Social Media and Society - Report Example

Research Portfolio Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Research Portfolio Social media and society Social media have become a basic tool of communication for some individuals. Many people spend a lot of time online, and the cheapest method they can use to communicate is through the social media. There are many advantages of social media in the current society because people can now socialize without any limitations such as the geographical boundaries. People can share ideas and pictures through social media such as internet hence feel updated regarding the daily occurrences of their friends and families. Social media have been used as a source of news, where friends post the updates from geographical locations as they happen, and this avoids the need of having to wait till the other media to report. The social media have thus kept the people alert and well informed about daily activities both nationally and internationally. This is why other Medias have found the need to watch out what is happening on the various social media because they can use the trending information to collect news and report them (Couly, 2013). It is, therefore, obvious that the social media has become an important technology in the lives of people. It is not individuals who have benefited from the social media only. Companies have taken advantage of the social media to reach the people and inform them of the available products. Companies have facebook pages where they post the products that they sell. Companies such as banks interact directly with their customers ensuring that they receive feedback on various issues. People can make orders for the products they need through the social media without the need of having to travel. In the previous years, people went from one shop to another searching for a product of choice. In the current world, one can view pictures of the products that they need before giving orders for the supply of the products (Curran, 2005). Though the social media has been important to the society, there have been disadvantages associated with it. Some of the information in the social media is not fit for individuals of all ages. However, there are no methods of ensuring that children do not access the information. With the many available gadgets that can be used to access the social media, it has become easy for the children to access any information in the social media. This is why the society has been changing so fast because the children copy what they see in the social media without much reasoning. The ethics in the society are changing because of this. Some of the social media socialization is unnecessary and can never be taken seriously. There has been an instance where people fake their information and convince other people about their personality and when it comes to meeting on real life situation, the relationships end because of the frustrations that result. This is especially so for the individuals who are dating. Such people hide their information such as age and other important information (Fourie, 2007). Some go to the extent of uploading fake photographs and the frustrations happen when one realizes that the person they have been talking had faked identity. This tells that most of the social network socializations are of no benefit to many. Some people end up exposing their private information on the social media which was not the case in the previous days. Though people share what is happening in their daily lives, some information is so sensitive to be released to all members of the public. This is why some social problems are emerging because of the way people handle information in the social media. People who reveal a lot of their information in social media face theft because it is easy to hack their electronic cards using the basic information in the social media. This has caused huge losses in countries like United States, and the same is expected to other parts of the world with time considering criminals are learning how to use the information for their benefits. In other cases, the criminals can monitor the movements of an individual before engaging in an attack. Social problems such as kidnapping of children has increased because the parents give important information about their children through the social media and this makes the criminal take advantage of the information. With the pictures they may have, the name of the children and the name of the school the children study, it becomes easy for the criminals to kidnap children and ask for money from their parents (Curran, 2005). Social media are hindering the relationships between societies because, in the previous years, people used to meet and discuss issues physically. People had a reason to meet and talk, because there was no effective way of being close to each other. In the modern world, social media are making people rely more on social media communication as compared to meeting physically. This means that social ties between people have been negatively affected by the social media (Gorman, 2009). It is true that the social media is important in increasing the social ties that individuals have. However, the same media have been effective in ensuring that ties continue to weaken between people in the society. People make friends online, and the friendship ends even before people meet or ends the day they meet. There is a need that friends meet so that they can share the emotional environment, use gestures and by this, the social ties increase. The social skills of individuals are reducing because when people meet, they have no time to interact and know each other. Everyone is usually busy with social media friends, and this means that the ability to interact in a real environment has decreased. In conclusion, the social media is an important tool in the modern day society. However, people should learn how to use the media to avoid social problems that are arising in the modern world. People should use private messages when sharing confidential information. There is no need of sharing confidential pictures of children because this endangers their security. If this is done, people will socialize and benefit from social media without affecting their lives negatively. Digital democracy The media have been used in the politics considering its power and the role it plays in the society. As the number of people using the internet increase, the politicians have resulted to the use of the technology to reach the people. This means that politicians are now targeting