Media Influence On Social Media

Words: 1145
Pages: 5

A study was conducted among internet users in order to develop a better understanding about the influence social media on healthcare, financial, travel, and retail industries. Each of the participants were asked a question related to the different industries when it came to making purchases and the results were analyzed accordingly. The results were divided into Millennials, Generation X, Baby Boomers, and the Silent Generation. It was found that social media was influential among 40% of the participants in their travel related decision making scenarios. For the other 3 industries, social media still had a role in decision making, but it was considerably less with 25% in finance, 22% in retail, and 21% in healthcare. Similar results occurred …show more content…
What most interested me is how much of an impact social media actually has on decision making processes. I never really thought about how social media influences what people purchase, but after reading this article it makes sense how decisions can be formed based on the opinions and reviews from others in the online world. I was particularly interested in how Millennials and younger people were most influenced by social media. This did not surprise me as I know how much time younger people spend on social media, but I was interested in the industries where decision making is most commonly influenced among the younger generations. I was interested to find out how celebrities have the least amount of influence on social media users in the area of healthcare. That shocked me because our society today consists of people who want to achieve unrealistic beauty, health, and physical standards. Usually celebrities are the people who promote these standards which surprised me to find out how they had the least amount of influence in healthcare. I would think with a society extremely focused on being healthy and perfect, that they would look to the celebrities for information and guidance. I was also interested in how word-of-mouth was the most influential when it came to decision making. I personally trust word-of-mouth more than reviews I read online because I feel that they are more valid, but I would think that it would be the opposite with word-of-mouth having the least amount …show more content…
I did not understand the third-person effect in the way that it was explained. I read how the effect occurs when people believe that others are influenced by social media more than they are, but I do not really understand what that means in context. I also did not understand how industry experts had the most amount of influence on social media in travel. While I see how people would turn to experts and those with knowledge when planning a vacation, but I would think that industry experts would have a biased opinion whether it be that they had better accommodations or are being paid to promote a vacation destination. I also did not understand how people were highly likely to seek healthcare advice on social media. Social media is biased with different advertisers and followers and you never really know who you are talking to or the true intent behind the words that are spoken. I understand how people want to be in the best health possible, but I think that looking to social media for advice is not wise. I would think that for an area as important as health, people would consider the advice and opinions of close friends and family as they have had personal experience and have the best interests in mind with their