SOCIAL MEDIA: THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY

If you get stuck in Portharcourt traffic on a Friday evening in a bus going from Choba to Mile 3 you'll realize that for every one in five persons there will be laughter and chuckling, heads buried in smartphones, watching videos on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok. The normalcy of this pattern very surprising but still very basic. Trends, Reels, Contents and Memes minimalizing if not replacing human to human interactions.

One day, eventually, you may decide to do more than be a keypad warrior and meet up with your Instagram sweetheart. Minutes into your date you will realize you both had gotten engrossed in your phones, your social media, not for boredom or lack of conversation but as a necessity. At the end of five hours the only thing asides debit alerts you gained would be picture memories of a day you remember in scattered bits.

The amount of unproductive hours spent on social media has more reasons to it than just indulgence and idleness. Scrolling from one social media platform to another happens consistently because social media platforms know the things that interests you and always shove it in your face. How does social media know that much? 

HOW IS DATA BEING USED ON SOCIAL MEDIA? 

Social Media has the success stories of simple humble beginnings. Apps like YouTube starting off as a dating site, Facebook as an app that connected Harvard students, Twitter allowing you send short messages like text messages to a group of people. 

Over the years social media has evolved into a platform for marketing, and a platform to build a personal brand. Social media can be used as a digital portfolio( e.g LinkedIn) and  has even created job opportunities ( Social media managers, Content Creators, etc).

Have you ever wondered why instead of creating new social media platforms you hear more of buying off an already existing social media platform? It is not because they cannot do so but because the data is more important to the investors. Any information you give to an app after agreeing to their terms and conditions can be used for their benefits and even shared. 

Data is shared for the following reasons: 

1. Better User Experience: Tracking and monitoring data helps social media platforms serve their users better. That is why the things that pop up on your news feed may differ from what pops up on another person's. This is also because of the kind of contents you interact with, the ones you comment or react to. All this information helps social media tailor contents that specifically suite you. 

2. Help fix bugs: Tracking your interactions and data helps social media understand what is working and what is not. It allows them correct errors and fix bugs.

3. Target you with ads: Do you think any business that exists wouldn't want to make sales? Social media, like every business, tracks your data and interactions to target you with ads that they know you're going to buy from, click the next link or register. 

Social Media: The Good

We cannot deny that marketing, sales and even communication has been positively affected by social media. Before social media became so common it used to be very expensive to call relatives who lived overseas with regular call credits, but with WhatsApp voice calls for example, you can reach anybody as long as they  have a good internet connection. 

Also, during the Covid-19 pandemic a lot of businesses had to take their business to social media and that was when social media management and social media marketing became a necessity. So not only has social media provided us with new modes of communication it has also created new career paths. 

There's an online joke about how all the therapy you may need is just a smart phone and a good internet connection. Social media provided comedians and actors another way to showcase their talents in short form videos called skits. 

Social Media: The Bad and Ugly

Like with everything that has advantages there is always disadvantages. Yes, social media pays some creators, but is it all rosy? 

Social media statistics records that there are over 4.8 billion social media users worldwide and the average one spends over 2.5 hours every day using social media. With technology getting more and more advanced does it get any better? It is not strange to hear people joke of how they spend over fourteen hours a day on social media, is that not an addiction? If it is, are we not all addicted? 

There is also the mental and psychological disadvantage of spending so much time on social media. The feeling of inadequacy, like you have run out of time. The feeling that everybody knows what they're doing asides you, like the world is a full circle of perfection and you are the imperfect one. It is easy to loose yourself to filters and aesthetics. With texting and facetiming the in-thing, would face to face interactions not become a thing of the past? 

 

Remote jobs have creeped into every industry, becoming very common now. Every niche and industry is very represented on social media like an online community of runaways. But the real question is are we all going to become creators? We are reminded to embrace new trends and technologies but really, what will ever be too much?