Social media has become a go to form of communication for people of all ages.
The widespread access to these social media sites have allowed changes in the way that media is distributed.
Peer-to-peer distribution is when users have the ability to store, send, and accept communications from other users. E-mail and Facebook messaging are some of the ways that peers can communicate with each other digitally. Viral marketing is the spreading of news and information by word of mouth online without the use of traditional marketing and advertising methods. This is exemplified through Facebook "friends" having the ability to post links that they want to share, either with a specific "friend", or collectively with all of their "friends". Finally, user generated media has become seemingly ubiquitous in our world. Just about anybody with a computer has the opportunity to produce media and then to communicate it to a large and sometimes unknown audience. Blogs like this one (and more widely read blogs) are a perfect example of how media is becoming more open and diversified. I am a lowly college sophomore, not a journalist, and without the internet I would have a very limited audience and for that matter limited sources.
Digital media allows for users to generate media and post it to a hypothetically infinite audience.
I (and any computer owner) have been given the opportunity to share self-made media with the world, the president could be reading this, or even the pope! (Hi Papa Bene!) The ability to create and publish our own media is certainly positive for those creating the media because we can now share our ideas with a large and possibly infinite audience. However, this easy access to creating media can lend itself to underdeveloped opinions being shared. Consumers of media now have to either do their own research to verify what they encounter on these digital media outlets or they run the risk of blindly accepting poorly developed opinions.
The future of technology, like anything, is uncertain but I do believe that the increased use in social media and blogging in the digital age will lead to a more open and diversified mass media experience.
I totally agree with your argument on “how social media has become a go to form of communication for people of all ages”. For instance, my mom actually uses Facebook to connect with other relatives, or to communicate with me easily since I’m an international student and living really far away from home. Nowadays, employers use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Bloggers as a tool to get more information about their perspective employees, instead of just looking at their resume.
ReplyDeletePeople now do take advantage of different types of social media to get in touch with people anywhere in the world. Moreover, in this digital age, people can get access to the internet on their phones, and connect with people through calling applications that apply a very low fee or even free!
It is really great that you explain how social media has changed how people communicate widely on the internet. However, while reading through the second paragraph where you mention how high school and college students “are taking advantage of social media sites” to keep up with the events happening around the world, there is also an unfortunate consequence called “cyber-bullying” resulting from aggressive postings, comments, and users. In my opinion, it would be better if you inform both positive and negative effect of social media.