The Emerging Power of Social Media: Prospects and Problems

Social Media: A source of Connecting People or Disconnecting Them.

1. Introduction:

2. Different types of Media:

– Print Media.
– Electronic Media.
• Social Media and its Types:
– Blogs and Microblogs.
– Social networking sites (Face book).
– Social Commerce (Amazon, Alibaba)
– Social Media news (Digg).
– VoIP Software (Skype, MSN).
• Social Media as a source of connecting people.
– Connecting with unknown people belonging to other nations and states.
– Connecting people one already know,  Irrespective of their location.
– Possibility of staying connected with others round the clock.
– Little cost of maintaining connection.
– Fast and speedy connectivity.
– Easy tracing of lost contacts.
3. Benefits of Connectivity through social Media:
• Social:
– Shares information.
– Upgrades living standard.
– Serves as source of education.
– Eliminates social biases.
• Economic:
– Spreads political awareness.
– Assists in political decision making.
o Arab Spring 2011.
o General Elections in Pakistan 2013.
– Highlights public issues and grievances.
• Political:
– Gives information on economic opportunities.
– Provide platform for economic activities. .
– Renders assistance in economic decision making.
• Religious:
– Imparts religious education.
– Eliminates religious biases.
– Serves as platform of religious preaching.
• Administrative:
– Serves as source of information sharing.
– Assists in quick decision making.
– Helps in ensuring better governance.
4. Social Media as source of Disconnect of the People:
– Weakening of family bonds.
– Decrease in traditional get together.
– Decline in traditional get together.
– Decline in sports activities.
– Scarcity of time.
5. A Glimpse over some other evil of social media:
– Spoil of moral values.
– Wastage of time.
– Acts of cheating and fraud.
– Deleterious impacts on health.
– Promotion of hatred and antagonism.
– Unreliability of information.
6. Causes of Evils of Social Media:
– Absence of proper control mechanism.
– Poor performance of regulatory authorities.
– No focus on character building in educational institutions.
– Absence of other recreational facilities.
– Easy availability of technology..
– Cheaper access to social media sites.
– Incognito access to social media sites.
7. Recommendations for elimination of Harmful Impactsof Social Media:
– Application of some mandatory filters and controls.
– At national level.
– At local level.
– Launching of awareness campaigns.
– Enactment of stringent laws.
– Effective role of regulatory authorities.
– Effective role of education sector in character building.
– Provision of better sports and recreational facilities.
– Enactment of service cost.
8. Conclusion