the internet as a way of reaching voters and convincing them that they should vote for them. A good example of digital democracy can be associated with the United States politics where president Obama used the social media to reach the people. Politics depends on numbers and the politicians are aware that many citizens may not attend political rallies considering that they are busy individuals. However, it is easy to reach the people through the internet because they spend a lot of time online. The politicians usually use blogs and social media as ways of reaching the people through the social media. The advantage of the internet is that the leaders can engage with the citizens where response is given on the issue. The citizens get a chance to talk to their leaders, ask questions and get answers. This is as opposed to the previous situations where people could attend meetings and have no chance to ask questions or talk to their leaders. Using the internet, individuals give their say about certain leaders (Hindman, 2009). Political parties have websites in some countries where their ideologies and the policies they support can be accessed, and any citizen can do an analysis of the same and give views on the same. In such a case, the citizens have a great access to information they need to select their leaders, and this enhances the democracy of the society. With the internet, leaders in power usually keep their citizens updated on what they are doing. They can give pictures of projects that they are implementing, and people get a chance to criticize the activities or congratulate their leaders. With such response from time to time, leaders can assess the public opinion and engage in activities that are more preferred by the people. If the leaders have done what the people do not want, critics post their feeling on the internet and the readers can read and respond to them (Alexander 1998). There are some pressing issues that arise in the society and need the attention of the leaders. The presence of the internet is effective in informing the leaders of the wish of the people. Strong arguments arise in the social media whenever there are important issues that need attention by the leaders (Hindman, 2009). This makes it possible for the leaders to act on time and ensure that the lives of the people in the society improve. Though the internet is effective in ensuring that people are updated about political events, the challenge is that it has become an effective media of the conveying propaganda. Such manipulated information aim at defaming certain leaders who may be performing well. This causes confusion among the people, and decision making becomes difficult when they lose trust in their most preferred leader. This means that internet can be used to interfere with democracy especially when people spread baseless rumors to the society members. If this is to be eliminated, people should be made to be accountable for what they say and write on the media. There is a need to confirm any allegations before posting them on the internet because it leads to the damaged reputation of the leaders, and this can lead to legal consequences (Information Resources Management Association 2012). Though there may be legal consequences of defamation, it would be difficult for the affected politicians to clean their names considering that information on the internet spreads within seconds. Though some leaders may try to save their reputation through internet, they may not achieve much because the people may not easily agree that the previous information they got was wrong. Considering this, there is a need to ensure that the social media is closely monitored. The leaders have people they employ to watch out what may be trending in the social media. Such readers get updated on whatever is happening so that they can make decisions that may favor their political career. The political leaders may also need a person to monitor the social media to ensure that any wrong information that may affect the reputation of their leaders is eliminated before it reaches many people (Gainous, 2014). Politicians are busy people who may have no time to respond to the citizens about various issues. They may also have no time to ensure that the information is uploaded to the internet from time to time. To avoid these problems, politicians hire individuals whose work is to ensure all information is posted, and any issues that arise from the uploaded materials are responded to. This has been realized by some individuals and as a result, many people do not read the information that politicians post because they are aware that the individuals posting the information and responding to the issues raised in the internet are not the actual leaders. The expectations are that the information finally reaches the leaders and this enhances democracy (Information Resources Management Association 2012). In conclusion, digital democracy has been facilitated by the increased use of the internet. With the new technology, leaders share information about what they are doing and the citizens get a chance to criticize the activities. The people can raise issues through the internet and can be assured that the leaders will get the information. The challenge is that there exist some individuals who use an internet to come up with blogs that damage the reputation of some politicians. Such people have to be punished well if arrested. Additionally, politicians hire people to monitor the internet and report any infamous information that may be posted by the enemies. This is not received well by the people because the people feel that their leaders do not respond to their suggestions. This is the reason why many people fail to read news relating to certain leaders since they are aware that the information from the internet is posted by individuals employed to lie to people (Wells, 1997). Media audience and effects The various types of media have a certain audience that it targets. With the emergence of various types of media including the digital media, the competition has increased, and the various media compete to ensure that they capture more audience. For the media, the more the audience, the more the media can generate more revenues. There exist various categories of media audience. For the television, there are some programs that target people of all ages. The programs are designed in a way that it is okay for people in the family to watch the program. On the other hand, there are some programs that target the adults and not children. The expectations are that