THE INTERNET AS SOCIAL MEDIA: CONNECTIVITY AND IMMEDIACY STUDENT’S

Introduction

Social media refers to various internet-based platforms and tools which facilitate exchange of information between people. Social media is a new method of platform of communication that enables those who use the internet exchange text messages, audio messages, and video and photo messages. Today social medium is being used in both business and personal communication.

There are various forms of social media which include internet forums, magazines, social blogs, wikis, weblogs, social networks, micro-blogging, photographs, video and even social bookmarks. According to Kietzmann et al. (2001), a social media can be differentiated with regard in its use in its seven building blocks: for conversation, sharing, identity, presence, reputation, groups and relationships.

Social media can therefore be grouped into six groups: collaborative like the Wikipedia, microblogs and blogs like Twitter, content communities like You Tube, the social network sites like Face book, the virtual networks like war craft world, and the virtual worlds like second life.

Social media are used for sharing photographs, for wall posting, for sending and receiving emails, for sending instant messages, for sharing of music and for voice over internet protocol. There are various medial networks that have come up today for example the Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and the Bebo.

The social media has grown into popularity due to applications of mobile phones. When applied on mobile phones, they are referred to as mobile social media. According to (Kaplan, 2012) there are four types of mobile social media which include: space timers that account for the location of the user and the time of use for example Facebook and Foursquare, the space-locators that account for the location only for example Yelp and Qype, the quick timers that account for time only for example Twitter, and slow timers that do not account of location and time for example Wikipedia and You Tube.

Social media has been used by millions of people for information, news, education, and other information from both print and electronic media. Compared to traditional forms of media, the social media is cheaper and more accessible. People have therefore been able to use it to publish information. It is also easy for the masses to obtain information.

Many people have turned to social media due to various reasons. The social media has a wider reach as they can reach the global audience almost instantaneously. According to Anderson (2011), the social media played a great role in the increased publicity of the 2011 revolutions in North Africa and Middle East. They are also accessible both by individuals, organizations and governments and the tools for application can be easily obtained for example mobile phones. Social media also bridge time gaps and messages are almost exchanged immediately. Finally, the social media has less permanency in that information disseminated through it can be edited almost immediately through comments.

The Public relation practitioners have also turned to social media in exchange of corporate information, branding and marketing of products. The PR practitioners are therefore able to disseminate information on their companies and brand as they listen to the audience and respond to their comments immediately hence managing their image accordingly.

However, there is less control on social media and sometimes it can be damaging. Whoever uses the social media platform should be keen to avoid resistance in their bid to influence others. In the same way, since there is less control, information posted on the social network may not be reliable and sometimes may lead to imprisonment for defamation if one posts information that soils other peoples’ reputation.

In conclusion, the social media is a useful platform for exchange of both private and corporate information almost instantaneously. However, caution should be exercised since information is less filtered and may result to injuries of individuals and companies.

References

Anderson, N. (2011). “Tweeting Tyrants Out of Tunisia: Global Internet at Its Best”. Wired. Ars Technica. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/tunisia/.

Kaplan, A. M. (2012). “If you love something, let it go mobile: Mobile marketing and

mobile social media”, Business Horizons, 55(2), p. 129-139.

Kietzmann, J. H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. P., & Silvestre, B. S. (2011). “Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media” (PDF). Business Horizons 54 (3): 241-251. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2011.01.005. Retrieved from http://beedie.sfu.ca/files/PDF/research/McCarthy_Papers/2011_Social_Media_BH.pdf.