Final- social media
Social media refers to an interaction between two or more individual where they are able to create and share ideas and information in virtual network or community. The mode of network is usually on the internet and other service provider. A social media can also be defined as an internet based application that helps people to create and share ideas on the same platform. The application mostly depends on mobile and web technologies to facilitate its interactions. The social media has expanded in many countries around the world and it’s very common with the generation Y. it incorporates a mode of communication where users generate and share ideas and information over a virtual network or community. This kind of communication that has encompassed a different form from the one we were used to of passing message from one person to another over a wired or wireless mode. The history of social media dates back when computer networking came into existence in the early 1990s. This allowed people to create virtual networks where individuals could create and share information over a wide range of network. The need to support varied social network with a computer aided platform came into being in the early 1995 when a social network by name Theglobe.com came into existence. There were several other social networks like Geocities and Tripod.com. This mode was meant to connect people who were very distant from one another and create a platform where they can share information to a wider audience (Lardi, 2013). The emergence of computers was the initial stage in the emergence of social media as people applied networks to connect computer devices.
Properties of Social media
The technology has changed tremendously over the last few decades with great improvement in computer and mobile technology. The emergence of the telephony stage was a culmination of great innovation that revolutionized the communication industry. The satellite industry then came up followed by radio and television media that still dominate the communication industry due to eh number of people it is able to reach within a short period of time. The traditional mode of communication has brought in a new era where people are able to share and interact on a more personal way through the use of virtual networks. The emergence of virtual networks has revolutionized a new digital age in the world where a faster and easier mode of communications facilitated by the social media platform. The modern form of communication has featured some of the best properties like quality which is more improved than the traditional means of interactions. The historical media had poor frequency than the modern media platform that has improved greatly to encompass better frequency and time conscious (Bodnar & Cohen, 2012). The modern media technology has created a better accessibility to people and the incorporation of the mobile technology has effected and created more accessibility to people across the world. The modern media is more user friendly as it is more affordable and continues to improve daily.
Types of social media
The social media has taken different forms as each tries to express a different interaction with its users. Diversity and technology change in the last ten years has brought about a lot of changes as regard to social media usage and interaction. There exist different media platforms as expressed by different internet users who have incorporated other generations into the culture. In the past the social media platform was commonly accessed by youths and the younger adults but over time the platform has attracted other older generation as people try to create and share ideas and information over a virtual network. There exists different social communities sin the world and they can be tabulated as below; internet forums, micro blogging, social networks, podcasts, social blogs, social booking and wikis where people are able to share pictures and videos on a common platform.
There exists six different social media platforms in the world but the number keeps changing as technology advances with time. Some of these types can be shown below as expressed by an example in each. Collaborative projects for example Wikipedia, blogs and micro blogs for example twitter, virtual social worlds for example second life, content communities for example daily motion and YouTube, virtual game-worlds for example world of war craft and lastly social network site for example Facebook. The mobile technology has really advanced to incorporate social media platforms on the mobile device as evidence in many smart forms that have internet connections (Bodnar & Cohen, 2012). This technology has helped reach out to a number of people who lack computer networks and the need to communicate and interact with friends and colleagues is realized through mobile social media. Exchange of messages across a network is faster and easier and it has revolutionized the technology of the world. As more platforms are being created by tech specialists we look forward to an even bigger social media platform as it encompasses all people of all ages across the world.
Functions of social media
The social media has greatly improved over time to include more innovations that seek to make this platform the best medium of communication across many countries in the world. The functions of the social media go beyond helping people to interact with one another but to share and crate new ideas that incorporate the human aspect in design and application. Nowadays people are able to call and receive messages across continents in the world. The core function of social media was to create a platform where people can interact with others and share ideas and information but with time this function has changed to include other functions that can be done on a social media. Internet marketing and sales has been involved in the application as competition increases as people look for easier means to do their purchases. The internet has been a great tool where people can access information via web site links and use this links to make business choices which seeks to improve their livelihoods. The lives of human beings on the planet has improved with the introduction of the social media as it has made it easier how people share information through a faster reliable medium. The availability of internet services in mobile phones has improved the accessibility of information that is crucial in business management as an organization can communicate with a client directly by using the social media platform for negotiations. Organizations are embracing the social media in a move to see improved customer services and reach out to a wider network of customers across regions. Reaching out to a younger generation is helping organizations to increase their sales as these young generations are important investment opportunities in the future as they have taken the social media as their livelihood (Dijck, 2013). They are responsible for most of the applications being used on the platform across the world.
Benefits of social media
The social media has greatly improved the lives of people by creating a platform where people can communicate freely and easily no matter the distance. The information that one can share on the social media has made it possible for people to use it as a learning platform where people can acquire knowledge easily by keeping in touch with friends and relatives. The social media has been helpful in encouraging youths to be more innovative as they keep up with the changing technology that has included the human aspect in its platform. The social media is one of the most accessed sites on the internet and this helps in organization to include online marketing by using the social media platform to reach to people across the world. The number of people on the social media currently is over a billion people and this has seen the need to initiate new marketing skills to try and reach out to a larger customer base. The social media has revolutionized the way people interact with one another and the aspect of international relations has come into effect through globalization initiatives. Internet marketing has helped business organizations to inform and each a wider customer base by using the media platform. Human interaction has also improved and this is a good investment opportunity for people as it helps people to share their stories across a wider platform that has changed from the traditional way of life for people. The benefits of social media goes beyond reaching out to human beings to improving scientific study where scientists can use the medium of communication to share their findings with other scientists across the world.
