You’ve heard it all before. Likes are more important than lives. Social media is tearing at the very fabric of human interaction with a chainsaw. Everywhere you go, people young and old are hunched over, staring into their smartphones, bereft of basic human contact and, scarily, bereft of the ability.
But we contend that this is a thoroughly pessimistic view, and it places blame where it should not be placed.
The reality is, social media can be an agent of positive change just as easily as it could be one of detrimental effect.
And if Facebook’s latest major update to its back-end code is anything to go by, the biggest social media networks realise this: last month, Facebook head-honcho, Mark Zuckerberg, announced a move he said would “fix” the world’s largest social network, under which the FB News Feed would prioritize posts from friends, family members, and groups over posts from publishers and brands.
Good social, bad social
But that’s not all: just as social media is said to detract from our productivity (cat videos, anyone?) and truncate our attention spans, it also has its positives. Here we list, in no particular order, the benefits of social media we value the most:
- Social media educates. How many times have you encountered a piece of unique information you otherwise might never have learned about?
- Social media opens avenues for entrepreneurs. Time was when entrepreneurs with a new product or proposed service had to market their work the traditional way; through traditional media, or if their marketing budget wasn’t that large – or didn’t exist at all – they would rely solely on word of mouth. Today, word of mouth is equally as important, but it has been upgraded. The word of mouth of today is instant, explosive, and reaches hundreds instead of tens, thousands instead of hundreds.
- Social media is reshaping business. For the better. In his latest talk during the World Government Summit 2018 (another SOCIALEYEZ client, we might add!), theoretical physicist, futurist, and celebrity scientist Michio Kaku talked about how, as markets progress, we are catapulted towards what he calls “perfect capitalism” – a market-environment where consumers will get the very best quality for the most affordable prices. And social media plays an integral role in this process, driving forth this process of refinement.
- Social media brings friends and families closer – wherever they are. We think this is self-explanatory enough, don’t you think?
What do you think? Is social media a driving force for good? Is it not? Interact with us wherever SOCIALEYEZ exists on social media – which is everywhere.
Stay tuned for another edition #SocialSpeak next week!
