The Pros And Cons Of Social Media

Submitted By cdromero86
Words: 859
Pages: 4

Another change that has occurred because of social media is the limited filter on communication. In the past unless you spoke to people directly you had no way to get your message out that wasn't controlled by somebody else. You could write a letter to the newspaper or you could buy time on television but these were still controlled by the newspaper and television station. This meant that they could prevent you from saying anything they did not approve of. Nowadays you can use social media to get your message out to thousands or even millions of people with it being uncensored. While there are certainly some benefits to the way that social media has changed the way we interact there are also some downsides. One of the biggest downsides being is that we tend to form into groups of people who share the same opinion as us. The result is that we are not exposed to the variety of opinions that we used to be. If somebody has an opinion that differs they are usually excluded from the group. The result is that beliefs and opinions become much more firmly entrenched than they used to be and people are less tolerant than they used to be.
Another issue with the way that social media has changed the way that we interact is that we have lost a lot of our social skills. A lot of people are completely incapable of carrying on a normal conversation or interacting with people in person because they have never had to. They simply have all of their interaction online. This is a serious concern since you can't do everything online, it is important to learn how to interact with people in a normal way.
Social media has become an integral part of our everyday lives. We find and share our new favorite clothing and food brands on blogs; we meet people with similar interests on Facebook; we get our news in one sentence on Twitter; we share a pictures of that awesome eggs benedict we had for brunch on Instagram and we can even find our future husband or wife on dating sites. We have an amazing ability to be connected, stay in-the-know and share our own interests, ideas and opinions on just about everything.
In the public relations field, it’s important to understand how social media continues to evolve, and in turn how this evolution changes the way our society communicates and receives information. We can learn practically everything about a person before we even meet them face to face. You can get to know your first college roommate before stepping foot on campus or your blind date before you ever shake their hand. We recently saw a TV show exclaim that “blind dates” no longer exist in our world. Blind date? I think I’ll Google him first.
This idea isn’t restricted to personal life, it also translates to brands and companies. Before a consumer decides to make a purchase, they have the ability to go online and find out anything they want about the product. And, it’s easier than ever to crowd source 500 of your closest “friends” to learn their opinions. We’re beginning to see that these interactions and conversations about brands and with brands via social media are an important factor in consumers purchasing decisions. In fact, in one study, 71% of consumers said they are more likely to make a purchase based on social media referrals. Today, even actions such has ‘liking’ and