Check the Free Essay on How Media Technologies Shape Social Change

The introduction and advancement of media technology have contributed to the extent to which information is shared among groups and individuals across the global divide. The creation of the global village has been achieved through the technical competence incorporated within the media technologies. The process of developing the necessary avenues for sharing information and communication over significant distance has an effect on the standard social atmosphere and occurrence. The society is associated with developed cultures as well as specific norms and circumstance that could be shaped easily with transformational changes. The culture defines the uniqueness of the specific groups and in most cases; they work towards preserving their heritage at all costs. The social changes currently witnessed in the society are influenced by the nature of the altered integration and access to information enhanced through media technologies. The diversity of forms associated with the advance media as well as the manner in which they work defines the nature of lifestyle and behavior of the users. The prevalence of social media use has contributed to the changes witnessed in the society regarding social, economic, and political dimensions. The paper examines how social media is shaping the changes seen in the community by evaluating the positive and negative influence.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The process of communication is an essential component of the society. Information sharing assists in building the bond among the parties through feedback as well as the level of satisfaction derived from the process of sharing relevant data. Notable decisions have been implemented in the community through the sharing of necessary information. Movement of information has facilitated administrative, social, and economic functions. The introduction of the social media platforms has enhanced the flow of communication process among groups as well as individuals. The scope of coverage has been extended over years since the avenue became one of the primary communication tools (Infante, 2010). Through social media, the community is aware of the events taking place, which cannot be covered by the print and other digital media such as newspapers and broadcasts respectively. The trending affairs across the world can be accessed quickly through the platforms. The sharing option associated with the variety of applications allows the users to increase the speed with which the information diffuse across the globe. The cost of distributing or appreciating meaningful data has been reduced through the introduction of social media avenues. Although the credibility of information circulated in the media is questionable regarding source and credibility, which calls for further verifications.

Moreover, the society is built and sustained through the social interaction. When people engage they build and encourage one another to achieve their anticipated goals. The sharing of ideas and perceptions is essential in appreciating the competence and capacity of each member of the community. The development of social media has encouraged the same sentiments but in a wider scope. The integration of culture and beliefs has been enabled through the diffusion of unique values from one setup to another (Hogan, 2015). The norms associated with particular society are known creating room for the possibility of embracing it across the world through the adoption and conformity processes. Changes in the behaviors among members have been contributed through the content being shared through the different applications. One of the most significant aspect social media is the number of friends one can associate with at varied locations. The sharing of live videos and next pictures assist members to feel being part of the distance friendship, which leads to internal happiness. Social technology is responsible for opening up the international society to be accessed resulting in the sharing of the cultural diversity and the culture. Such a move has enhanced the changes in the society through the adoption of the fashion, behavior, and lifestyle across the borders (Jensen, 2015).

Furthermore, the community is sustained through the economic activities that are meant to generate income. Since the ancient period, trade has been the process by which the society has been building the value of the existing brands and products. The changes have been associated with the desire for quality and affordability. The objective of increasing the profit margin has called for competence within the business environment. Trends in business have been linked to the reduction of costs, use of technology to improve quality, and customer retention to counter competition. The introduction and eventually the development of social media have altered the strategies of companies in the corporate sector. The social technology has transformed the marketing approaches for business to consider the social sites as the new grounds to catch up and interact with the customers (Akyol, 2013). Social Media Marketing has become the current focus of customer-oriented organizations. The creation of online shops has boosted sales, and most transactions are currently conducted online for clients to save time. Firms have been obliged to conform to the changes within the society propagated by the introduction of the social media (Dorenda-Zaborowicz, 2012). To some extent, such a move is associated with an extra cost; however, it is necessary for enterprises to get in touch with their customers including following them to where they spend most of their time.

