Dr. Poonam Malik, Assistant Professor in Department of Information Technology and Software Development of Jagannath Institute of Management Sciences, Vasant Kunj-II examines the pros and cons of Social Media usage.
Originally the social media platforms were created to connect people from all over the world. Perhaps the truth is that social media users don’t even feel comfortable presenting their real selves. People are now using it as a platform for flaunting their fake fame.
Nowadays social media has become toxic for the mental health of the young generation. They do not measure self-worth on their reality or on the basis of their actual capabilities and talent but start assessing themselves on the count of likes or views they receive on their social media account. Likes and comments on their social media account post control the thoughts of a person about self-worth. Sometimes it also leads to depression and anxiety at a young age.
The other aspect of social media is commercialization rather than connectivity. Companies try to create their perfect version for the viewers. They created a market for buying fake followers from other different social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc.
The personal and official data of any social media user is a valuable source of malicious activities. Unknowingly the users hand over their data to them and face consequences later. The sudden increase in the list of followers should be a matter of concern as it can be done by social media bots who run automated tasks on the Internet. One may also lose many followers on social media accounts through these bots.
The advertising on these social media platforms has influenced power in both positive and negative ways. Approximately 70% of the popularity of fake information may be attributed to advertising. All this makes it necessary to create a policy on banning the advertisement of fake information so that it does not get popular and can control spreading false information on social media. On social media everyone including individuals, organizations, news companies, businesses, etc. showcases themselves as best and superior but the reality is hidden from the eyes of their followers and cannot be judged correctly based on their social media profiles. Without knowing the actual purpose of different Social Media platforms the organizations are using their social media account as a dump yard for their posts. They post the same kind of information on their different social media accounts which also makes it difficult for social media companies to handle such kinds of duplicate and huge data which creates big data management issues.
Rather than knowing the actual purpose of the social media platforms, some individuals and organizations are using it for their own benefit and profit-making. One should not just blindly rely on the number of followers and the number of likes on the social media posts, but it is better to evaluate and explore the actual facts about these individuals or organizations through their real-life scenarios. Social media is a virtual world that has only 15 % of reality and one should be cautious before becoming a blind follower of social media.
Dr. Poonam Malik
Assistant Professor
Department of Information Technology(BCA)
Anupama Munshi
It is such an apt analysis,very difficult to make a line between fake and reality…