The most important trend in the 21st century is the shift from society to social media in our communities. Society and social media both play a vital role in our lives then and forever.
Maura Kellar, an expert in Interpersonal Communication, “today, on social media platforms, we encounter a blending of mass and interpersonal communication, since these technologies facilitate interpersonal debates alongside mass media messages (e.g., news articles). Unlike the era of coffeehouses, a private discussion can now become public on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or opinions can be voiced in comments on news sites or blogs”.
Society can be defined as “a large group of people who live together in an organized way, making decisions about doing things and sharing the work that needs to be done. All the people in a country, or several similar countries, can be referred to as a society” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2019).
Social Media is a form of electronic communication through which people create e-groups to share ideas and information. Talking with friends and families far from us has been a concern for humans for ages; humans have been socially connected. People have always relied on machines to strengthen their relationships with changing times.
The first recognized social media site ‘six degrees’ was created in 1997. It has the same features as Facebook, Instagram, etc., which allows people to upload a profile and make friends with other users.
Then in 1999, the first blogging site became popular, creating a hype that is still popular today. After blogging became popular, social media began to explode.
As a survey conducted by World Population Review, “By 2006, Facebook and Twitter were used by millions of people worldwide. Today, it is said that Facebook and Instagram themselves have a population of a whole sized Country”.
In recent times there have been a variety of social media sites working and growing at a high pace, and the future of social media may look in the next decade or even a hundred years from now. It will be there in some form as long as humans are alive.
Today’s most prominent social media sites are Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Nowadays, all our young children are within the circle of this social media. They have given it a great deal in their everyday conversation.
The biggest problem that has been seen in social media is related to the news and political issues. Because the war is very much on social media today, it has got fake information on news or political issues from the past, which is not quite right and due to which it makes misconceptions many times.
We must remember that social media is just two decades old that’s very new in the history of Communication technology. It has proved that in shaping opinions or transmission of information, it is the fastest medium in the history of human communication. It also adds fear in the minds of the administration about how to control or manage the security of the people and state.
Written By:-
Tushar Gulia, Assistant Professor
Faculty of Mass Communication & Media Technologies
SGT University, Gurugram
