POWERFUL SOCIAL MEDIA

The power of social media is influence. We are living in the era of the digital revolution, it is harder to imagine a happier day without using the internet and its wide range of services. Social media is among them.

Social media refers to the medium of interacting among people in which ideas, information, career interests, thoughts, or other forms of expressions via Virtual Communities and Networks are exchanged or shared. The beauty of it is that we can connect with anyone to learn & share our thoughts, no matter how far we are, we just need an electronic device with an internet connection. Regardless of location and religion.

Popular social media websites/Apps:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• Quora
• WhatsApp

There are 500 million daily active users on Instagram, photos & videos uploaded per day are 100 million +. Whereas Facebook has 2.50 billion MAUs. Every 60 seconds, 317,000 status updates & 1,47,000 photos & videos uploaded, and 54,000 links are shared. Twitter boasts 330 MAUs. YouTube has 1.9 billion MAUs.

The engagement rates & traffic are extremely high, which gives them power and is the only source to make anything go viral in a very short time and reach millions and billions of people out there in the world. 

Advantages of this media :

Social:

You can estimate the power of social media in such a way that it can make a person famous overnight. There is a great example of the Power of social media that made a poor and a needy old couple famous within no time and aid them.  “Baba ka Dhaba” yes! you had the right guess. A few days ago at Malviya Nagar in South Delhi Baba ka Dhaba was merely a food stall, where an old couple was struggling to sell food, but time has changed now, where companies are coming to advertise and promotional drives.

A video went viral by a Food Blogger ” Gaurav Vasan” who has been promoting street food vendors for the last 8 years, an octogenarian couples could be seen talking, sobbing, moan over lack of customers since the covid-19 lockdown at “Baba ka Dhaba ” stall. The viral video ended up being viewed by over 50 million on Facebook and 30 million on Instagram.

The story grabbed attention and now Baba ka Dhaba got a crowd to support as well as sponsorship from leading brands such as  Pepsi, Zomato, payments, and apps.

Today Kavita Prasad (baba) is looking to assist him in catering to the high demand. Life has taken a new turn for baba. People are clicking photos with baba, he has become a hero for the public.

Noble cause:

Not only humans but organizations are looking into the welfare of the animals. A few years back Friendicos, a shelter home for the stray animals which has been serving animals in distress, announced that it would have to close down due to lack of funds. The people’s concern against this was quite evident here, and soon got converted into a fund generation campaign to save the beloved shelter home for animals. Shortly the online campaign managed to raise over Rs. 13 lakhs in just a day with the help of over four hundred contributors.

Business:

The power of social media is immense. Social media are now a significant part of every marketing strategy. The benefits of using social media are so great that anyone not implementing these cheap and outcome-based resources is missing out on phenomenal marketing opportunities.

Simply by having page brands, brands benefit heavily and with regular use, it potentially can generate a wide audience any type and any size of business.

Education:

Social media is a gigantic contributor to the educational field. Social sites have enormous members who are experts and with rich,  experiences, and credentials. You may be shy in the classroom but you can pose queries to your online teachers and get your things solved within no time. It’s the most important thing for the aspirants of govt. exams as a number of them aren’t ready to pay for classes.

There are many sites which are dedicated specifically to education, research, and development.

Here, like-minded people meet to share, learn, exchange their thoughts, ideas, etc,

Virtual banks:

Imagine having the flexibility to pay your rent or build associate investment through your favorite social network. Social media is reworking banking relationships in terribly important ways that, from improving customer service to permitting users to send cash to others via online platforms. New monetary technology companies are using social media to help people simply open a bank account. Social media will even impact your ability to get a loan.

Social media helps to fight disasters:

From Facebook’s Safety Check – that allows users from the area of devastation to mark themselves as safe – to the increase of the CrisisMappers Network, we’ve seen many examples of how social media and digital communications help to rebound through disasters.

Disadvantages of social media:

Rightly said that everything has a brighter side as well as a dark side and social media is not an exception.

Cyberbullying:

Cases of cyberbullying have increased today, most of the children have become victims. Since individuals can create a fake account and do anything without being traced. Blackmail, overawe messages, and rumors can be sent to the masses to create soreness and chaos in society.

Addiction:

Teenagers are the foremost suffering from Addiction to social media. There are examples where students are most likely found engaged in social media only and show lesser interest in studies.

Hacking:

Personal data & privacy can be easily hacked and shared on the internet, which may create money losses & loss to personal life. Once a message, photos & videos are shared, we won’t be able to control where it goes.

Reputation:

The engagement’s rates on the social media measures terribly very high, millions & billions of people use it daily, because of its high engagement rates. It has the power to ruin someone’s reputation in no time simply by making a false story.

Drugs Influence:

One of the disadvantages is that people start to follow others who are wealthy or drug-addicted and share their views & videos on media which encourages others to follow the same and get obsessed with  drugs and alcohol.

We need to learn to be effective collaborators in society, how to interact with people around us, how to engage, & better informed. We need to learn about the incredible power of social networking technology to be used for societal benefits.

The fact is that when used in the right way social media is the most powerful sort of communication, marketing, and  research tool. All in all,  individuals ought to weigh the merits and demerits of it and choose  whether or it is a blessing or a curse?

Written by: Rajan Kumar

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