and institutions to individuals and communities. It’s no longer the 5Cs (eg condo, credit cards and car) that Singaporeans once talked about. Today, it’s all about the new C’s: creativity, communication, connection, creation (of new ideas and products), community (of shared interests), collaboration, and (changing the game of) competition.
In January 2010, InSites Consulting conducted an online survey of 2,884 consumers from over 14 countries between the ages of 18-55 on social media. More than 90% of the participants know of at least 1 social networking site and 72% of the participants are members of at least 1 social networking site. On average, people have about 195 friends and connect to social networking sites twice a day. However, 55% of users cannot access their social networking websites at work. In the past, not many adults could make more than 500 friends, but with social media, even a child or teenager can meet more than 500 people in a few days with the click of a mouse. Social networks have devalued the traditional definition of “friend” where it means trust, support, compatible values, etc. Although we get to know more people, we cannot build a strong bond with all the people we meet since our available time is limited. So there is a coming social trend of people with larger social circles, but weaker ties (people we don’t know very well but who provide us with useful information and ideas).
Social networks also influence people’s buying behaviors. Digital Influence Group reported that 91% of people say consumer reviews are the #1 aid to purchasing decisions and 87% trust a friend’s recommendation over a reviewer’s review. They are three times more likely to rely on the opinions of their peers about advertising for purchasing decisions. 1 word of mouth conversation has an impact of 200 television ads. With the prevalence of social media use, there are numerous news stories related to it, from the most-viewed YouTube video on “Armless Pianist Wins ‘China’s Got Talent'” to cases of Internet-assisted suicide (for example, a college student from New Jersey who committed suicide after a video of him in a sexual encounter with another man was posted online). So, does social media make us better or worse as a society?
Positive effects of social networks
In addition to having the opportunity to meet many people quickly and easily, social media has also helped teens who have physical or social mobility restrictions to build and maintain relationships with their friends and family. Children who go abroad to study can still maintain meaningful contact with their parents. To a greater extent, there is anecdotal evidence of positive results from these technologies.
In 2008, President-elect Obama won the election by effectively using social media to reach millions of viewers or voters. Obama’s campaign generated and distributed a large amount of content and messages through email, SMS, social media platforms and his website. Obama and his campaign fully understood the fundamental social need we all share: the need to be “who we are.” Therefore, the campaign feels the message as “Because it’s about YOU” and chose the right form of media to connect with people, call for action and create a community for a social movement. They encouraged citizens to share their voices, hold house discussion parties, and organize their own campaign meetings. It really changed the delivery of the political message.
The Obama campaign had made 5 million “friends” on more than 15 social networking sites (3 million friends on Facebook itself) and posted nearly 2,000 YouTube videos that were viewed more than 80 million times. At its peak, his website, MyBarackObama.com, had 8.5 million monthly visitors and produced 400,000 blog posts. To make sure people found their content, the Obama campaign spent $3.5 million on Google search in October alone, $600,000 on Advertising.com, $467,000 on Facebook in 2008, etc. Currently, Obama’s Twitter account has close to 6 million followers.
In 2010, after the earthquake in Haiti, many of the official communication lines were down. The rest of the world could not get the full picture of the situation there. To facilitate information sharing and make up for the lack of information, social media was very helpful in reporting the news around the affected area about what happened and what help was needed. Tweets from many people provided an impressive overview of the ongoing events of the earthquake. The BBC covered the event by combining tweets from its reporter Matthew Price’s work in Port-au-Prince on the ground. The Guardian live blog also used social media along with information from other news organizations to report on the rescue mission.
It’s been two years since CNN officially launched iReport as a section of its website where people can upload video material, complete with contact information. During the Haiti crisis, CNN had posted a variety of material on social media, but not all of the material was verified. The editorial team would examine reports by citizen journalists and label them differently compared to unverified content. On Facebook, a group, called “Earthquake Haiti”, was formed to show support and share updates and news. It had more than 14,000 members and some users even asked for help for injured Haitians in the group. Using email, Twitter and social networking sites like Facebook, thousands of volunteers as part of the Ushahidi Project were able to map reports submitted by people from Haiti.
The most impressive part of the impact of social media in Haiti is the charitable text message donations that totaled over $10 million for the victims in Haiti. People interested in helping victims are encouraged to text, tweet, and publicize their support through various social networking sites. The Global Philanthropy Group had also started a campaign asking wealthy individuals and celebrities, such as Ben Stiller and John Legend, to use Twitter and Facebook to encourage others to donate to UNICEF. One aid worker, Saundra Schimmelpfennig, allowed advice from other aid workers and donors to be posted on her blog regarding choosing which charities to support. Meanwhile, donors were asking questions on Twitter, Facebook and blogs about their donations and sponsorships of their favorite charities. After every crisis, social media for social causes becomes a more effective means of getting the word out.
Negative effects of social networks
There are always two sides of every coin. Social media is just a tool or a medium for people to use. It is still up to users how to use this tool (just like a knife, it can help you cut food or hurt others). The Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center conducted a study on “The Future of Socializing Online” of a diverse and highly engaged set of respondents to an online survey of participation Voluntary forum consisting of 895 stakeholders and tech critics. . Negative effects reported by respondents included that time spent online steals time from important face-to-face relationships; The Internet fosters mostly superficial relationships; the act of taking advantage of the Internet to participate in a social connection exposes private information; The Internet allows people to isolate themselves, which limits their exposure to new ideas; and the Internet is being used to breed intolerance.
Some respondents also highlighted that there will be development of some new psychological and medical syndromes that will be “variations of depression caused by lack of quality meaningful relationships” and a “new world society”. The term, “Social Networks”, has begun to trick users into believing that they are social creatures. For example, spending a couple of hours using Farmville and chatting with friends at the same time doesn’t turn into social skills. People become dependent on technology and forget how to socialize in a face-to-face context. A person’s online personality can be totally different from their offline character, causing chaos when the two personalities meet. It is evident in online dating when the couple meets face to face for the first time. Their written profiles do not clearly represent their real life personas. It is more tempting for people to write something that others want to hear than to tell the truth.
In addition to “friendship,” social networking site creators and users are redefining the term “privacy” on the Internet as well. The challenge in data privacy is sharing data while protecting personally identifiable information. Almost all information posted on social networking sites is permanent. Every time someone posts photos or videos on the web, it goes viral. When the user deletes a video from their social network, someone may have saved it and then posted it on other sites like YouTube. People post photos and video files on social networking sites without thinking, and the files can reappear at the worst possible time. In 2008, a video circulated of a group of ACJC students hazing a student at school on her birthday and another video of an SCDF recruit being “welcomed” (was doused with water and tarred with shoe polish) to a local fire station. your way online.
A lot of news has been reported about online privacy violation on Facebook and Facebook is constantly reviewing its privacy policy and changing its privacy controls for users. Interestingly, even when users delete their personal information and deactivate their Facebook account, Facebook will still retain that information and continue to use it for data extraction. A reporter asked if the data will at least be anonymous. The Facebook representative declined to comment.
In the corporate world, hiring managers can access Facebook or MySpace to learn a candidate’s true colors, especially when job seekers don’t set their profiles to private. Research has found that nearly half of employers have turned away a potential worker after finding incriminating material on their Facebook pages. Some employers have also checked the online details of candidates on Facebook pages to see if they are lying about their qualifications. Today, the younger generations have a total disregard for their own privacy, opening doors for unwanted predators or stalkers.