Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible publishing techniques. Social media, according to wikipedia, uses web-based technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogues. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein, associate professors at a university, in marketing, define social media as "a group of Internet based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, which allows the creation and exchange of user generated content."
How do you feel about social media? How do you use social media in your life? Some people think that it is taking society to a place where face-to-face interactions will become a thing of the past. Younger generations are learning how to dominate social media tools and use them solely to keep up with friends and trending topics. Big businesses use social media to generate more consumers, get product information out to the world, and manage glitches and bad service by monitoring what customers are saying using social media about the business or product.
Social media utilization is believed to be the driving force in defining the current time period as the Attention Age. Aaron Endre has created a blog that explains his views of why the information age has been replaced by the Attention Age. You can read it at: aaronendre.com/2009/10/26step-aside-information-age-the-attention-age-is-here/.
I believe that social media are a two-headed beast. In one hand, if used correctly it can increase public knowledge; bring a new voice to marketing, sales and promotion; and increase interaction between companies and the people who support them. On the other hand, social media has brought about a certain invasion of privacy between job seekers and employers who include Facebook and Twitter along with your resume and scholarly achievements as a means of determining what your assets could be to a company. Social media has ruined life-long friendships as well as reputations.
All in all, we the people have the freedom to determine how we would like to use social media in our lives and how much time we will spend in it. Words have power, and it is important to make all your interactions over the Internet and/or in person be tactful and politically correct.
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ReplyDeleteAdvertisers and companies are killing social media. Social media use to be a place to connect with your friends. Now everywhere you look it's advertising in some from. They use direct advertising as well as subliminal advertising. Social Media has changed. It is just another market to sale a brand, company, or product. In my eyes, social media is a big commercial. Someone will come up with the next Facebook, I wonder where it will take social media, hopefully less commercials.
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