Social Media: Cultural Diversity And Integration

Social Media Name: Institution: Course: Date: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Over the last few years communication has radically changed with the advent of the social media. Away from the traditional media, users are able to connect with one another regardless of their distance in an instant. To put this into perspective, Facebook, one of the giant social media websites serves more than 2.19 active users a month. Social media now plays a crucial role in students’ lives as well. They are able to connect with other students and access information much faster. At the global level, social media has brought about cultural diversity and enhanced social integration between different people. the most positive changes have been felt in areas such as Target Advertising, Create Social Media Followers, Visibility of Corporation social responsibility, Protesting social issues, Educational purpose and Regulation of political campaign. Introduction Social Media has developed at an astonishing speed within the modern society. Users now have the ability to connect with other users instantaneously from anywhere and at any given time. It is hard to imagine that, back in the day people used pigeons to send and receive messages by relying on their homing abilities. This was a slow form of communication as information would take more than a week to get to the recipient. However, this has since changed as people need only type away on the mobile devices and the recipient will get the message right away. The generation that has largely witnessed this transformation in the communication technologies are those that were around during the Second World War (Morrow, 2014). This is a generation that also witnessed the landing of the Apollo 11 on the lunar surface and the time that it took to transfer back small bits of information over the long distance. Social media is ubiquitous around the world, and is a series of platforms that allow the users to share their experiences, photos and videos, over their social network pages on sites such as Facebook or Twitter. They form a link between people that are close and those that are acquaintances locally and internationally. According to statistics of 2018, Facebook already has 2.19 billion active users every month. With such a platform, people are able to share information much faster, which makes it a very formidable resources for political parties as they can easily interact with millions of people in an instant. The level of convenient such technology offers also brings with it negative impacts to students’ studies and also presents a security risk associated with leaking personal information over the internet. Personal view of social media Social media platforms is a haven for entertainment and even learning. There are 2.19 billion active Facebook users, this goes to show the subtle significance of the platform in sheer scale of connectedness among users. More importantly, over the years surfing on the internet or social media has become an essential part of daily life. People can easily view and learn about each other’s cultures by interacting with the posts on the social media platform and gathering information. “The Web 2.0 technology which helped the growth and development of the social media, can be credited for the creation of a new method which people can use to communicate and collaborate. The social media allows individual on the platform to interact with one another with much ease” (Pookulangara & Koesler, 2011). Web 2.0 can provide more frequent interaction between users. For example, Wiki is the biggest Web 2.0 social media platform. Based on Web 2.0, every user can edit the articles posted on the website and contribute their knowledge to the Wikipedia. Compared to the Web 1.0, users can only read the article posted on the website, they cannot leave comments or engage in discussions under the article. At the same time readers could not receive feedback. The changes and progress in Web 2.0 give users a platform to share their knowledge and opinions with others. The culture has shaped people’s lifestyles, and in turn the lifestyles have been shaped by the individual perspectives and the social media connections (Brandtzæg, 2010). As the users interact with the information that is shared on the social media platforms, their views of the world are also shaped, as users are able to gather information from various sources across the globe. What is more important is the fact that, as the individuals from different regions interact, they also exchange their cultural values. These are platforms that help the users to interact with different people from different cultural backgrounds. The social media platforms create a community where people from different backgrounds can share their culture and history. In the past and specifically before the social media platforms came to be, there was a cultural barrier associated with the element of ethnocentrism. There were communication issues such as differing languages and technologies applied across the global platform. The social media became a powerful tool, as it brought a way to mix the cultures and enhance their diversity with an element of appreciation to match. It can be considered as a virtual culture perpetuated through the internet to promote the blending in of cultural diversities, and allow for ideas and communications exchange around the world (Johnston & Johal, 1999). The social media platforms also promote the diversity of culture, and help to establish relativism among the users. Although, the power of social media cannot fully eliminate the discrimination between different people or cultures, it provides a platform to enhance the relationships between people and understanding between the diverse cultures. In addition, social media is a powerful tool, through which individuals and organizations can be subscribed to as audiences or even build their own channels reaping the benefits that traditional media could never reach. (Lowisz, 2014) The followers’ power cannot be ignored in the present society. For example, when an online celebrity recommends any company’s products; the products will at an unbelievable speed, go out of stock from the online stores. The celebrity