The Power of Social Media on Social Perspectives - Paper Example

The Internet brought about many ways through which information can reach a huge amount of people. One of the many ways that created a simple platform for sharing various types of content was social media. Social Media has risen to become the worlds most favorable way of communication on a social level as well as professional capacity. People from different cultures, social backgrounds, and professions can all sit around their tables at home, or their work desks at work and log on to social media platforms to get a look at the trending topics. These topics range from different aspects of life, including sports, economy, and business, social, religious and educational content among others (Bayer et al., 2016). However, the most significant aspect of social media is how it has been used to shape our lives.

The content communicated through social media platform touches specifically on different aspects of our lives. Social media has become a mirror for our lives on a societal level. People are able to be part of the online society or community while discussing various issues that affect the society at large. The most interesting aspect, however, is how social media content has affected our view of different faculties of life (Lewallen, 2016). According to research on the effect of social media, influence, people become affected more with content on social media than the content they encounter while offline. This alludes that social media content has a much more influential capability than content communicated through traditional media.

In the last decade, social media have risen from a complicated channel of communication in which the tech-savvy portion of the population can only access to the all-inclusive platforms that have become the meeting place for different types of people. Research indicates that most people interact with each other through social media rather than email or cellular communication. The influential aspect of social media can, therefore, be removed from the profile of arguable topics. It has been established that content on social media has far much more reaching consequences than traditional media. The effect of social media on the perspectives of the lives of the people living in the 21st century is, therefore, an issue that is not up for debate. The focus on the most influential aspect of social media has been the purpose of most research conducted in the last decade. Social media has majorly affected the perspectives on different aspects of life, such as food, education, and clothing among others. Ideally, trending content seems to acquire much focus than any other type of content on social media. This has alluded to the fact that people always want to be viewed to be informed individuals always up to date with the latest fashions, mews among other things that affect their daily lives.

It has been commonplace to find that people always adhere to the types of content they come across on social media. For instance, the image created about the ideal body shape, size or weight for women has been the most effective aspect of social media that has been noticed. Women all over the world have been affected by the various body images they have encountered in social media. The content of body image affects the lives of women in a more significant manner than any other form of media (Ghaznavi & Taylor, 2015). However, not only do women become affected, but also conform to the accepted standards of life on social media. It is not unusual to find out that most people rely on social media for different important decisions affecting their lives on a daily basis. Therefore, social media has been the basis for the lifestyles being led by most people in the modern world.

First, social media have highly influenced the physical fitness aspect of an individuals life. After looking at various images on a popular social media site, for example, Instagram, it is evident that the fitness images being depicted online are the cause for many people signing up for gym sessions to acquire the body image being portrayed in social media (Borah, 2011). In view of this, the self-esteem of women is lowered when they encounter content that portrays a body image that is not similar to their own. This type of content prompts the women to become subject to different activities of life in an effort to conform to the image of physical fitness portrayed on social media.

Secondly, social media has affected not only the aspects of body ideals, but also those of the ideal lifestyles. As one traverses the different types of content on social media, it is evident that a certain type of lifestyle is being depicted. This lifestyle is mostly material in nature and lacks the morals and ideals that ensure ones lead a socially acceptable life. However, the societal definition of what is accepted and what is not has changed significantly over the last years. Thereby making the acceptable what is being shared or portrayed through social media. This prompts people to categorize those who adhere to traditional ideals of a good lifestyle to be out of date with the trending issues in the world.

It is prudent to note that the current generation of the youth is highly affected by social media content. Their constant interaction with different types of content on social media platforms tends to create a form of fundamental perspective on the ideal life that one should lead. The framing theory indicates that social media content has become so much influential to a point where it dictates what is salient and what is not. Furthermore, this theory actualizes the effect that the framing of different content, such as body image on social has on the recipients of such information. For instance, just like fitness magazines, social media content is effective to a point where it actively shapes ones life on a day-to-day basis. The most interesting aspect, however, is that content on social media is created by the users rather than traditional gatekeepers of media, which creates an issue of the content being more receptive than traditional content.

