Short Summary
SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
BY: ANKITA SHARMA, VIDHYARTHI DARPAN
You might have tons of app on your mobile. Some for storing images & videos, some to share a few; some for tagging, commenting, & liking, and some for browsing the usuals. Today, we are worried about our social status more than living in the present. Social media has taken up so much space that it is unimaginable to think of life without it!
Let us learn more about what these social media are and how we can leverage quality content from them.
What is Social Media?
Social media is a medium through which we stay connected to the world. From knowing what the neighbor is up to, to national decisions by world leaders; we have everything at the tip of our fingers – courtesy of social media. Social media have inadvertently transformed how we perceive the world.
The Oxford defines Social Media as “websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.”
What are the categories of social media?
1) The Photo Gallery (Pinterest, Instagram)
The media sharing feature has raised the bar in socialization. It facilitates a dazzling display of images and enables us to express ourselves through them.
Pinterest or literally “Pin your interest”, is a social bookmarking site that lets users save (or “pin”) and share amazing photos with your friends. It contains a wide variety of content on diverse topics.
What started as a visual entertainment site transitioned into a cluster of videos, reels, IGTVs, gifs, captions, filters. Instagram is the most loved app by millennials. An Instagram business profile is a blessing for influencers and brands to promote their services.
2) Ping, Chat, Meet – Social Networking (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp)
Facebook has 2.6 billion registered users, followed by WhatsApp housing 1 billion users. Facebook is the most successful social site to date containing over 745 million daily active users. With increasing post interactions and video sharing every second, Facebook is the third most popular site in the world.
WhatsApp Messenger (owned by Facebook for $19 billion), an interactive media app, was introduced in 2009. It lets the user share images, videos, make voice & video calls, share live location & documents, and update statuses. With 1.5 billion monthly users, WhatsApp is the third most downloaded app. It has ostensibly replaced traditional SMSing.
If it isn’t trending on Twitter, it’s not worth it. Twitter, an origination points of memes and where news is created, is the favorite platform of politicians and journalists alike. Here, you will find all sorts of genres; instant news, blogs, meaningful threads, writers & poets, influencers & marketers, and of course – trollers.
3) Thinking & Sharing – Where Ideas Meet (Quora, Reddit)
These are discussion forums where open-ended questions are answered on a public platform. Quora is an easily accessible and user-friendly site where questions are posed, and other users respond. Upvote, follow, and re-share is common practice for public engagements.
Reddit is a social discussion site having about 430 million monthly active users, with an average of 150 million pages viewed every day. In Reddit, users can post, share, and interact; most of them (64%) are within the age range of 18-24.
4) Home for your scribbles – Blogging & Publishing Writing (Tumblr, Medium, WordPress)
Blogging is the way of putting one’s thoughts and opinions out in public. These websites specialize in spreading “relevant reads” over interested audiences. The blogs, usually an article length, are written personally or while representing an organization.
Medium is an online publishing platform where articles are published on broad-spectrum topics by amateurs and intellectuals alike. It is a safe space for leisure reading, perceptional thinking, and exploration of vast fields.
Tumblr, similar to Medium, is a microblogging site. Here, users create and post their authentic content. Tumblr was most popular among teens and young adults in 2011. However, it declined, in presence of other emerging blogging sites.
WordPress currently hosts ginormous personal websites with its customized web-publishing software tool. It is the best free site builder for beginners.
5) The Shoppers Heaven – For the Shopaholics
The Internet has revolutionized purchasing goods. E-commerce giants like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Ajio, Jabong, etc provide a cheaper alternative for buying things. Online marketing has grown exponentially over the years. Online buying sites like Etsy and Polyvore cater to people’s choices and comfort by selling products at a reasonable price. They also connect to small scale retailers. Now, Instagram and Facebook have added a call-to-action option such as “Shop now” to promote companies.
Do you know one-fifth of the world’s population have shopped online in the last 30 days?
6) Video Streaming Platform (YouTube, Netflix, Crunchyroll)
Most of internet exploration is video surfing.
