Unless you’ve been living under a rock we’re all aware of the tremendous impact social media has on our culture. Whether in our personal lives, business or on a worldwide scale social media impacts the world in many different ways. Social media has transformed the way people communicate, socialize and make money on the internet. However besides seeing a friends or family basically document their lives through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or whatever social media you choose to partake in. The bigger picture question is, what are some of the impacts (positive and negative) that social media has on our society? Here is a closer look at the effect social media has on our daily lives, business, public opinion and politics.
Positive:
- Evaluation of Entrepreneurs:
Since the invention of social media, it has created a new wave entrepreneurs to build a loyal customer base online. This has also allowed for anyone with a desire to start and operate a business solely online. Therefore, since the emergence of various social media platforms all most ever business whether small or large corporations utilize the benefits that come from advertising their product or services through social media. This switch in advertising has made marketing more cost efficient compared to television advertisements.
- Building Relationships Online:
Social media has allowed for people all over the world to connect and build relationships. According to most research studies done in the last five years around 40% of relationships have started via social media or online dating. This might have never happened in a pre-social media world where if you didn’t meet someone in person, through family or friends it was harder to connect with people.
- Greater Awareness:
Social media has grown in its popularity so much where it has become a source of news. Many influencers use their social media platform to report, comment and analysis news stories. Whether its sports, politics, popular culture or trending stories. There are plenty of people letting their voice heard through social media. Whereas before, these platforms were created their voice might have never been heard. The power of social media has grown over the last few years with the various police shootings that have been recorded and gone viral throughout the internet have cause more awareness to this issue in America. Although this is not a new issue, but now it can be shared with the masses of people therefore making it to the mass media outlets.
Negative:
- Politics on the Internet:
Since all most every social media platform is free anyone can share their views. One of the most trending topics especially in the United States over the past couple years have been politics. Rather it was Donald Trump controversial campaign or analyzing President Obama presidency. There are all type of opinions circulating over social media. This caused many people to show more hate than love for whatever side of the fence they laid on. Not to mention our new President known for tweeting out every emotion or thought that enters his mind i.e. the launch codes. However due to social media it has caused many people to show a side of them that they probably wouldn’t share if it wasn’t for those 140 characters.
- Addiction:
One of the most overlooked downsides to social media is its addictive power to disturb our personal and professional lives. For example, it is easy to login into Facebook and start scrolling down your news feed and end up wasting a whole hour or more. This can cause us to waste a lot of time if we’re not mindful of the time we spend online. The age group 14 – 31 are affected the most by being addicted to social media, because for many of us we’ve had it in our lives for much of our teenage to adult life.
- Frauds & Scams:
Throughout history there has always been frauds and scams done to get people to give up their bank account number, credit card information or social security number. For example, a popular one is the “If you have $500 dollars I can make that $5,000 dollars”. This is just one example of the many ways people are running scams via social media. Just as it was in the past scammers usually key on desperate, lazy i.e. people who want money without working for it and older people who might not be aware of scams and frauds as easily.
- Reputation:
As many of us know our reputations, careers or public perception can be ruined by spreading the wrong message online. Rather it’s the pictures we post, statements we make or the activities we condone.
Final Thoughts
Unfortunately, just as in life there are a few downsides to social media, but in the end, there has been a lot of great things to come out of social media. It has created a massive number of jobs and offered a new career in marketing, content creating and the opportunity for financial freedom. What’s your thoughts do you think social media has more advantages or disadvantages? Comment below & if you liked this post please share!
Copyright ©2017 Jay Colby All Rights Reserved.
Jay Colby 
Social media is a perfect mirror to allow society to see its distortion.
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Exactly thanks for reading!
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I think moderation is the word here. Every time I feel myself slowly slipping away into an abyss of wasting time on Facebook I have to delete the app for a little bit and find other more productive things to do. Whenever twitter isn’t fun anymore because all I see is disagreement I know it’s time to go. I think you have to be careful just how much you’re on there and be aware of the impact it’s having on you is all. Otherwise I think social media is a beautiful thing used correctly.
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Yes, we will be discussing the power of social media on my Sunday’s Podcast.
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As with anything, I think social media is good or bad for us as individuals depending on how we use it. I’ve made some great friends through social media and sold my book to people across the world that I wouldn’t have been able to connect with if not for social media. But I also sacrifice some of the time that might be better spent doing other things on social media so there’s that.
Great discussion points.
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I see friends use it for anything from cat memes to spewing political refuse. I prefer the cat memes. I try to share things that friends far away would find interesting, funny, or relevant. I stay away from religion, politics, and anything too personal.
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Such a Detailed and Unbiased review of Social Media from Jay colby.
Either we like it or nah, Social Media had come to stay. It had penetrated into every aspect of our lives, right from Religion down to politics & relationships. I think the key here is what #thatzimgirl said “Moderation”.
Great Post! all around.
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I believe that just like anything else there are pros and cons. Fortunately the impact that social media has depends on the person and the message they are putting out there. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. So if we post life changing content then there will be a positive impact. If we post negative cynical things then it will result in a negative impact.
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Social media is asocial media. Nothing more and nothing less. And addictive and as dangerous as drugs.
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Social media is like a double edged sword, you have to have a clear idea of what you want to get out of it, if not you can easily get sucked into all the narcissistic junk that is out there. x
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Social media makes the world smaller especially to people whose family members are living in another state or country. It is also a good platform for inviduals who wanted to express their true selves.
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I think social media has led to a rise to inaccuracies in the news to be reported. Journalism used to be about fact finding and reporting the truth so people could make an informed decision. Now it’s a battle of who can get the news out first and get hits/views in spite of the truth. And people are jumping on half-truths and proclaiming them Gospel. I wish we could go back to the old ways.
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Very important and great information. Social media is so important now!
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Interesting post! And I absolutely agree with you.
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Everything has a positive and a negative side..it all depends on how we use it..
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Great analysis of the effects of social media!
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Internet is just a poor quality copy of the world. The real world is much more interesting.
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Social media is like fine wine, it’s great in moderation. There’s many advantages, if you don’t make it a major part of your life.
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I love that social media has created jos for people and brought people together that may not have met!
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Totally agree with the pros…….for the downside, we need to work on having a balanced so that totally ignore building real relationships and holding proper conversations
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like anything social media also has some pros and cons.Rather than focusing on negative points, we should think how it has changed and simplified our life. So, I am in a favor of social media.
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Everything comes with both pros and cons, so is a social media. It has benefited so many of us and has equally made many addicted. I think it is completely on one also, how to use it.
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