Have you ever thought about the pros and cons of social media? Every aspect of human endeavour and life comes with its share of ups and downs and so do social network sites come with the advantages and disadvantages of social media. No doubt the evolution of social media in today’s world resulted in a disruption in the way we interact, give meaning, understand and interact with the cultures around and far away from us. Other effects of social media aside social interaction include a disruption in the way we receive news content, influence how decisions could be made both at a business and personal level. So, let’s see some of the examples of social media.
5 Most popular social media sites and Monthly Active Users (MAU) as of January 2018
Let’s take a look at the 5 most popular social media sites before taking a look at the pros and cons of social media.
Facebook
I’m sure this shouldn’t come as a surprise for now as Facebook still remains the most popular social media site with the highest monthly active users of 2.167 billion users.
YouTube
YouTube is one of the world’s most visited sites for video content and ranks as the second
most popular social media site with a subscription base of 1.5 billion users worldwide.
WhatsApp
WhatsApp, still a part of the Facebook family ranks third place worldwide with a subscription base of 1.3 billion active users.
Facebook Messenger
Facebook messenger has a total of 1.3 billion active users and occupies fourth placing ranking worldwide.
Wechat
Wechat surprisingly comes ahead of Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr in the world ranking and active users index at a fifth place having 980 million users. Instagram, Tumblr, and Twitter come at 7th, 8th and 11th position on the world ranking respectively.
Pros and Cons of Social Media
Social media definitely has several unique benefits to society and here are some advantages of using social media.
Pros of Social Media
Social Media creates new social connections
The ‘global village’ concept of Marshal McLuhan focuses on the global dimensions of the internet that make it possible for people to connect, share, like, love and interact on a larger scale. Today, the barriers of seeing, talking and more have been lifted and that is one of the advantages of using social media.
Better quality of life
The social media has increased the advocacy and human rights around the world. Therefore, the impact of social media on society has been quite positive.
Social media as a source of employment
A classic example of the Pros of social media is the quality of life it can offer. First, sit-at-home parents can today earn a living from the comfort of the homes. Corporate firms also allow people work remotely from their homes while individuals earn even 6-figure incomes as bloggers, freelance writers, programmers, affiliate marketers, e-commerce gurus, etc.
Real-time news and information discovery
With billions of people connected on a single social media platform using free social media buttons through their smart devices, you can now gain access to news as it happens. Now, you have access to information and discoveries round the clock.
Great opportunities for business owners
One of the greatest evolution of social media is the disruption in the business world. The social media through advertising and traffic generation and more has resulted in an increase in the number of businesses as well as the profit margin of businesses.
Cons of Social Media
Remember it’s social media pros and cons? On the flip side of the coin, let’s see the cons of social media:
Information overwhelms
Clearly one of the dangers of access to too much information could be information overload or distraction from your goals. Inability to manage or process information could be a negative impact of social media on society.
Social peer pressure and cyber bullying
The social media opens individual to a wider audience and if the person is not prepared to face certain cultures and disruptions you just find yourself doing what every other person does. The social media initiates; pressurizes and causes people to do things just so you could become trendy or be a part of the norm if you choose not to conform, you get bullied to silence or acceptance.
Social media can entice people to waste time.
Here is a clear negative impact of social media on businesses. It takes a lot of discipline for staffs of a company and individuals because with the click of free social media icons some staff gets carried away wasting precious business time. A lot of businesses today have found a way to create restrictions on social media usage while at work due to its distractions.
Using social media can harm job stability and employment prospects
Prospective employers sometimes use the social media to access details and the activities of prospective employees to see the threads in deciding whether or not to employ. As much as it could be positive it could also be counter-productive. The social media opens the doors to many possibilities as hence the pros and cons of social media. Actions and comments on social media about an employee activity or duties could result in loss of a job.
Criminals use social media to commit and promote crimes
The web provides access to vital information for both positive and negative use. Criminals, fraudsters, stalkers and more gain access to information about individuals, companies, and countries through social media. A lot of criminal cases and frauds have been achieved successfully using the social media and by access to people information.
Having looked at the pros and cons of social media the bottom line lies in the fact that the negative impact of social media is as real as the positive impact of social media on society. We use different types of social media for different purposes both professional, educational, business and social interaction purpose just some others make use of it to promote the negatives of social media. Your social media usage depends on you or your ability to channel it in a productive and positive manner.