Journalism and Digital Media

Journalism-related to the communication of a wide range of content affecting the society. Traditional ways through which journalism was conducted have become obsolete in the face of digital media. It is evident that there is a new form of media that is taking over the world at a fast rate. In the face of rapidly changing technology, journalism has been at the edge of becoming completely obsolete. Traditional journalism was viewed as a means of communicating information to the masses in effective ways. The digital media landscape has, on the other hand, created a means of communicating a wide range of information in a manner that beseech the economic aspect of traditional journalism (Franklin, 2015). Traditional journalism has therefore lost its chance to be effective in the modern world of information and technology. In discussing the emerging trend of digital media, professionals and scholars argue that traditional journalism is bound to take a back seat to the influential nature and effectiveness of digital media. However, a different narration seems to erupt from the debate on the viability of traditional journalism in the age of digital media. Therefore, journalism ought to take a different route that is not the same as the one taken in a traditional perspective to ensure that its viability in the face of digital media is impenetrable.

Traditional media were based on its advertising rights. Most of the journalism forms made money through advertising. However, the economic situation has been much eroded by the invention of the internet and computing devices. The fusion of the internet and computing devices has produced a very of communicating information. The effectiveness of these entities that form the basis of digital media is through their ability to reach a wide number of people within a short time as opposed to the traditional print media (Jacobson, 2017). Nonetheless, traditional media has its share of the market, however not as big as the chunk that is owned by digital media. The modern age is based on the ability to transmit a piece of information in the most effective way possible.

The use of digital media has become common in this modern age of information. It has redefined how people gain access to various pieces of information that are significant to their lives. Digital media provides the ability to gain information in real time or rather as it happens. This capability tends to out shadow the rather traditional communication channels that are still used in journalism practices of the 21st century. This indifference has created economic issues that are bound to put journalism firms out of business. The worlds population is characterized by people who understand the use of computing and mobile devices that are largely connected to the internet. Therefore, the better part of the world has embraced technology, and they continue to embrace its advancement on a day to day basis. Therefore, people have moved away from the traditional ways of acquiring information that makes the idea of traditional media appears to be outdated.

Ideally, the effectiveness of digital media lies in the ability to use less cost for a wider reach of people. Broadcasting information through the Internet is viewed as being more effective than radio, television or the newspapers. In view of this, it has become commonplace for people to get information faster through the internet such that television broadcast becomes a point of reminding viewers of what happened during the day. This is evident through various statistics that show how companies in the United States and the United Kingdom are making losses due to the low circulation rates of newspapers and other forms of print media such as magazines and journals (Mansell, 2011). Therefore, journalism is at the threshold of becoming an economic activity that is not viable in the face of modern technological advancements that change on a daily basis. The ability of journalism to be redefined lies on the adaptation of technology that defines the communication channels to be used. The future of journalism, therefore, lies in its use of digital media for the purposes of communicating information to the masses.

In the economic perspective, journalism has become a traditional way of conveying information that is not as common as it had been in the past. People have moved from reading printed newspapers to reading blogs and websites belonging to journalism firms. This provides significant challenges for the rather traditional journalism firms. It is evident that the most effective way of gaining information in this age of technology is the Internet (Westlund, 2014). The process of acquiring this information requires only two things, a computing device and access to the Internet. This is less cost intensive as opposed to the regular purchase of printed media such as magazines and newspapers, which brings about subscription fees that make it economically viable to choose digital media over traditional journalism/media.

Furthermore, the revenues gained by traditional journalism through printed advertisements have significantly decreased in the recent past. Advertising strategies that employ the Internet have a far more reaching capability that traditional means of adverting. Advertising through the Internet provides many possibilities that would otherwise not be envisioned through the use of traditional media. One of the possibilities is consumer analytics information, which ensures that the advertisements being depicted relate in one way or another to the interest of a specific individual or group of people. The effectiveness of digital advertising has pr...