Communications and Social Media

Human communication has evolved over the past two centuries to something no one could have ever imagined.

Thanks to the internet revolution, we were able to communicate thousands of miles apart around the planet while persevering in the use of our spoken language and building bonds just as strong as in real life.

Communication online soon gave rise to social media, an outlet through which people were able to share their thoughts, write about topics, and participate in group discussions all from behind a screen.

There’s really no need to repeat how important all of that has been over the past decade. We’ve witnessed social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Tik Tok dominate news headlines because of how viral and widespread they are.

You can literally see a tweet or a post going viral in a matter of seconds sometimes. While everything so far has touched on the significance of the communication revolution and the role of the internet, there is a dark side to all of that.

We’ll get into the nitty-gritty details about both the good and the bad that social media communication has given us over the past two decades.

1. Easy Access to Information:

The information age has made it possible for everyone to find what they want with the click of a button. Social media has played a big role in facilitating this access to information.

Facebook, for example, has groups and communities on its platform where people can share information about nearly anything. It’s never been easier to find job postings, educational material, and real-world news.

However, being inundated with information has its drawbacks. It leads to overload and confusion for a lot of people. In other words, having everything available at your fingertips makes it hard to decide what kind of information to use.

Also, many bad actors have ruined social media platforms by spreading misinformation, propaganda, and all kinds of useless content.

So, you should always use common sense when viewing any sort of information on social media. Check for sources and double-check the identity of the person posting the information.

2. Social Engagement & Isolation:

It’s called social media for a reason. The platforms were created to allow communication between users from different walks of life and different parts of the world.

The idea was to bring people closer together, but in reality, it didn’t quite pan out that way. Social media has caught a lot of flak over the years for being a leading cause of isolation and social anxiety for the younger generation.

One reason for that is the unregulated nature of posting and commenting online. Bullies can attack anyone with discriminatory words without suffering any serious penalties except for getting blocked off the media platform.

This has led to the rise of what we now recognise as cybercrime, beginning a new era of law enforcement throughout the internet.

It can also be quite hard to discern other essential social cues, like non-verbal or emotional ones. You’re really not getting the full picture of someone by chatting with them online, and therefore, it can be challenging to develop deeper bonds by communicating through these platforms.

Focusing on the bad would be doing social media as a whole a big disservice because success stories abound as well. Many people were able to meet the love of their lives, find their dream job, or connect with like-minded folks by using social media.

That’s why people’s experiences vary a lot when talking about social media. Some have used it to achieve great success, while others were the unfortunate victims of relentless bullying and discrimination.

3. Meme Culture & Self-Expression:

Admit it. The first time you saw a meme, you thought it was super cool and original! Memes were originally brought into existence through the efforts of the millennial generation, and they soon became their go-to method to express frustration and depression with the status quo.

Memes are, in essence, ideas based on the culture of the society people live in. These ideas get repeated in different ways, making them a permanent part of everyday pop culture.

For example, the old meme “OK Boomer” carries with it so many connotations and verbal dimensions that it could take all day to analyse in detail. The gist of it is the intergenerational clash between the boomers and the millennials.

It’s no wonder the meme spread like wildfire back in its heyday, and the same can be said about many memes we see today.

A meme can speak for an entire generation, or it can fall into obscurity as fast as it came into usage. Now, it’s very trendy to come up with your own memes that combine a sense of humor, self-awareness, and creativity in one single phrase or word.

What does social media have to do with all of that? It made it possible for people to get creative with their self-expression abilities, and it enabled the spread of these newly-concocted ideas to every corner of the internet, and in the process, the entire globe.

4. The Global Market:

Humans have it easy in the modern age in terms of picking and choosing from a selection of businesses, e-commerce stores, and service providers all available online.

In particular, social media is a great tool for promotion and marketing. We’ve seen how many people have used it to write their rags-to-riches stories in different industries and under different sets of circumstances.

Brands can be generated out of thin air and begin aggressive marketing campaigns that soon get them noticed and talked about. Social media makes it convenient to engage with audiences and build a community of loyal followers, all of which allow for quick profits and businesses to flourish.

These businesses can now speak to audiences directly, removing the middleman that used to be required in the past such as ads, TV, radio stations, or magazines. It also builds credibility and creates feedback channels where people and clients get exactly what they want.

This openness to the global market is both a blessing and a curse since it has led to stiff competition as everyone does everything in their power to get noticed.

Due to strict business transparency laws, many money-laundering schemes, scams, and mischievous ideas have been exposed on social media, much to the dismay of those looking for shortcuts to success.

As with every idea discussed here, there’s a bad side to everything. Large corporations can monopolise social media platforms to serve their ends at the expense of originality and creativity, in addition to all the illegal activities taking place.

Either way, the way we conduct business online has changed forever thanks to these platforms.

It’s hard to imagine where popular brands like Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Nike, and others would be today without social media.

In Conclusion:

Certainly, the world as we know it would not be the same without social media. The communication channels it opened and the means of self-expression it gave birth to have changed the way we interact in every area of life.

Everything from how we do business to what kind of information we can access is now just one click away. This ease of use and convenience is both good and bad. It’s good because literacy levels have never been higher, but it’s also bad because cybercrime and other fraudulent activities have become commonplace.

Depending on how you use it, social media can be the greatest invention since sliced bread or the coming of the antichrist.

All in all, it’s here to stay, so you better get used to it and learn to make it work for you.