The time has come to label people of society as Netizens instead of citizens and to be a good netizen or to be a better internet person of this global electronic village; you need to be aware of what content you are posting online, what kind of content you are sharing, and how do you comment on what others share. Basically, back in time when there were no social media, people had to be physically present to communicate, to wish, to greet, to enjoy, to celebrate or to fight, to abuse, to slander someone but since the time social media has come into action, everything is just one click away.

Social media is a digital platform for a society where anyone signed in as himself or ‘anonymous being’ from any part of the world can put forward their views and their thoughts on any subject. Apart from simply communicating, it is now being used for business, entertainment, advertisements, journalism, education, and political purposes. There are more than 100 social media platforms that exist and some of them are majorly used in capturing more than 59% of the society. Since these powerful complex platforms have been born and had gained potency in the last 20 years, we can find more than 90% of youth having their own social media profiles. According to a survey, we spend around 144 minutes per day or more on these platforms.

Some of the most used SM platforms include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Some apps are so common that when you purchase a new device, they are already pre-installed in the device. These platforms provide users different types of interfaces and options to communicate with one other. Whether these incredibly powerful platforms are angels or demons for us; it is hard to answer. However, handling social media in a useful way rather than using it in inappropriate way depends on an individual. It can be advantageous as well as detrimental.

The Power of Social media

To start with the beginning, social media was introduced with the basic idea of facilitating social interaction between large groups of people through some type of network but in recent years it has gained much power. SM has gained so much power that, the most successful businesses, political parties, films would not have been this much fortunate if social media had not been there.

In terms of politics, be in India or any other country; politicians, lawyers, police departments, almost everyone is active on it. They are sharing their views on various agendas, their beliefs towards a particular community, a particular religion while the opposition opposes them. In India during the 2014 elections, for the first time in the country’s history, social media played an important role, according to analysts who called the 2014 votes India’s first social media elections. By the time Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime minister, he had more than 16 million likes on Facebook, the second most for any politician in the world, and he was the sixth most followed world leader on Twitter. According to an analyst, BJP’s social media campaign was one of the most important factors in its victory. The analyst further added that the social media affected 30 to 40 percent of the overall seats. Mr. Modi himself reached out through his Twitter account to the youth of the country, appealing to what the youth were/are looking for: jobs, security, and the use of technology. Hence, it proved that a good social media presence could get you victory with 282 seats out of the 543 seats in parliament, the biggest win by any party in India till that time.

On the other hand, in terms of business, from a small start-up to a big-budget film, everything needs marketing. And for marketing, every investor wants his product to reach the maximum number of people with the lowest possible investment and hence social media comes into this scenario. The internet and SM do change the pace, scale, and cost of communication. You can send more messages to more people, more quickly and more cheaply, than ever in history. But what you are going to say does not change just because you are using more efficient technology.

With the maximum user database, social media marketing is one of the prominent ways of selling. Not only this, as social media is a digital platform, companies are also working towards making these platforms artificially intelligent which is said to be the next big disruptive thing in technology. Say, a person searches for sneakers on XYZ.com and a few hours later he sees sneaker advertisements on all the social media apps he uses for the next 2-3 days making him purchase that product. One might not be aware of this, but Artificial intelligence remembers everything. The algorithms of these apps are slowly reading our daily life schedule, our needs, our demands; they might even know about our aspirations and dreams. Companies can now use social listening tools, semiotics, and analytics to understand how consumers interact with media, messages, and with each other. All of these put us into thinking- Are we using social media, or is social media using us.

Social media- A boon or bane

Surely, these network-based platforms help us to grow socially and economically but one should be educated enough on how, when and where to use the SM. One might be a big company, a little company, or an individual. In any of these cases, one uses social media platforms to show customers that you are not a fink. SM can help you build the idea that you can be trusted and that you know your stuff. After knowing your stuff well, you must be aware of your target audience and where would you find your audience. For an instance, if you are willing to advertise a product which is for an age group of 40-45, you would not advertise it on Instagram or Snapchat because you would primarily find generation Z on them.

Keeping aside large scale businesses, one can see the young generation earning through their social media presence. A lot of influencers, fashion models, singers, dancers, comedians, actors can be seen online on these platforms entertaining people and gaining followers day by day. This has not only provided easy access to popularity but has also proved to be efficient on a monetary basis. It has also proved to be beneficial for students; they can share notes, take live or recorded lectures, get in touch with like-minded people, or even their idols. Also, social media has encouraged a culture of entrepreneurship.

Many professions that were not seen with respect are now being given their dues. If one enjoys carpentry or makeup, he/she can become influencer through SM. Social media influencers are now selling their passion via apps like Instagram and earning a fortune as well. Another advantageous thing is that your intellect is continuously being fed with the latest updates of what is happening around the world as you get news and updates through posts, memes, quotes, articles, statuses which are being continuously shared. Since social media is a game of shares and publicity, terrorist organizations and terror groups have also been seen using these platforms to spread their propaganda and polarize people. But the corporations running the SM try to filter out their feeds as soon as they can.

While Social media has so much to offer, it also has an immense power to distract you. While some social media platforms are proved to help get you employed, some might be disastrous enough for you to get a divorce. Social media websites have also changed the era of love and relationships. People are looking for their partners by swiping them left and right and it becomes an awful state for a person when he or she suffers from separation. You might also become addicted to this social media game and have a negative impact on your health. In fact, too much of anything can be hazardous.

Create a balance

In sum, social media has both advantages and disadvantages. But, it all depends on the user at the end. We should always be aware of what we are posting online and the consequences of it as there are no well-defined strict regulations on who is allowed to use it and how. Thus, the responsibility comes on our shoulders to use it for the benefits of our society rather than fuelling chaos and havoc in it. Other than this, we should develop our own rules like what content we want to watch and how much time within a day can we allow ourselves to use social media. One must also know what kind of content is helpful and what is unfavorable. Though the debate is an old one, it is best for everyone to reap the benefits of social media while being aware of the malpractices being carried out online and strike a healthy balance between the real and virtual world and identify the difference between knowledge and disinformation.

The author is a student member of Amity Centre of Happiness.