the parent’s guide the children on what they should watch and what they should not. There are other programs that target the business people because the information in the programs guides the business people. The audience can also be classified based on the income levels of individuals. The expectations are that people choose the section or programs that target them. The television stations also recommend the programs that should be watched by the parents only and those that can be watched by all people (Croteau, 2014). In the current period, the media audience has changed and media organizations have to diversify to various media. Newspaper organizations now target electronic methods of availing news to the people. There are some people who strictly read electronic media and are never interested in the print media. Others do not watch the television or listen to the radio. For some, they listen to a radio, read print media and at the same time use electronic media (Gorman, 2009). The media companies are now required to ensure that they capture all their target audience after finding out what the target audience prefers. The media that can target a greater proportion of an audience benefit most because they can generate more revenues. In some countries, the government have banned certain media because of they are believed to be unsuitable to the population. The children are the most affected people because some of the programs that target adults are not controlled enough, and this means that they end up watching such programs. This is why some governments have moved to ban certain media forms (Fourie, 2007). It is however not possible to ban all forms of media that is believed to be unethical to the children. With the availability of internet connections through various devices, the children join facebook; watch various YouTube videos, and this affects their moral behaviour and their character. It means that the media has failed in controlling the information that targets a certain audience. The media have changed the morals in the society, and this has not been appreciated by many communities. The culture that was previously preserved has become extinct because people copy whatever they see in media. An example is the dressing code of various communities, which has been changing very fast and the people who benefit most are the fashion designers who are keen to develop new designs to suit the needs of the market (Fourie, 2007). The media have affected the way people socialize and many children do not learn social skills early enough because they have no time to interact with people in the physical environment. The children spend a lot of time watching addictive movies while other use social media to socialize with each other. This has made the children develop anti-social behaviour because they have not been able to socialize in real life situations (Couly, 2013). This is affecting their professional life where people are expected to work as teams. The immorality in the society has increased because of what people can access through the social media. Children and aged can watch pornographic materials and for many, they are motivated to apply what they see in the videos in real life situations, and this is causing problems in the society. The clothes that people wear are also causing immorality because many of them expose the body parts of the individuals. This has been facilitated by the various media and is evidence that the media has played the greatest role in influencing the immorality in the society (Croteau, 2014). The children are becoming more violent depending on the media that they watch. Many have access to violent movies that affect their sensitivity to suffering of other people. These children become less sensitive to the suffering of others, and this is why they can easily engage in violent criminal activities. This does not mean that the media has no positive effects. The competition of the media and the wide variety of media has been an important platform of communication because people can keep in touch with friends and relatives in all parts of the world. People do not have to meet in order to communicate, and this has saved costs and time. The media has also facilitated the democracy because the citizens can criticize the action of their leaders as well as engage in a conversation with them. Before elections, the politicians share their ideologies in the media where they are interviewed and engage in a direct conversation with the people. This helps the leaders evaluate the leaders they are to elect. People make informed decisions because they can get information they need to vote for particular individuals and this enhances democracy (Gainous, 2014). The marketing activities have been made cheaper and easier for companies because they only need to choose a media that reaches the target population in the most appropriate way. This has enabled people get a variety of information that they need before purchase of products. In conclusion, media is an important tool in the society because it has benefited many. The challenge is that it has become difficult to control the media to ensure that the information reaches the target audience only. There is also no control on the information that is relayed to the people and this is a challenge because many social problems have resulted from this. Antisocial behaviour, violence among children and immorality in society are some of the undesired products of media. Reference List Alexander, C. J. 1998. Digital democracy: Policy and politics in the wired world. Toronto u.a: Oxford Univ. Press. Curran, J., & Gurevitch, M. 2005. Mass media and society. London: Hodder Arnold. Croteau, D., & Hoynes, W. 2014. Media/society: Industries, images, and audiences. Couly, N. 2013. Media, society, world: Social theory and digital media practice. Place of publication not identified: Polity Press. Fourie, P. J. 2007. Media studies. Cape Town: Juta. Gainous, J., & Wagner, K. M. 2014. Tweeting to power: The social media revolution in American politics. New York: Oxford University Press. Gorman, L., & McLean, D. 2009. Media and society into the 21st century: A historical introduction. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Hindman, M. S. 2009. The myth of digitaldemocracy. Princeton Princeton University Press. Top of Form Information Resources Management Association. 2012. Digital democracy: Concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. Wells, A. 1997. Mass media & society. Greenwich, Conn. [u.a.: Ablex Publ. Bottom of Form Read More