Social Media: Advantages & Disadvantages

“Social media is a great tool. It is

up to the user how to use it.”

(Mark Zuckerburg, Facebook’s creator)

In the recent years, Information technology has expanded manifold, and a

lot of new technology platforms have also been introduced for people. Social
media is one such technology which has become quite prevalent. Although the
emerging social media has created certain problems, such as social manipulation
and mental health issues, its advantages, such as accountability and employment
opportunities, have greatly ameliorated human lives. According to Mkinsey
Global, social media has become an embedded part of people especially in the
recent year. It has transformed the world into a global village. Furthermore, it acts
as a hub of information. Moreover, it can also be used to run worldwide
movement for political or ideological cause. Apart from that, it can also play a role
in improving a country’s global image. On the other hand, its dangers, such as
security concerns, online business scams and addictive in nature, are also causing
adverse impacts. In addition, a number of mental health problems owing to social
media are also matter of concern. Therefore, it is imperative to deal with these
dangers in a productive manner in order to effectively harness the benefits of
social media.

As far as the advantages of social media are concerned, firstly, social media
has the potential to hold governments accountable. Social media has provided
common people an authority to ensure the accountability of elites. So, it is a
powerful tool to make the ruling class more pro-common man. Recently, Prime
Minister Saad al-Hariri had to resign owing to the protests organized using the
social media platform of WhatsApp. Furthermore, social media provides a safer
alternative to organize protests, in the form of online pressure groups, against
dictatorial regimes. Thus, it can rightly be argued that social media is a great
addition as far as the process of making governments responsible is concerned.
 Secondly, social media is a source of employment opportunities. It has
provided new and innovating ways of earning revenues to people. In this manner,
it continues to help a lot of otherwise jobless individuals. According to the official
figures given by Facebook, the company claims to have created, directly and
indirectly, 4.5 million jobs. So, social media can also help people earn money if
they use it in a productive manner. The emerging fields, such as digital affiliate
marketing, YouTube monetization, social media managerial posts and digital
content writers, can really help people boost their income. Hence, the social
media platform provides a lot of jobs to people.

Thirdly, social media is like a hub of information. One can access useful
information, such as study-related content, in a matter of seconds. Furthermore,
one can even develop a new skill using the medium of social media. The
emergence of social media-driven e-learning concept is greatly beneficial to
people. Many e-learning based platforms, such as Udemy, are imparting
productive knowledge to people. In addition, there are certain other platforms,
such as HubPages, which provide useful written content. In conclusion, social
media is essentially a source of information.

Fourthly, social media has transformed the world into a global village. The
communication channels have been revolutionized and digitalized. Owing to this,
any person living in any part of the world can communicate with others through
this medium. The famous social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter,
Gmail and Yahoo, are worth mentioning in this regard. Furthermore, there are
several business companies, operating in different parts of the world, which get
connected using social media. In a nutshell, social media has really changed the
chunks of different continents into a single entity.

Fifthly, social media has the ability to run worldwide movement for a cause.
For this, different social media tools can be used to propagate the mission of
cause, and to bring people from different parts of the world onto one single
social-media based platform. The recent Climate March, observed throughout the
world in September, was initiated by climate activist Greta Thunberg using social
media. From this example, the power of social media to provide a rallying
platform to people becomes quite visible. In a nutshell, social media provides the
momentum to organize any global movement.

Lastly, social media has the potential to ameliorate a country’s image in the
world. Owing to the features, such as VLogging and Visual Content Creation, social
media can be used to show the positive side of a country to the world. According
to the Forbes, Pakistan has been included in the top 10 under-radar places to visit
owing to the social media activities, such as Tourist VLogging on YouTube,
showing the bright side of the country. In this way, social media has helped to
diminish the negative perception about Pakistan in the minds of many foreigners.
Thus, it is correct to regard social media as a tool to improve a country’s image
globally.

Having expounded upon the advantages of social media, it is now

imperative to discuss its disadvantages. Firstly, social media poses a danger of
social manipulation of people. Rumours, half-truths and exaggerated statements
can become viral owing to social media. As a result, the people form a wrong
opinion about a matter by becoming a victim of social media-driven social
manipulation. The Brexit issue is a glaring example of such social manipulation
using which the people were led to wrongly believe that exiting European Union
was beneficial to them. So, the fake news proliferation using social media tools
can prove to be dangerous in the long run. Hence, the social media can also be
misused for the purpose of social manipulation.

Secondly, social media can also cause mental health issues. The prevalent
problems of cyber-bullying and cyber-harassment can lead to bad mood, anxiety
and depression. The Pew Research Centre has found social media to be the
reason behind many mental health problems. Owing to these problems, a person
becomes unable to live a normal life. Furthermore, women can be the worst
victim of bullying and harassment on social media. Any inappropriate viral thing
about them can even ruin their whole lives. Therefore, it is right to argue that
social media has become a cause of many mental health issues.

Thirdly, social media can have adverse impact on students’ educational

performance. Owing to its addictive nature, social media can keep children and
students away from their studies. Resultantly, their education gets affected in a
negative manner. The Nottingham Trent University’s research study has found
that addiction to social media usage can prove to be a catastrophe for any
student. Furthermore, the continuous usage can also lead to certain problems,
such as eyesight weakness, which can prove to be a severe hurdle in a student’s
educational journey. Thus, the students get negatively affected due to continuous
usage of social media.

Fourthly, social media has security concerns associated with it. It is quite
possible that one’s important and confidential information may get into the hands
of an unauthorized person. Furthermore, the cyber-attacks can prove to be fatally
destructive for any digital business. The cyber hacking techniques, such as
Phishing, can be used to breach the security, and get access to hidden data, such
as finance account code. In addition, many social media based scam business
company can blow a person with a heavy financial loss. In conclusion, there are
several security concerns attached to social media.

Lastly, social media also replaces the beautiful cultural values observed by
people. In the name of technology, social media digital platforms have replaced
the old but elegant cultural ways of greeting one another on special occasions. A
very pertinent example in this regard is the end of the beautiful cultural cards
which used to be exchanged on the special occasions, such as Eid. Now, the
method of messaging copied content on such occasions to others has become
widespread. Therefore, it is correct to argue that many important cultural values
also get vanished owing to social media.

As far as the recommendations to better utilize social media are concerned,

a number of steps need to be taken. Firstly, a strict regulation of code and
conduct should be there for social media usage. It is imperative to create a good
social media environment. Secondly, the governments need to devise better
guarding methods to fight cyber attacks. This should be done to eliminate the
case of the leaks of confidential information. Thirdly, all the scam companies
should be stopped from operating in order to safe people from economic and
financial losses.
 In a nutshell, social media has a lot of advantages, such as financial
opportunities and many others, which have been discussed in detail. Like all other
things, it also has certain disadvantages, such as scams and security concerns. This
range of issues needs to be tackled in an effective manner. One hopes that these
disadvantages would fade with the passage of time, and the maximum
productivity would be harnessed from social media. Surely, it seems difficult but
not impossible.