effects has become an irreplaceable social advertising tool which companies take advantage of quite often. In addition, social media shaped up a handy lifestyle for C2C business. People do not need the middlemen anymore; as they can simply post what they want to purchase and in what details such as colour on their Facebook page. With time or even immediately, they are bound to get a response from other Facebook users who happen to be selling the product or offering the service that they are looking for. This helps the buyers to save time and money as they look around for what they want to buy. For example, the university students have a group page on Facebook where they share about the used book. While the books are not consumables, they are a necessity for every student. The prices offered for the books are much fairer compared to purchasing a new book, which makes for quality use of money resources. As such, by promoting C2C business model this helps in the utilization of the resources across the society in a more sustainable manner. On the other hand, people’s perceptions been shaped by the information they obtain. (EDITORIALS, 2013) the social media has also influenced the manner in which people are able to access information, by moving away from the traditional media. Users can now be in a position to gather information from several forms such as videos, images and volumes. In the past when users could only access the news through platforms such as the newspaper, they could only interact with the black and white content with simple text and images. Today, users are able to interact with a host of multimedia forms, giving them a unique experience. They can create comment under the events and discuss with other readers. What is more interesting is the speed within which the news reach the users. When a post is made, users are able to interact with it instantly, preferably there are on their mobile devices and with a reliable internet connection. This is quite fast considering that users can interact with news items in real time, unlike in the past where they had to wait for hours for the news to reach them. At the same time, users are not limited to news of events that are taking place in their country, rather they have access to news across the globe. News about wars in the distant countries, to shooting in their own neighbourhoods, all are accessed in real time despite the distance differences. The social media platforms are thus able to minimize the limitations and restrictions of the physical distance between people sharing information. For example, people in Singapore can through the Facebook Live, watch the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. This is relative to the fact that the technology has linked the individuals by bringing them closer than ever and has increased the level of fun when socializing. These are also platforms that give users a place where they can relieve their stress. Users are able to interact with posts from others who are going through the same experiences and have feedback. There is a unique experience associated with knowing that others have also experienced the hardships and are willing to help, regardless of their background or other characteristics. Through such interactions, they make people feel more connected and never alone. The social media platforms have also shaped the social standpoint among the users. Users are able to come together and vote on a certain subject or even take part in a survey. For example, Sales people n longer need to beg consumers to help them finish intension surveys anymore. Companies can simple create an online survey and post on their official Facebook page, where followers can give their feedback. The data collected from the followers is quite valuable and will help the company managers to make concise decisions. These surveys managers are not only able to improve on their decision making processes there is also the element of the budget allocations for research and investment; cutting back on resources wastage. Overall, the social media platforms have shaped the world relative to three main perspectives: individual perspectives, personal view of the world, how people obtain information. The platforms have become the most popular tools for gathering information for personal use, world news, make friends and sharing opinions. Social media positive changes in society The platforms have become a subtle information gathering and sharing tool. They help people stay connected and enhanced the relationship of users. With users checking their mobile devices ever so often, this presents a rather lucrative marketing opportunity for companies across the globe. As such, it is crucial that companies are able to adapt quickly to the trends to be in a position to achieve their goals. Companies can use the platforms to achieve their goals in research, branding, advertising, decision making, visibility, education, consumer engagement and building communities. (Parveen, Jaafar, & Ainin, 2015) Aspects Influenced By Social Media Most Target Advertising Given the amount of time that people spend online and checking their mobile devices for updates on their social media feeds, this has become a rather lucrative marketing platform for companies. In a modern world where the traditional media platforms are waning, the social media are crucial for doing business. Some businesses however are still reluctant to change as they still send out mail flyers to potential customers, however this is bound to bring minimal results. How many people are willing to open their mail without? Most people will discard the mail the minute they note that it is a flyer. With such like consumer behavior, it is very hard to collect and analyse data. The drawbacks of traditional media are obvious, and as a result, companies are more willing to use the social media platforms to send their digital flyer to the potential consumers. The manager can simply check how often and how many times people click the advertisements, and can then use the data to help the company making sustainable decisions. On the other hand, it is important to consider the ease with which companies can form adverts which consumers can interact with. The companies can post their advertisements on their Facebook pag...