Part B
Reflection
The social media is one of the merging trends that have shifted business operations and markets as they try to remain competitive on the market. The social media has created a special platform that still remains untapped due to its expansive mode that still baffles the internet world. The technology is changing at a very fast rate and new technological designs are coming up daily. This has led to an improvement in job creation among the young generation while also improving the living standards of people across the world. The emergence of the social media has brought in a new understanding among the political and business divide. New innovations that are coming up have been used to create a more human aspect in the lives of people through facilitating cheaper talk time and sharing of information. The social media has had a great impact on the business world through influencing how consumers access information and how they use this information to create change in the consumption behavior across the world. The internet which is facilitated by the World Wide Web has helped to create a medium of communication between two regions that are separated by land and air mass. The internet is one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century as it continues to increase connectivity among people from different regions in the world. It’s one very easier to call a person who lives in the farthest end of our planet and communicate without any problem. These inventions continue to improve daily with emergence of new technologies and applications (Bodnar & Cohen, 2012).
The impact of social media on the consumer decision making process is enormous. Most organizations have realized the need to implement the social media platform to help improve how they reach out to their customers with the right kind of information and how they can access it which aids them in decision making. A new kind of marketing is coming up where organizations and business forms are using the internet to market their goods and services over a wide range of applications that are availed on the social media. The need to reach out to as many people as possible is being led by the fact that the new generations who are the majority users of social media offer new business opportunities to these organizations. The world youth number is almost three billion and almost half of them have access to the social media and this makes it an investment opportunity for business who wishes to diversify their products to meet the needs of this new consumer groups. Introducing new marketing ideas have posed a challenge to many organizations as they lack a means of reaching out to the generation Y and thus they have used the same group to reach out to their colleagues by using a common platform that has proved successive for many organizations. This initiative has created employment opportunities for a large number of youths as they are involved in passing messages about the products that are being offered on the market (Lardi, 2013). This marketing tool is a more modern way different from the traditional method where goods and services were only offered on a common place which involved a physical market and not a virtual market as per see.
e social media and education has formed a complete platform where students and teachers can interact with one another and engage in disseminating information across the class. The virtual classroom has been made possible by the introduction of social media as a group of students can access the teachers notes and instructions over the internet and farther their education with ease. Most of the online studies are den using social media platforms which has improved communication from one person to the other in a network initiated by computer related connections. Researchers are on the other hand using the social media to conduct their research activities over a wide range of clients who act as interviewers during data collection. The information gathered this way is faster and can be used to come up with credible and reliable information that helps the research to reach a conclusion easily as compared to the traditional means of data collection (Lardi, 2013). The digital age has improved the education sector as a teacher can lecture over a social media platform for example through teleconferencing to a group of students or even using Skype to communicate with students across a wide region. The generation Y is one of the largest groups of people who use this media platform to communicate with their friends and this has eased the cost of communications as one can reach out to a large number of people within a short period of time. The social media has supported the new initiative among students and how they connect with one another in universities and colleges. They are able to meet new friends and share crucial information that is helpful in their education sector.
In understanding the generation Y and their use of the social media and how it has affected their lives. The generation Y refers to a group of young people who are between the age of ten and thirty or in short an age group born between 1981 and 1999 who have a wide range of computer and technology knowledge and use. This group has revolutionized the internet industry with their range of applications that have played a direct impact on the lives of people. The invention of the social media in the early 90s initiated a group of young entrepreneurs who have taken the world by storm by their state of the art applications and processes that have eased the communication barrier among people and how they share information and ideas over long distance. The generation Y has unique characteristics that can be seen by the older generation as outdated due to their social interaction and use of communication gadgets that have rendered personal interaction obsolete. The generation Y is among the largest users of the social media and they have helped in improving how the sites continue to attract more customers like the older generation and young adults who are slowly embracing this new technology. The interaction between the generations Y is done virtually via many applications that have been created to suit their interactions and how they share pictures and photographs over a wide range of friends and followers. The emergence of social sites like Facebook and twitter has increased the interest among young generation and how much they know each other. Internet dating over the social media has become a norm among many young adults in the world. The generation Y continues to dominate this platform with their daily applications and software that have eased and made social interactions more fun (Dijck, 2013).
The use of the social media as a platform of communication has had many benefits on the way people interact by improving on the convenience and affordability among many people across the different social classes in our society today. The impact that the social media platform has had on people’s lives is great and it continues to be more interactive as new innovations continue to hit the technology stores in the world. The digital age as it is normally referred is here with us and it has made it possible for people across age groups to improve their lives by creating a social platform that is affordable to people (Bodnar & Cohen, 2012). Human beings are social beings and it this character that continue to drive the social media platform across nations and regions to help people connect with distant relatives and friends. I cannot imagine what it would be like to have no internet at such a time like this. The social media through the internet has mad the lives of billions of people bearable and fun through virtual interaction and sharing of ideas and information over a wide range of communication devices that are not limited by distance or weather as it used to happen in the past. The benefits of social media go beyond just interactions but it has encompassed other functions like improving the education sector and initiating online marketing platforms.
References
Bodnar, K., & Cohen, J. L. (2012). The B2B social media book: Become a marketing superstar by generating leads with blogging, Linkedln, Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, and more. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.
Dijck, J. . (2013). The culture of connectivity: A critical history of social media. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lardi, K. (2013). Social media strategy: A step-by-step guide to building your social business. S.l.: Vdf Hochschulverlag Ag, A.
