Social media is a computer-based technology that facilitates the sharing of ideas, thoughts, and information through various digital networks and communities. Social media is internet based electronic communication of content. Content includes personal information, videos & photos. Social media term is combination of two terms i.e.
‘Social’ part means interacting with other people by sharing information with them & receiving info from them.
‘Media’ part means instruments of communication like T.V., radio, newspaper, Facebook, Instagram & others.
“Social media are web-based communication tools that enable people to interact with each other by sharing and consuming information.”
Different modes of Social Media
- Social Networks: A social networking site is a social media site that connects people who have similar interests and backgrounds. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are three of the most popular examples of a social network website.
- Bookmarking Sites: Bookmarking sites gives access to users to save links of online resources and websites. A great feature of these sites is that user can use these links anytime whenever they want to use it & also share with their followers e.g. Pinterest.
- Social News: A social news site allows users to post news links and other items to external articles. On different types of news, people give different reactions. Which items gets highest votes and views that get displayed on social sites more.
- Media Sharing: It allows users to share different types of media. They are also offering feature like creating their own profiles & option of comments on uploaded image or content. It enhances the creativity in people. It is very useful platform to publish anything & make available it for people e.g. YouTube etc.
- Microblogging: It allows user to post their short stories. They post them on accounts of their followers account so that they can read it and can comment on it. Example of this media is Twitter. These may include some tweets, hashtags, mentions & links etc. When you microblog using Twitter, your updates are seen by all users who have chosen to “follow” you.
- Blog Comments & Forums: An online forum is a site that allows users to engage in conversations by posting and responding to community messages. A blog comment site is a little more focused. The comments are usually centered around the specific subject of the attached blog. This is also important source of social media.
- Social Review Sites: There are many sites which providing reviews about any products or services. Users let know in advance about that products before proceeding further. Example of this is Quora, TripAdvisor and Foursquare. This keeps people out of the dark and allows them to make better planning or decisions. Both the good and bad, this can help them to identify what’s working and also finding out areas which requires for improvement.
- Community Blogs: As we know that every community has their own principles. So, Blog is very good platform where one community member can create a separate blog & all community member have right to express their thoughts and voice on posted things e.g. Tumblr. The Community Blog gives bloggers the opportunity to make a name and brand for themselves in the business analysis profession.
Bad Effects of Social Media
- Cyber bullying : Cyber bullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. It can include sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or humiliation. It takes over digital devices like cell phones, computers & tablets. It is called unlawful & criminal behavior.
- Hacking: Personal data and privacy can easily be hacked and shared on the Internet. Which can make financial losses and loss to personal life which is called identity theft. Many personal twitter & Facebook accounts get hacked in past and effect the individual’s life. It is very dangerous disadvantage of the social media.
- Addiction: Social media is very addictive which in return disturb personal life as well. The young generation is mostly affected by this. They get involved very easily & cut off themselves from society. It can also waste individual time that can be utilized in better way.
- Fraud & Scams: There are Several examples available where individuals have scammed and commit fraud through the social media. This becomes a very easy source for Scammer to targeting the common people.
- Security Issues: Now a day’s security agencies have access to people personal accounts which makes the privacy almost compromised. You never know when anyone visit your profile and do enquiry on it.
- Health Issue: The excess usage of social media can also have a negative impact on the health. Since exercise is the key to lose weight, most of the people get lazy because of the excessive use of social networking sites. Which in result brings disorder in the routine life.
Conclusion: Social media has grown tremendously in the last few years. On the other hand, it has also affected the society in the negative way. Just like anything which can be used for both good and bad, social media have also provided the negative and positive ways for the people. It is all about the usage and getting things done positively by using the power of social media.