Unless you’ve been living under a rock we’re all aware of the tremendous impact Social Media has on our culture. Whether in our personal lives, business or on a worldwide scale social media impacts the world in many different ways. Social media has transformed the way people communicate, socialize and make money on the internet. However besides seeing a friends or family basically document their lives through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or whatever social media you choose to partake in. The bigger picture question is, what are some of the impacts (positive and negative) that social media has on our society? Here is a closer look at the effect social media has on our daily lives, business, public opinion and politics.

Positive:

1. Evaluation of Entrepreneurs:

Since the invention of social media, it has created a new wave entrepreneurs to build a loyal customer base online. This has also allowed for anyone with a desire to start and operate a business solely online. Therefore, since the emergence of various social media platforms all most ever business whether small or large corporations utilize the benefits that come from advertising their product or services through social media. This switch in advertising has made marketing more cost efficient compared to television advertisements.

2. Building Relationships Online:

Social media has allowed for people all over the world to connect and build relationships. According to most research studies done in the last five years around 40% of relationships have started via social media or online dating. This might have never happened in a pre-social media world where if you didn’t meet someone in person, through family or friends it was harder to connect with people.

3. Greater Awareness:

Social media has grown in its popularity so much where it has become a source of news. Many influencers use their social media platform to report, comment and analysis news stories. Whether its sports, politics, popular culture or trending stories. There are plenty of people letting their voice heard through social media. Whereas before, these platforms were created their voice might have never been heard. The power of social media has grown over the last few years with the various police shootings that have been recorded and gone viral throughout the internet have cause more awareness to this issue in America. Although this is not a new issue, but now it can be shared with the masses of people therefore making it to the mass media outlets.

 Negative:

1. Politics on the Internet:

Since all most every social media platform is free anyone can share their views. One of the most trending topics especially in the United States over the past couple years have been politics. Rather it was Donald Trump controversial campaign or analyzing President Obama presidency. There are all type of opinions circulating over social media. This caused many people to show more hate than love for whatever side of the fence they laid on. Not to mention our new President known for tweeting out every emotion or thought that enters his mind i.e. the launch codes. However due to social media it has caused many people to show a side of them that they probably wouldn’t share if it wasn’t for those 140 characters.

2. Addiction:

One of the most overlooked downsides to social media is its addictive power to disturb our personal and professional lives. For example, it is easy to login into Facebook and start scrolling down your news feed and end up wasting a whole hour or more. This can cause us to waste a lot of time if we’re not mindful of the time we spend online. The age group 14 – 31 are affected the most by being addicted to social media, because for many of us we’ve had it in our lives for much of our teenage to adult life.

3. Frauds & Scams:

Throughout history there has always been frauds and scams done to get people to give up their bank account number, credit card information or social security number. For example, a popular one is the “If you have $500 dollars I can make that $5,000 dollars”. This is just one example of the many ways people are running scams via social media. Just as it was in the past scammers usually key on desperate, lazy i.e. people who want money without working for it and older people who might not be aware of scams and frauds as easily.

4. Reputation:

As many of us know our reputations, careers or public perception can be ruined by spreading the wrong message online. Rather it’s the pictures we post, statements we make or the activities we condone.

Final Thoughts

Unfortunately, just as in life there are a few downsides to social media, but in the end, there has been a lot of great things to come out of social media. It has created a massive number of jobs and offered a new career in marketing, content creating and the opportunity for financial freedom. What’s your thoughts do you think social media has more advantages or disadvantages? Comment below & if you liked this post please share!

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