With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, social media has rapidly become a vital communication tool for information generation, dissemination, and consumption. Likewise, it has also become a business, corporate, entertainment, and educational platform generating considerable revenue in a time when a lot of physical avenues have closed down.
On the occasion of Social Media Day today, let’s look at how it has impacted our lives and the world during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Battling the pandemic
Social media has become a pivotal communication tool even for governments to disseminate crucial information to the public. The platforms have provided easy access to seeking health information, which empowered people to evaluate health-related risks and manage global health concerns.
Likewise, the support from social networking provided a way of showing care and value to people within the networks. This explains how social networks embed individuals into social obligations and communication networks. For example, when a certain individual contracted with the virus and posted about it in his/her network, he/she was provided all forms of support through the members who may or may not know him/her. Likewise, if someone was in any form of need, many lending hands came forward as word spread through the network.
The informational support provided by others who are helping to share the experiences to provide health information about the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic also came as a rescue and ground zero information to many.
The platforms also served as a place where vital information about health behavior could be spread. From wearing a mask to maintaining physical distance, the message had been and is being spread through social media.
The Fake News Chaos
With rampant posts, forwards, and claims, people have unfortunately found themselves overwhelmed with news containing fake reports and misinformation, which, for those without the right skills, can be complicated to digest. This situation has generated confusion within the population and has also influenced some statements by public figures and politicians that have in turn have led to further repercussions on public opinion. The general population has, in good faith, taken the information, including fake news, most relevant to their own personal situation and has used it to formulate their own interpretation.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the medical community also played a role in making the situation even more confusing by giving sometimes inaccurate and in some cases contradictory indications on COVID-19. There have been numerous media debates about who advocated distinct conflicting positions: on one hand those who were inclined to spread alarming news and on the other who had optimistic ideas that supported a non-hazardous nature of COVID-19.
A few weeks after the start of the pandemic, comments from non-specialists could be seen in the mainstream media. It seemed as though the entire scientific community (gastroenterologists, nephrologists, surgeons, neurologists, etc) were releasing statements and writing articles as if they were the main experts of COVID-19. The massive presence in the mass media of doctors who expressed their opinions, sometimes not supported by scientific evidence, could be interpreted as a desire to get popular rather than the need to provide the correct indications. The alarming tone of some experts has caused in some cases a rush to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) and alcoholic detergents. This fact partially contributed to the lack of PPE in the clinical sector and to a disproportionate increase in the prices of these products.
Social Media For Business
Social media provides targeting capability, as well as reach and scale, at a lower cost than almost all other marketing channels. And when physical outlets shut, this turned out to be the preferable marketplace for sellers.
Facebook has the largest audience and the most room to customize social media marketing, so almost all businesses and sellers who go online tend to have a Facebook account or created one during the pandemic to run their business. Twitter is the best for receiving feedback from and directly engaging with customers, so this again was chosen by all large-scale companies. Pinterest became ideal for small and niche businesses that marketed directly on the site. Apart from all, YouTube is arguably the best social media for driving traffic to other websites, such as a company webpage where customers can make purchases. So, every business started to post its ads on Youtube.
Social Media And Entertainment
Fans around the world are now able to communicate with their favorite celebrities in near real-time through social media. As public events and appearances ceased in the outbreak, the platforms became vital for the personalities to stay in the limelight and business.
The social media era has made the “15 minutes of fame” a reality and transformed how we think about stars and entertainment in general, says Andy Warhol. And it’s absolutely right. Social media has brought out the concept of getting ‘viral’ that is reaching thousands, lakhs, or millions of people through the platform by doing or achieving something that makes someone stand apart and get noticed. But this fame is truly short-lived. Amid the pandemic, the amount of viral content is increased manifold due to an increase in the time spent by the audience on the platforms.
Social media has completely changed the dynamic of what it means to be “Internet famous.” There is literally a whole group of Internet influencers who are literally “famous for being famous.” This in turn has made them celebrities who endorse brands and campaigns.
Social media is now viewed as a “platform” for making money, and not just as a communication medium. In the pre-social media and corona era, a top singer released a single album per year and then toured the world to promote it. Now, they use platforms like YouTube, Instagram, or even Spotify to monetize all of their new creative content.
Social Media’s Impact on Education
As schools have closed since last year, all the classes, and materials have gone online and become a vital source of education for students. Even examination and all other forms of evaluation are being done online in these testing times.
Yet online learning has become a constant source of distraction for kids. Students tend to lose their concentration and instead enjoy browsing on social media. All of this conveys to wastage of time. Students are often incapable of submitting their work in the specified time frame because they are more concentrated on browsing social media platforms.
The reading habit of children has also been affected by online sources and learning. They are now miles away from books, and always on the phone, tablet, or laptop for anything and everything.
Students using excessive social media do not take their meals on time, do not take proper rest, and continuously being on a phone or laptop can also have adverse effects on their eyes. Such actions make students slow and unambitious to study or even go out and meet other people.
Everything in this world has two facets, it’s up to us which we choose to focus on.