YouTube first appeared in 2005 on Valentine’s day. There are over 1 billion users on YouTube, nearly 1/3rd of all the internet population. You can watch videos on how-tos, recipes, sports, freely available movies & series, funny (& horror) clips; on YouTube, there is a video record for almost everything under the sky!
Netflix is an online over-the-top content platform for entertainment (with no ads!). Due to its consumption by youngsters, its market value is $231 billion. Also, Netflix is hosting an event called StreamFest, free access to Netflix shows for 48 hours – 5th & 6th December. Head on to Netflix to binge-watch!
For anime and K-drama lovers, Crunchyroll is a go-to site. It has a collection of the most subbed anime. Presently it has over 70 million users.
7) Expand Your Network (LinkedIn, Xing)
Some social media such as LinkedIn helps in establishing a profitable relationship with peers. It is currently the best professional site for building connections, finding jobs, career enhancement, and posting resumes for potential employers. Recruiters post appointments frequently on LinkedIn.
Founded in 2003, Xing is a Hamburg, Germany based site for job seekers to connect and share interests. It is similar to LinkedIn, though it is predominantly famous in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
8) Social Gaming – Live Game Streaming
Social networking took a giant leap with the introduction of online multiplayer gaming that gives users an exotic experience with fellow gamers.
Recently Facebook has introduced a Gaming option where one can surf, watch, and play real-time online games. It had previously casual games like Farmville, Criminal Case, and CandyCrush.
Impact on youngsters
When Facebook swamped the social media market in 2004, most of the hooked people were teenagers. An average person spends 1.72 hours on a social media site, whereas a teenager tends to use up to 27 hours a week on social network sites. In today’s age, the net has become a universal necessity. On the one hand, it let us stay connected to the outer world, gain knowledge, aid in making friends; on the other, addiction, depression, social acceptance stirs the youth’s minds with constant fear. Cyber-bullying is also prevalent on such platforms.
It won’t be surprising to acknowledge that social media have pushed youngsters into online bullying and abuse. The “boys locker room” was one such case that showed the crudeness of the use of leaked Instagram chats.
Educational platforms such as Edmodo, Google Classroom, and Zoom have provided students easy access to resources, in turn lessening the burden of accumulating books & notes physically.
Social Media For business
Social media has been a boon for budding marketers and entrepreneurs. It has become a part of their identity. Whenever we come across some person, our first instinct is to judge their social presence on the internet. Essentially, entrepreneurs and businesses, per their discrete demands and brand, have social media accounts that get the most traffic. The most popular sites for marketing products, engagements, various target audiences are Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Website traffic is quintessential for brand awareness and valuable conversions with potential clients. By ensuring a social presence, the company gains target audiences’ trust and loyalty because of consistent efforts to bring the best content. In other words, transparency and reputation of the company are sustained between client and brand. Do you know one-third of consumers would rather contact a brand indirectly through social media than directly by calling?
Routine responses and feedback from clients, advertising products, and honest deals and conversations are keys to boosting the brand.
Advantage & Disadvantage
There are two sides to the coin.
Social media has its advantages and disadvantages.
Social media aids in bringing people close and strengthen bonds between them. Studies have shown that socially active people tend to have extensive and varied friend circles and connections. 88% of people agree that social media sites like Facebook and Instagram have helped them stay in touch with friends.
Problems such as digital addiction, shaming in social media, and academic inconsistencies are explicitly visible now. People, mostly the younger generation spend a remarkable amount of time surfing and absorbing others’ traits. There are enormous shreds of evidence to suggest that this behavior affects our cognitive abilities such as indecisiveness, the dependence on technology for minute activities, insecurity, etc. There is a fear that one “might miss out on something” and lag in the social circle.
Conclusion
Social media undoubtedly is a good source of entertainment and meeting people across the globe. One of the demarcating trends of the 21st century is the dawn of mobile technology. The amount of time we spend peeking on the screen is astonishing. The quest for self-knowledge and self-reflection has led us to accept these technological changes as part of us. Though social media need to be used judicially, it is often sourced as a manipulation device to censor views when found personally objectionable. In the end, it is the consumer of social media that should understand and judge the right & wrongs of social media and choose wisely where to spend the time.
