Social Media. Changing Our World For Good Or Bad?

Over the last decade or more, one of the significant inventions of man has been social media. This has become possible due to the wide availability of computers in the world today compared to let say three decades ago. Within the last decade too, the availability of mobile phones with internet connectivity at relatively low prices have helped boost the “social media rise”. Social media can rightly be said to have changed our world forever.

Social media may be defined as websites and applications that enable people communicate with each other over the internet and share content (i.e. Pictures, videos and thoughts). Several social media abounds. The most popular include facebook, twitter, whatsapp and instagram. Other less known ones are flickr, kik, tango, viber, tumblr and pinterest.

The owner of ME Marketing a social media marketing company Edwards (2015) in an article titled “How Social Media Has Changed How We Communicate”, has argued that, “ The internet and social media has drastically changed the way people all over the world interact and communicate. How, you may ask? One of the biggest changes in the way that we interact, due to social media networks, is the sheer number of people that we can interact with.” She further points out that, “In the past, unless you spoke to people directly, you had no way to get your message across regardless of your freedom of speech. Now we can use social media to get our messages out to thousands or even millions of people uncensored”.

The popularity of social media these days means that people over the world even in the poorest regions of the world have access to sign up to any of the social media networks. In the past we could communicate only through mobile phones and telephones, but now social media has presented us with other means of communicating in which you can see the person you are talking to in “real time” anywhere in the world once you have internet connectivity. A lot of people have also turned away from the normal talking to what has become known as “whatsapping” which is a means of texting over the internet. The facebook messenger application also allows people to text each other in real time over the internet rather than using their normal phone text. Texting over the internet has the advantage of being cheaper than the normal text through mobile phone networks and you can also see whether the person you texted has received the message as well as even when they read them.

This change in the way we communicate comes with both positive and negative consequences. Among the positive ways is obviously the comfort and ease with which we can communicate with a lot of people instantly in a short space of time and with just the click of a button. Marketers have also taken advantage of the situation to ensure their products reach a large audience. News also reaches people instantly and quickly without them necessary searching for the news. All one has to do to get news is to follow the twitter page of news website or like the facebook page of a news website. Friends and family also share news and other stories on various social media.

Gordhamer (2009) in his article “5 Ways Social Media is Changing Our Daily Lives” argues that, “It is easier than ever to start and launch a business today, in great part thanks to social media”. This is because according to him, we can meet potential collaborators on social media, as well as investors. We can also use social media to recruit staff by having virtual interviews over skype etc or posting job ads online. Finally, in his own words, “more importantly, social media gives people who have time, but little money for advertising, the chance to engage with others and promote their business”

Social media have also helped marginalized and oppressed people as well as people with shared political interest to organize and protest for their common good. The Arab spring which started in Tunisia and has still not ended in places like Syria all started through social media protestation and organization. Social media was used to organize protesters against the Hosni Mubarak regime in Egypt and also in Jordan a countless number of places in the Arab regions. Again it has been used more recently to show support for France after the terrorist attacks in November as well as when the over two hundred school girls were kidnapped in Nigeria in what came to be known as #BringBackOurGirls with popular celebrities and politicians like Michelle Obama (first lady of USA) and Alicia Keys all joining in the social media campaign.

There is however several negatives associated with the rise in importance of social media today. Social media has negative effects on our relationships and how we interact with people in the real world outside social media. Jung (2015) in his article titled, “The Negative Effect of Social Media on Society and Individuals” reveals that “According to Cornell University's Steven Strogatz, social media sites can make it more difficult for us to distinguish between the meaningful relationships we foster in the real world, and the numerous casual relationships formed through social media”. Seidman (2015) also in his article “How Facebook Affects Our Relationships” also argues in favor of this opinion and claims that, “Facebook can be a source of jealousy and anxiety”, also, “Excessive time on Facebook can harm your relationships”. According to her, “Facebook can create a sense of jealousy, suspicion, and uncertainty for coupled users”.

Also, research has revealed that terrorists and scammers as well as other criminals use social media to communicate amongst themselves and get in touch with their victims. Carmon and Stalinsky (2015) in their article titled “Terrorist Use Of U.S. Social Media Is A National Security Threat” reveal that, UK prime minister in a meeting with the USA president commented that, “Social media and the Internet is the primary way in which these terrorism organizations are communicating” and that “we're still going to have to find ways to make sure that if an Al-Qaeda affiliate is operating in Great Britain or in the United States, that we can try to prevent real tragedy” They further argued that, “ISIS has grasped the effectiveness of social media, culminating in its strategic decision to show the beheading of American journalist James Foley on August 19”.

The literature above thus points to the fact that social media has indeed changed many aspects of our world and our human interactions. Some of these changes have tended to be positive like helping build support for causes of action that will prevent autocracy. Also it has indeed changed the way business is done and has made starting a business quite easier than in the past. People have also found their spouses through social media and long lost friends and family have been reunited through social media. Some of the changes have also tended to be negative like social media facilitating terrorist organizations and having negative effects on relationships.

The conclusion one can draw therefore is that social media has positively impacted our lives and has changed our world for the better. This is because prior to the social media “craze”, criminals still found ways to engage in their activities. A case in point is what has come to be known as the 9/11 terrorist attack in the USA which occurred before social media became as prominent as it is today. One may even say that if social media was prominent at the time, as the plane approached the World Trade Center, someone through social media could have alerted occupants to flee or security agencies to shoot the plane down. This is because, as earlier stated, social media allows one person to communicate with thousands, and even millions of people at the same time by just the click of a button. Again people always cheated on their spouses and feelings of jealousy among spouses existed even before the advent of the internet let alone social media.

The full potential of social media still exists to be realized and if agencies in charge of cyber security can cut down the number of cases of cyber bullying, as well as preventing terrorist organizations to use social media to recruit and spread their propaganda, then social media can be a real force for social mobilization, political awareness, news availability, business promotion and relationship builder. Social media remains the real time “tool” that is truly turned our world into a global village.

The Author Albert Opare is a political science graduate from the University of Ghana and a social commentator as well as a social & political activist. You can contact the author by mail on [email protected] or txt on 0575125101. Comments and Criticisms are welcome

References
Carmon, Y. and Stalinsky, S. (2015). Terrorist Use Of U.S. Social Media Is A National Security Threat. Retrieved 13^th December, 2015. From http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2015/01/30/terrorist-use-of-u-s-social-media-is-a-national-security-threat/

Edwards, M. (2015). How Social Media Has Changed How We Communicate. Retrieved 13^th December, 2015. From http://millennialceo.com/social-media/social-media-changed-communicate/

Gordhamer, S. (2009). 5 Ways Social Media is Changing Our Daily Lives. Retrieved 13^th December, 2015. From http://mashable.com/2009/10/16/social-media-changing-lives/#MP42aSBrQsqN

Jung, B. (2015). The Negative Effect of Social Media on Society and Individuals. Retrieved 13^th December, 2015. From http://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-effect-social-media-society-individuals-27617.html

Seidman, G. (2015). How Facebook Affects Our Relationships. Retrieved 13^th December, 2015. From https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/close-encounters/201505/how-facebook-affects-our-relationships