Influence of Social Media

Social media has taken all of the worlds by the snap of a finger. The influence of social media can be seen worldwide. For any piece of information, people refer to social media, for any updates in their personal lives, people refer to social media as well. It has accumulated the world under an umbrella. So now the world seems to be an even smaller place with the upsurge of social media. A beautiful way to reach out to the maximum number of people, to pass certain information or alerts and updates. The transitional shift that a single social media post can have on a lot of people can be used in numerous ways. A great platform for marketing. When the entire world was curtailed due to the pandemic, it was social media that kept us connected. Age-old friends who are not in touch can be found on various social media platforms. More than dividing people through distance, it has brought them closer together. The only prerequisite is the internet connection, which is available in the remotest regions of the world. But just as many positives, negatives can also be found. Social media has become a platform for fake propaganda, misinformation, and spreading hatred online. After all, it’s a mind game. What you feed is what people consume. It is up to the people as well, but a majority of the population takes what they see at their face value.

Advantages of social media:

• Reach larger audiences: Almost every third person in the world is present on social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, snap chat, Twitter, etc. These sites create greater opportunities for individuals and organizations to grow their business and reach. An excellent platform for marketing purposes. A normal coffee shop near the corner can apply excellent marketing strategies to reach its target audience. A single post is seen by hundreds of thousands of people more than the people who see the corner coffee shop. So, if you wish to implement it to boost your business online as well as offline, social media is the way forward.
• Create organic content: The opportunity to post organic content free of cost is what attracts most companies to market their products online. They are able to connect with valuable leads at no cost. They can post as much content as they wish to, to attract larger audiences. The social media platforms allow you to post pictures, videos, etc, to showcase your products effectively and efficiently.
• Easy access to paid advertising services: If the reach of a new startup is not as expected they have paid advertising companies at their disposal. Paid advertising will help you to connect to the giant business leads you’ve not yet connected to. Another feature is to increase your reach.
• Build your brand: Your brand value on the surface is defined by the reach you have. If you have more followers, you can easily build your brands. Your connectivity to your desired leads will allow you to expose your brand and come up with a collaboration. That’s how you can also build your brand.
• Generate traffic to your website: You can add your website link in your bio, or about, or introduction and can attract larger audiences there. You can post content with a link and your audience can go through that in detail with the help of the provided link. You can post some pieces of the major content on social media such that it leaves your audience on a cliffhanger to see more, and boom! Traffic is here.
• Uncover valuable insights: If you’re a photographer or explorer, you can discover new places and let people know about them. Your discovery will be shared on your feed, your followers will share it on their stories as well and that’s how a wider reach. You can also get to know your audience better so that you can make smart business decisions.
• Share information and updates: You can share information about a lot of things on social media. For example, if you are running a page that is about daily news and information related to geopolitical situations, you can share information based on your analysis. Information is always passed so a wider reach is guaranteed.

Disadvantages of social media:

• Affects an emotional connection: The way you connect to people when you meet them in real life is not there on social media. It seems more like a formality. For example, before the social media upsurge, you remembered to wish people for whatever the occasion was, now it’s more like a superficial conversation, a pop will let you know of the occasion, and an automatic message will be sent. We as humans are lagging in the connection on a social and emotional level.
• Decrease of instant reactions: The quick-witted response is missing due to excessive use of social media. The reaction time, thinking capacity, critical thinking skills, concentration has become a victim of contact social media scrolls. To avoid such a situation we need to limit our screen time.
• Cause distress to another person’s feelings: The unnecessary trolls and comments passed on some people hurt their feelings a lot. We as humans are considerate of other people’s emotions as well. It creates an impact on the mental health of the person being trolled. Avoid such interactions, limit your use of social media, or don’t waste your time reading such comments, post your content, and log out.
• Presence in different domains: When you are at someone’s place, and you scroll social media at that time, you may appear listening to what the other person has to say but you’re mentally somewhere else. That affects your concentration. You lack focus, you lag in your reaction time, and you are not able to process information properly.
• Miss spending quality family time: Since you become so engrossed and indulged in a virtual world, you miss or lack quality time with your family and friends.
• Lack of concentration and thoughtfulness: Social media drains your brains of the power of concentration. You lack decision-making and thoughtfulness. Avoid social media for such reasons because your mental health should be your priority and if not, then make it.

Judicious use of social media is a boon but excess of it is a curse. Social media has transformed connectivity, interactions, and many other things, for free. For free? No. It costs your time. And time is money. You never get to know how much time you spend scrolling online. You could have done something better, or you could’ve indulged in more productive activity. The choice is always on the user. Use it wisely, do not let it operate you.

Also read: Need to keep Mental Health in Check

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

Question: There is a lot of study material available online on social media platforms as well. If I study from that, then also would I be wasting my time?

Answer: Not exactly. But it is better to refer to the online study material for reference and not as a raw material for studies. Because you will open it to study but there are various other distractions available that might take you away from the reason you opened it in the first place.

Question: How to manage social media trolls?

Answer: Do not take them seriously. Switch your social media off for a few days. Never reply, because if you do, they will troll you more than ever. So ignore them.

Question: My brand doesn’t seem to reach as many accounts as I hoped it to. How to make my brand available to a larger audience?

Answer: It takes time to establish a brand. Share it as a post and a story on your feed, you can opt for paid advertisements as well, reach for some collaborations. Give it some time to grow, and it will.