Social Media Boon or Bane – GD/WAT Topic

SOCIAL MEDIA: BOON OR BANE

INTRODUCTION

Social Media, a hot topic since it ever came into existence and is one of the favourite topics for Debate, Group Discussion and different Forums. It is that bad to be criticized? Why is Social Media Bad? Check the image below

What? Even you spend about 3 hours on social media? You must be kidding but the numbers don’t.

It comes down to 3 hours a day, 90 hours a month and 1080 hours a year. OMG, 1000 precious hours of life on social media stalking profiles of others, posting images, sharing content etc. What benefits did you extract from 1000+ hours?

Think upon it. In this article, I will focus more on how to leverage Social Media rather than its dark side because the CONTROL is in our hands. This article is not about Social Media Pros and Cons Essay, its all about realizing the potential of social media.

QUOTE

“If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.” – Jeff Bezos, CEO at Amazon.com

“Social Media can provide a conversational extension to a B2B company’s nurturing programs. Social Media gives us the opportunity to humanize our communications and make our companies more approachable.” – Ardath Albee, CEO of marketinginteractions.com

“Privacy is dead, and social media hold the smoking gun.” – Pete Cashmore, Mashable CEO

“Social networks aren’t about Web sites. They’re about experiences.” – Mike DiLorenzo, NHL social media marketing director

STATISTICS – What Numbers have to Say?

Some of the key takeaways from their Global Digital Report 2019 include:

1. The number of internet users worldwide in 2019 is 4.388 billion, up 9.1% year-on-year
2. The number of social media users worldwide in 2019 is 3.484 billion, up 9% year-on-year
3. The number of mobile phone users in 2019 is 5.112 billion, up 2% year-on-year

DESCRIPTION – Let’s take a Deep Dive

The above statistics reflect that every year, more and more people are engaging with different social media platforms. Only Facebook will not work, the craziness drives an individual to create an account on multiple platforms. The so-called professional network like LinkedIn has also got millions of professionals engaged. Should we worry about the numbers or what people say? The answer is no but your life is definitely affected because of social media platforms and people around you using it.

Yes, we all are well aware of the fact that spending more time on social media makes one anti-social, it kills your eyesight, not good for health, time killer, etc. I want to stretch your vision beyond these ill diseases and think of social media as a platform to earn money, to create a brand personality, to connect more clients and convert sales calls etc. Think over the benefits of social media for students

What is Social Networking?

Above definition is an ideal case for fewer people today, Isn’t it?

PROS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

• Helps to unite people during crises, raising funds for disasters etc. (Kerala Floods, Orissa Cyclone)
• It becomes an easy source to promote education and also students can follow educators on social media platforms and ask for help (Unacademy)
• You can promote and grow your business on social media platforms. This is the time when SMM – Social Media Marketing comes into action. The business owners can display and sell out their products and services.
• There are many people who have set their business using social media alone. Instagram is one of the most used platforms in this regard
• You can build a healthy relationship with your customers and cause repeat purchase + Mouth publicity
• Connectivity factor – It provides the ability to connect people across the globe
•  Social media Marketing (SMM) is a cost-effective way for marketing and promotions as compared to conventional ATL activities because the target segment can be defined + Analytics are easily available to trace the efficiency
• You can drive traffic to a website by sharing website content on different social media
• Professional media like LinkedIn help job seekers to find jobs
• One can use games available on social media as a stress buster and a sense of teamwork is realized
• Introverts find it easy to express themselves through social media platforms

CONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

• Addiction to the social media platforms that leads to time killing + attract many disorders
• Distraction + Procrastination + Sleep Disruption
• Easy source for the penetration of Fraud and Scams
• Privacy – Personal data like profile image, date of birth etc. other details can be easily accessed through social media so a big question on data privacy
• Teenagers falling prey to Cyberbullying(the exploitation, harassment etc. done through the internet)
• Social Media has become a tool to Degrade Reputation whether its a brand, individual, company etc. Roast videos are easy ones to go viral
• Peer Pressure – People get depressed by checking out social media profile of friends, colleagues etc.

CONCLUSION

Social Media has millions of pros over cons because the shortcomings are human-driven. In a country like India, social media can unite everyone for a constructive purpose but at the same time, the same media becomes lethal. If the youth is properly trained and counselled on using social media usage, then the shortcomings can be eliminated over a period of time.

Social media can change your life within hours but can also have a vice versa effect. Today, all the successful businesses have social media as a major marketing tool in their agenda. If they can make millions and billions, why don’t you give it a try?

Keeping the bane aspect aside, it is evitable that social media has a large potential to grow personally and professionally. Hence, should be accepted with an open heart.

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