How Social Media is changing the world

CHELMSFORD, U.K. - Aug. 9, 2017 - PRLog -- We have all seen the challenges facing media companies over the last few years as circulation numbers of newspapers and magazines plumb new depths. News, as it happens, is available through a variety of media: radio, television, the internet. Most people are not aware of it but the greatest dissemination of news and information is via social media. People read a post or tweet and share that information with everyone on their friends list. This has a remarkable ripple effect and disseminates up-to-the-minute information as soon as it happens or with live Facebook reports, whilst it is happening.

Newspapers have digital versions online and heavily invest in social media to promote their reports and brand.   Thousands of staff tweet and post endlessly, all vying for that message that will attract the greatest response.  Posts with higher engagement feature more prominently in Facebook pages and groups and lead to more visitors following links to online newspaper pages. Irrespective of whether it is in print form or digital, advertising is driven by numbers. Companies pay to advertise where the traffic is higher.

This constant quest has resulted in 'click bait'; those controversial and exaggerated titles that may encourage people to click and read more. These are the equivalent of nude photographs in the tabloid press or freebie enticements. The aim is to get as many people as possible to comment, display an emoticon and more importantly share the post.  Professional social media personnel reply to comments from the general public, trying to keep the conversations going. And it is this behaviour that has lead to a huge social change.

The general public have been empowered; they now have a voice. Everyone and anyone may give their opinion, get into an online argument, follow people with similar opinions and work to effect real change. Hence the rise of political support groups which resulted in surprising support for unknown leaders, online petitions that have forced governments to concede on decisions, and the negative elements such as extremist recruitment and influence of foreign powers.

Our communication systems have opened a Pandora's box of everything both beneficial and harmful. The West upholds the tenets of freedom of speech and the free web although governments legislate to curb what it deems damaging excesses.  There are laws regarding 'hate speech' which apply to comments made about race, disability or religion, however, offenders are rarely prosecuted. Social media users continue to abuse each other openly and even threaten others.  Any real control that any western government originally possessed is severely challenged; hence the development of surveillance systems and monitoring of all digital messages.

It takes a lot of time to produce the immense amount of data that is being generated by all and sundry. More photographs have been published online this last year than have ever been in existence.  Everyone is now a photographer, journalist and commentator.  People have had to develop new skills to filter out false news and scams.  Truth and trust are two casualties of the digital world.

Is much of our digital activity purely time wasting or are we any better informed?