Social Media As A Powerful Tool

Technology grows everyday. We see technological advancements everywhere throughout the world, whether it is a new phone being released, a new computer being invented, or a new scientific experiment used in the medical field. Technology is constantly expanding, and with this expansion, we must ask ourselves one question: do we rely too heavily on technology? When discussing technology, there are limits and fine lines between using and abusing these technologies that are at hand, but as we discover these limits and ask ourselves this question, we look at the generation of fresh adults in our local area who are entering college and the growth of social media within this generation. Undoubtedly, young Americans utilize social media everyday whether

“Social media platforms held the promise of being more egalitarian and democratic than mass media in a sense that all users could equally participate and contribute content” (Dijck & Poell, 6). This explains a basic purpose of social media that remains consistent with the democratic values of freedom that the U.S. is founded upon by providing citizens with a platform where they are free to speak their mind. What makes this even more interesting is the ability for people to share their opinions on a stage that has relatively no geographical boundaries. Rather than restricting the spread of individuals’ beliefs, social networking sites help spread messages and information to anyone, faster than was previously possible. According to Dijck and Poell, “social media platforms seldom deal with ‘natural’ geographically or demographically delineated audiences; instead, they expedite connections between individuals, partly allowing the formation of strategic alliances or communities through users’ initiative” (Dijck & Poell, 8). Social networking sites are naturally designed to increase connectivity and interactions among individuals with common interests or beliefs. The idea of connectivity has significantly influenced the way in which protests are held in America and around the world.

Nowadays, social media is practically a staple in everyone’s lives. While some use it solely to stay in touch with friends or family, others wouldn’t even know the latest of current events if they didn’t have their phone notifying them that their friends are talking about it. The Internet and social media have bred a new generation of socially-aware people which has given them a platform to learn and share on. Because this generation’s growth is largely-based online and through technology, it has formed a new brand of social activism. While some feel social media has made it too easy to claim a movement or position, others believe that it is what we need to spread a message

Older generations don’t realize how much technology has affected this generation of teenagers, along with the social media that comes along with the technology. As stated in “How Social Media Changed Teens’ Lives Forever”; “Negative posts or comments also can do great damage to a teen’s self-esteem.” (Ashley Black, Thomas Atseff and Colleen Kaveney) While many parents think social media is just a way to connect with others, many teenagers take it for granted. For example, “quitting social media because it made her miserable and obsessed with appearing perfect online”, is what a teenager felt about social media and what it has done to her. Though many think that social media is a great way to connect, teenagers take it to another level.

At its core, Tumblr is a blogging center. Each user can set up their own personal blog to post their original content including text, quotes, hyperlinks, photos, videos, audio files, or GIFs. Because of the wide range of posting abilities, Tumblr attracts several different types of aspiring atsits such as musicians, writers, designers, and painters. The users of Tumblr are able to “reblog” posts onto their pages and add their own additional comments. Tumblr posts can also include hashtags that other people can search for content using this hashtag. Generally, successful Tumblr users decided a specific focus to develop their blog around.

In the article “The Case for Social Media and Hashtag Activism” Sabina Khan-Ibarra makes the statement “As an activist, I saw social media as an opportunity to spread the word about various causes at a faster rate, and to a bigger number of people, than through traditional methods.” This is the main reason I believe that social media is extremely useful for activism, in mere seconds, your message can be reached by millions upon millions of people.

The term “social media” refers to the wide range of Internet-based and mobile services that allow users to participate in online exchanges, contribute user-created content, or join online communities (Dewing). It has become common today to use applications such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to express and share your thoughts, opinions, and common interest. In Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted, writer Malcolm Gladwell touches upon the issues of social media’s role in activism vs. the traditional way of becoming a true activist Many of us today use these social networks for its beneficial approach to attract users and acquaintances to support their cause or

