Impact of Social Media on the Individual and Corporate Sector

Introduction

Social media makes it easier for people to connect within the electronic environment. It also plays a major role in influencing individuals and the society in general. Social media has simplified communication between people and businesses. In this regard, customers can specify what they want while businesses and corporates can use that information to tailor their products. However, the impacts of social media can either be positive or negative. The paper will analyze the positive and negative impacts of social media on both individuals and the corporate sector.

Impact of social media on individuals

The positive impact of social media is that it makes it easier for compatible individuals to share important topics and broaden their knowledge of various issues. For instance, politics is a common area of interest among most and social media is useful in allowing them to express themselves. While hearing one’s ideas, it is possible to make new friends from anywhere on the globe (Ritesh 141). It is a major impact because a few decades ago, it was difficult to make new friends unless someone was really outgoing. However, with social media, one might not know their friends on a personal level. Friends in this context refer to people who share the same interests.

Social media has also made it easier for individuals to communicate in an expeditious manner. For instance, one can post an update on twitter in less than a minute and it will reach all its targets through cross-posting to other social networks such as Facebook. Social media has also made the world news more accessible, thus ensuring one can follow the latest events happening all over the globe (Ritesh 181). The recent second presidential debate in the USA can serve a good illustration. The event has been trending globally and it has proved that the happenings are visible to anyone anywhere in the world. It can be attributed to hashtags, which make it easy to know what is trending, where it is taking place and what people think about it.

Another positive impact of social media is creating engagement by increasing community participation. It enables individuals to share their thoughts and opinions pertinent to certain topics. Besides, the participation in discussions helps in creation of positive expressions. Social media also allows individuals to regain their confidence through comments and reviews (Ritesh 134). It offers a sense of independence which encourages individuals to engage in communication with other users. In fact, it allows every individual to prove themselves on social media, thus helping them to find a sense of identity. Moreover, social media can also be used in unleashing one’s potential. The reason is that individuals post videos of themselves either singing or dancing. Good videos can become extremely popular as individuals try to show the world what they are good at. A practical example is Justin Bieber, whose talent was discovered through YouTube.

The drawback of social media is that it limits face-to-face social interactions as individuals spend most of their time in front of their screens. As a result, they lack the impetus of associating and socializing with other individuals. One can observe that when people are out on public, most of them are just focused on their phones, as most of them are either enjoying Facebook, twitter or other social media sites. Therefore, social media acts as a major disruption in contemporary society. The other negative impact is the reduction in productivity. In fact, in most offices, the majority of workers end up using working hours to check their social media profiles or read their favourite blogs. Others also enjoy some videos on YouTube, and it affects the amount of time that ought to be spent productively.

Social media also makes individuals susceptible to cyber bullying. In fact, it is a serious issue because the ramifications of cyber-bullying can leave deep mental and emotional scars. Recently, there has been an increase in cases when victims of cyber bulling commit suicide. Others resort to using alcohol and drugs, developing a low self-esteem and suffering from various health problems. The perpetrators of cyber bullying take advantage of the anonymity afforded online and use it to cause harm and discomfort to other individuals. Therefore, cyber bullying messages are posted anonymously making it difficult to trace the source. The message can also reach a large audience within a short period. Social media also deprives individuals of their privacy because it makes it easy to post private information. With social media, individuals never realize that they give away information that they would not give in real life.

Impact of social media on the corporate sector

The corporate sector also benefits from social media through awareness campaigns that give companies a platform to advertise their products and services (Scott 78). It has become convenient because companies used to spend substantial financial resources on marketing their products before social media. In fact, corporates who create a positive emotion around their campaign end up with a pervasive ripple effect. It exerts a significant influence that plays a major role in brand awareness. Similarly, social media also facilitates the interaction between companies and customers. Today, the vast majority of companies have active social media accounts where consumers can express their views or complaints and receive immediate response.

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The corporate sector also uses social media to track its competitors. Focusing on the competitor can provide valuable information, as different companies use different strategies. If a competitor is using a certain social media technique, it is possible to embrace the technique but do it better thus staying ahead of the competitor (Scott 118). Additionally, companies can use social media to increase website traffic as well as search ranking. It can be attributed to the fact that social media makes it easier to direct people to a certain website while also increasing search ranking.

The negative impact of social media is that a company might be exposed to negative publicity which can be easily spread to a large number of people. It is likely to happen when customers rant about poor service or their bad experience with a certain company. The negative publicity can significantly affect the brand’s image (Scott 131). The other negative impact is that social media makes corporates vulnerable to hacking where hackers can take over a company’s social site and use it maliciously. In fact, cases where hackers take over social sites and use them to spread false information have been on the rise. The other negative impact is that it is hard to quantify the ROI (returns on investments) of social media efforts.

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Conclusion

Social media is an example of how technology is revolutionizing the interactions among individuals as well as originations. However, not all consequences of this technology usage are positive. For instance, individuals can use social media as a communication tool or contribute to important topics while corporates can use it as a marketing tool. On the other hand, social media also makes individuals vulnerable to hacking and exposes companies to hackers or negative publicity. Despite its positive and negative impacts, social media can deliver favourable results for both individuals and corporates. In order to achieve it one needs to conform to the required protocols and adhere to best practices.