Angelina Cubillos
AP Seminar
Ms. Cucurullo
9/27/21
Is social media making people less social?
Ever since social media has been implemented into the world, people have been able to
communicate and connect with others due to its effective functions. This can be seen in modern
social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram which have taken the world by
storm. Although many argue that social media makes individuals less social, that could not be
farther from true as social media has increased student to teacher engagement, has allowed
businesses to enhance their customer relationships, and has increased public awareness on
certain issues.
The use of social media has provided a single location for instructors and students to gather
their ideas, discuss them with their peers and publish in a form that can be modified. According
to the article, “Exploring the Potential Benefits of Using Social Media in Education” By Rdouan
Faizi explains how “network sites like Facebook, Ning, MySpace and Twitter that serve as online
communities via which users connect with friends or colleagues, and share ideas and resources.”
Within these networks, sites enhance students to participate at all times due to collaborative
interaction and facilitating participation. This allows for students to have plenty of chances to ask
questions, offer suggestions, and get feedback from their teachers relatively fast. As a result, they
will have more opportunities to form supportive relationships with their professors.
Social media allows for people to become more aware of important issues going on
globally. This allows for people to not be blindsided but instead knowledgeable in all things
relating to current issues. Author Dwivedi mentions in “Role of Media In Social Awareness,”
“The media is an important source of information through its news segments, entertainment and
allows for exchange of our ideas, suggestions and views for related matters”. A recent example
of this would be when Black Lives Matter Movement was occurring during the beginning of the
pandemic in 2020. People were able to voice their opinions about all that has been going on in
terms of the blacks oppression which is due to the constant racism they have been facing for
years. Thus, people are able to get their voice heard across the world through the use of social
media being able to get information fast enough on the web in order to create awareness.
When getting the customers attention and being well known by the brand name, this can
attribute public awareness as it benefits if the organization is approachable and pleasant to its
customers. Social networking such as Facebook or Twitter has allowed the public to share
images quickly and instantaneously, allowing all of its users to post photos that, in many cases,
may allow businesses to sell more goods and build on that customer to seller relationship. In the
article “The History of Social Media and its Impact on Business” author Edsomwan claims,
“Engaging in social media will help strengthen the brand experience which will support brand
building. A company becomes more attractive to the customers and potential employees, if it has
a well-built brand name which nowadays is mainly done through social media. Social media
platforms like Instagram are becoming very business-friendly in terms of allowing customers to
easily access their websites and reach out to the business if there is anything they need clarifying
on. As a result, social media will help in building a good reputation for a business organization
as it grabs the people's attention in the media
All in all, having social media as an essential tool to engage others to communicate and
connect with others around the world not only has made people through the media increase
student to teacher engagement, increase public awareness on certain issues, and allowing
businesses to enhance their customer relationships. Considering this, social media will continue
to make individuals more social as it allows for so much interaction with others.
References:
Dwivedi, Pradeep Kumar. “ROLE OF MEDIA IN SOCIAL AWARENESS .” International
Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences, vol. 1, Aug. 2013, pp. 67–70.
Edosomwan, Simeon. “The History of Social Media and Its Impact on Business.” The
Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, vol. 16, no. 3, 2011.
Ansari, J.A.N., Khan, N.A. Exploring the role of social media in collaborative learning the
new domain of learning. Smart Learn. Environ. 7, 9 (2020).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-020-00118-7