He consisted of a trillion, trillion, trillion ageless bodies, each in its place, each resting quiet and incorruptible, each cared for by perfect automatons, equally incorruptible, while the minds of all the bodies freely melted one into the other, indistinguishable.” The unification of human minds in “The Last Question” can be paralleled with how our minds come together on the Internet through social media. Although social media is beneficial in many ways, it also hinders individuality by placing barriers around the user's thinking. By only showing information from whom the individual follows and the individual only following whom they agree with or enjoy, social media creates a static view with no room for external influence. For example, tumblr, a website with over 550 million monthly users, operates by solely showing information from blogs and categories the user follows. Social media amalgamates countless individuals towards singular thought processes. A singular thought process creates unintentional arrogance and opinionation; by only having one view, an individual becomes blind to the problems encompassing that one view and issues outside of

The way that individuals and businesses communicate and interact has radically changed. With the development of technology and the internet, people can connect almost instantaneously and with very little effort. Social media has come to play a huge part in the way that the world communicates with each other. In fact, a recent report shows that in a single month people spend over 25 hours on social networks (“The Digital Consumer”). With consumers committing that much time to social media sites, social networking has become an important aspect of everyday life for individuals—and businesses. Like most marketing activities, social media marketing poses some risk. However, it is advantageous for businesses to exploit this opportunity, and develop an effective and ethical marketing strategy that includes using social media as a marketing tool.

4: We are slowly turning into slaves of technology; setting our mindsets into shortcuts, to abbreviations, to initials, to emojis, to GIFs, to stickers, and to memes.

No matter how much potential social media has for political or societal change it is important to criticize its negative aspects. An article written by Andrea Moncada, begins her argument with the question has social media had the same impact on advocacy. Similar to Gladwell’s points of view, Moncada states, “social media can help get the word around, but participants must be united by a core message and traditional methods…” This source of uncertainty is the basis for its support and is understandable.

As technology develops rapidly in the modern society, the broad social influence it brings is also widely discussed, especially about its effects on social change. In the past, social movements were raised without the help of technology, specifically without social media, whereas social media has recently played a non-ignorable role. The connection between social media and social activisms concerned, here come some different voices. Few people maintain that social media now has no practical influence on social change, while others hold the opposite view, thinking social media is already a crucial factor in it. Personally speaking, I agree with the second kind of view: it is true that social media is not able to create social movements by itself in today’s world, but it plays an important and essential part in making real social change.

Social media is any website that allows social interaction. Social media is growing rapidly throughout the world. More adults and teenagers are joining sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter to interact with friends, family, and strangers. The introduction of social media has changed the world in many ways. It affects each individual in different ways. Today it can be used as a very helpful tool in changing a person’s life, but at the same time cause such conflicts which can negatively impact a person. While there are some negatives associated with social media, the positives in communication all around, has made the world stronger and a better place to live in.

Groundswell is a book that focuses on the power of social media and how businesses have to learn to harness this power to remain competitive. The book is full of practical ideas of how the groundswell works, why it is so important in today’s business world and how to use it to maximize your marketing potential. The book gives examples of how some well known companies use social networks, blogs and other online platforms to learn how customers feel about their products and also provides explicit tactics to guide companies in using the groundswell in their own businesses. I think this is a great book if you are just beginning to think about how to use digital media for your business or if you are trying to learn how to connect people with social technology. It is not a difficult read as it explains concepts and ideas in a simple and direct way. The groundswell gave me a good perspective and firm knowledge base on the untapped potential of social networks.

Can you imagine living in a world with no social media or smartphone? No instagram, twitter, facebook or snapchat? Believe it or not, that world existed before us millennials did. According to an article found on the Pew Research Center.com, entitled “The Demographics of Social Media Users”, the amount of Facebook users is “72% of adult internet users [and] 62% of entire adult population.” Facebook along with other media outlets have easily become the norm for young adults and older adults in today’s society. The rapid growth of accessibility to social media networking was made possible from the creation and use of smart phones. The combination of social media sites and smart phone users has single handedly eliminated the need for human interactions, but also has provided a repertoire of information at our fingertips. I will discuss the following: the history of Facebook and its impact, the creation of the iPhone and its development of social media apps like Instagram, and the effects of cyberbullying. The purpose of this essay is to explore the productive qualities and destructive qualities that various social media outlets have presented to our generation.