Social Media Use - Essay Example

Introduction

Social media refers to a digital platform or tool that enables users to create and share their content with the public quickly. Its design is made so that it is internet-based and allows users to have a fast electronic communication of content. Social media includes apps such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and Snapchat (Naveena, 27). It also includes a wide range of websites. China, India, and America lead the list of social media users in the world. Social media is an indispensable tool to businesses in many ways. Firstly, most companies use the social media platform for brand awareness. It helps the business compel and grab potential customers' attention, thus broadening their market base.

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Secondly, it facilitates a cheaper and faster channel of reaching many people. For instance, social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook are much less expensive in promotional activities than traditional advertising methods. The costs associated with maintaining social media presence are minimal.

Thirdly, social media facilitates easier business interaction with customers that improves customer service experience. The business can interact with its customers and respond effectively to the feedback. This effective interaction with customers can persuade other potential customers, especially with positive feedback, whereas negative feedback from customers’ highlights the areas to be improved.

The Worse Thing About Social Media

Despite having so many advantages, social media, on the other hand, has negatively affected society. First, social media has provided easy way for hacking private data for businesses, thus resulting in financial losses. Also, business customers' data can be hacked easily through social media, affecting their individual lives. Therefore, all the users are advised to keep their personal information and account private to avoid such a scenario.

Reasons for Being Optimistic About the Use of Social Media

The advantages of social media outweigh the challenges faced. Thus, with a continuous increase in technology and the number of people using social media, social media's power leads to the country’s GDP growth both directly and indirectly. Thus, the number of users are anticipated to increase twice fold benefitting expanding markets for businesses.

Content Access

Even though China offers an enormous market to google as the number of internet users in China has increased significantly over the years, google shut down its search engine. The reason why Google shuts down its engine is because of the censorship problem. The company realized a cyberattack in the country that targeted its customers and that of other international companies.

Google noticed that the Gmail accounts of its customers, mostly those of human activists being hacked by the authorities. The company, therefore, decided to set up a shop in China to offer its services that were in line with the government's censorship policies as the most ethical solution.

Due to China's restrictions on speech, the company must abide by all country laws if it wants to remain operational. Therefore, the company must adapt to other markets with different cultures from that of the U.S. Even when the company continues to receive requests from China's government to take down most of their content, violating its laws, the company should obey.

Therefore, the company must submit to all requests of censorship from China's government as much as they continue being operational. However, the company should do this in a way that favors both the government and its users. It should ensure that the government does not take advantage of the company to censor other contents that are not bounded by the law and put in place transparent policies that can lead to incentives to change the stringent laws.

Media Channels

The control of media channels by fewer firms brought about by media mergers has become the norm in the U.S. Successful companies buy out other companies to increase their market power and become more profitable. However, this is not a good idea because as media companies become more concentrated, it may have negative effects such as lack of competition and being misused to pass biased political agendas. Furthermore, being commercially driven, these companies may become loyal to sponsors rather than the public interest. The companies may choose to suppress information that does not serve their interests, making the public suffer.

The government should thus pass legislation to limit media monopoly and mergers. It will encourage competition among many firms to ensure increased innovation while also preventing a hike in prices. These companies follow all the business ethics and put the public interest first before their interests.

Conclusion

It is surprising how most media companies nowadays concern more with their interests than the community's interests (Naveena 32). I agree that the future newsroom should be dynamic and demographic at the same time such that it takes care of the interest of all communities such as blacks, whites, gays, activists, and small business proprietors, among other groups. They should invest in learning about these communities and define ways to serve them better

Secondly, I agree that the media introduces news cases that facilitate communication with society members to talk. The media companies should develop other means that would help them generate more revenues while at the same time improving their relationship with society. For example, they can become service providers competing with other organizations such as agencies dealing with public relationships but ensuring that they put the public's interests first (Naveena et 36).

Finally, I also second the thought of cross-pollination in the media industry, such that each side learns from the other. It will help develop and serve the community better (Naveena 39). The media companies should be focusing on hiring a new team of competitive journalist and technologists to help incorporate the culture and better serve the communities.

Works Cited

Naveena, N. (2015). Importance of mass media in communicating health messages: An analysis. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSRJHSS) Volume, 20, 36-41.