Nevertheless, the introduction of social media has also created extreme impacts on changes in the society. Through the available platforms, the subscribers have emulated the negative behaviors of other communities and have tried to divulge the same to their environment. The elites have propagated the erosion of norms and values, which had been preserved over the years (Siddiqui & Singh, 2016). The reasons put forward for the consideration of the external characteristics are associated with esteeming them as paramount compared to what they had cherished for many years. The lost values have altered the process of mutual coexistence among the communities such as the effective communication filled with courtesy and respect. Cases of individuals being daring and neglecting the age barrier have seen the development of contempt for the elderly and the fallout among youths. The position of women, children, and the elders in the society according to their respective responsibility and level of accountability has been challenged through social media interaction, which later is reflected in the real life situations (Siddiqui & Singh, 2016). The level of responsibility in the society has decreased because of the adaptation that emanates from the democratic engagement associated with social platforms.

Besides, the social media has changed the criteria used to determine what becomes relevant to the public through agenda setting. The culture of making headlines based on the relevance and the weight a subject carries has been zeroed. The public now determines what interests them by setting a culture within the social media. The capacity of the users to generate an artificial attention has affected the nature of news coverage and what is reported as being the most relevant opinion. The reporting media are faced with the dilemma of deciding what to give priority since conforming to the artificially created agenda has a higher affinity based on public demand. The setting of the public agenda creates a false impression of the relevant issues since the chances of leaving important matters uncovered (Groshek & Groshek, 2013). The priority of the users of the platforms may be driven by personal motives, which could not be signifying the perception of the entire community. The hashtagging process and viral sharing options have been used to influence the matters to be prioritized through the normal mechanisms, whose weight matters based on national concerns. Such an inclination explains why political matters are currently regarded as the most accessible and relevant as compared to development agenda and other social issues.

Moreover, for years crime and other malicious activities have been part of the society and measures have set to try to eliminate the social problem. However, the improved technology has concentrated masses in social media creating a new target for the criminals. Cybercrime as well as social media discrimination and blackmail have been on the rise. The level of intimidation that victims face on the internet is traumatizing, and criminals have taken the advantage of the masses in the social media to profile and blackmail individuals (Salter, 2013). The transformations in the criminal activities have been encouraged with the vulnerability of the user accounts and the service providers regarding privacy and security. The changes like illegal activities have complicated investigation process since the subjects are not easy to identify. The level of profiling of groups or community is high since it easy to create a fake account with unrealistic profile preventing the identity of perpetrators. Radicalization activities have been profound with the social media since fallout groups find it safe to enhance their influence through the platforms.

In conclusion, the social media has played significant roles in shaping social changes across the globe. The focus platforms host billions of subscribers who use the mechanisms for different purposes. The creation of the new social online family has forced several activities and norms in the community to conform to the pressure emanating from the social media. The introduction of the social media platforms has enhanced the flow of communication process among groups as well as individuals. One of the most significant aspect social media is the number of friends one can associate with at varied locations. The sharing of live videos and pictures assist members to feel being part of the distance friendship, which leads to internal happiness. Important synergistic changes have been drawn from the use of social media. However, the introduction of social media has also created extreme impacts on changes in the society such as cybercrime, agenda setting, and cultural negativity through conformity of behavior. Nevertheless, the social media can create a positive impact on the community. The vast number of users has the potential to use the capacity of awareness and sensitization to inform, persuade, and educate the entire public. Such a move can be used to bring solutions to challenges facing the world such as crime, discrimination, violence, and insecurity among others.

References

Akyol, S. (2013). Social media and marketing: Viral marketing. Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. http://doi.org/10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n8p586

Dorenda-Zaborowicz, M. (2012). Marketing w social media. Nowe Media, 0(3), 59. http://doi.org/10.12775/nm.2012.003

Groshek, J., & Groshek, M. C. (2013). Agenda trending: Reciprocity and the predictive capacity of social networking sites in Intermedia agenda setting across topics over time. Media and Communication, 1(1), 15. HYPERLINK "http://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v1i1.71" \t "_blank" http://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v1i1.71

Hogan, B. (2015). Mixing in social media. Social Media + Society, 1(1). http://doi.org/10.1177/2056305115580482

Infante, M. (2010). Communication between social and media systems. MedieKultur: Journal of Media and Communication Research, 26(49). HYPERLINK "http://doi.org/10.7146/mediekultur.v26i49.2588" \t "_blank" http://doi.org/10.7146/mediekultur.v26i49.2588

Jensen, K. B. (2015). Whats social about social media?...