Social media

Social media Social media has taken the world by storm ever since it surfaced over the past few decades. “ Blogs, wikis, Really Simple Syndication (RSS), social networking sites and social media are just some of the technologies that have flourished during the popularization of the web” (Martin and Bavel 6). Social media today is arguably the most important and efficient source of information.
Social media especially derives its importance from the fact that it depicts the voice of the society at large. Irrespective of what is portrayed in the biased TV channels or other controlled sources of information, people are free to express their opinions over the social media. This feature of social media is particularly helpful for conducting surveys to learn the opinion of the masses. Such surveys can be made not just for political purposes, but also for such market-oriented purposes including the desired qualities and features in a new cell phone or a shampoo.
Social media is a very powerful medium capable of making and destroying public riots. People tend to form and join communities over the social media for particular purposes. They establish the time and venue for meetings and discussions over particular agendas. Social media serves as a very efficient and cost-effective medium for the organization and coordination of such meetings.
The role of social media in strengthening and fostering social ties is well-identified and documented. Social networking websites allow colleagues, business partners, and/or organizational personnel to interact with one another at another level outside the confines of the organizational culture. This fosters understanding and collaboration among people. It has been demonstrated by the IBM researchers on Beehive that the tools of social networking enhance the social capital of the staff by expanding their social networks and improving the connection of the organizational personnel with the organization (DiMicco et al.). “ These sites can be oriented towards work-related contexts (e. g., LinkedIn. com), romantic relationship initiation (the original goal of Friendster. com), connecting those with shared interests such as music or politics (e. g., MySpace. com), or the college student population (the original incarnation of Facebook. com)” (Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe 1143).
Social media offers tremendous benefits for research. In the absence of social media, the pace of development of knowledge was very slow because the researchers had no option but to rely on the traditional means and sources of information including books and experts in the industry. With the availability of the Internet, research has been produced very frequently because now, researchers are just a click away from the most potential and informative sources of literature. Even one-third of the teenagers have been found to use the Internet for “ health, physical fitness, and dieting information” (Martinasek et al. 214).
The power and influence of social media in the present age cannot be denied. However, the way it is used depends upon the intention of the user. Constructive use of social media can bring radical positive changes in the systems. Likewise, social media is also capable of increasing violence if used inappropriately.
Works Cited:
DiMicco, J., Millen, D. R., Geyer, W. G., Dugan, C. Brownholtz, B., and Muller, M. “ Motivations
for social networking at work.” In Proc. CSCW 2008, ACM Press. 2008.
Ellison, Nicole B.; Steinfield, Charles; and Lampe, Cliff. “ The Benefits of Facebook ‘‘ Friends:’’
Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 12 (2007): 1143-1168.
Martinasek, Mary P. et al. “ Benefits and Barriers of Pediatric Healthcare Providers toward Using
Social Media in Asthma Care.” Social Media and Health Education. 42. 4 (2011): 213-221.
Martin, Aaron; and Bavel, Rene van. Assessing the Benefits of Social Networks for
Organizations. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2013.