The Real Power of Social Media

Source: Mansal Denton

Ok, maybe the world hasn’t come to this point as shown in the picture above. But let’s admit it. The social media era has transformed our lives in a way we could have never even dreamed of. Do you remember the good old childhood days when we all had ‘pen pals’ from different parts of the world? It would take weeks for just one letter to reach the pen pal. And another few weeks to receive their response! Could we ever imagine that few years later, it would take a second not only to deliver a message on Whatsapp but also see the person virtually in real-time from any part of the world? In the 90’s, we would have probably called this ‘Magic’ but in this era we call it ‘Social Media’.

Social Media has been a 360 degree game changer. It is embedded in our lives now. It was earlier considered more of a networking platform but now it has become so much more than that. Today, we can use Twitter to follow global trends, Skype to chat and see loved ones from any part of the world, Whatsapp for instant chatting and group chats, Instagram to follow and share amazing photographs and videos, LinkedIn to connect with people professionally, Newsbytes to read news online within few seconds and also interact with other news readers, Fitbit to monitor our number of steps walked and calories burned in a day and also compete with friends. The list can go on! Facebook, now a multipurpose social network website has become a multi-billion dollar company with the initial intention of only building a networking website to connect Harvard students.

Apart from the above, there has been a boom in businesses across all industries thanks to social media. Social media marketing companies such as Digidarts help facilitate optimum visibility and profitability of companies in the online world by offering affordable and effective social media optimization services. Social media has created a lot of job opportunities such as social media manager, content writer, digital advertising manager- and people like me are eternally grateful and thankful!

One of the incredible things I absolutely love about Social Media is that it can be used as an opportunity to raise awareness with the intention of making the world a better place.

When the unfortunate earthquake took place in Nepal in 2015, two of my friends, along with their friends created a Facebook Page called ‘Helping Hands # Nepal Earthquake’ in aid of the Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund to provide help to the earthquake victims in the form of food, water, medication, shelter and rescue. Within a few days, this group had more than 5,000 members from all over the world who were more than willing to help. Many people went out of the way to send clothes, blankets, food, money and whatever they could to the victims. Now the group has more than 9,000 people and they collectively continue to help Nepal become a better place. This is the beauty of social media.

A celebrity can make or break his/her image with a single Tweet on Twitter. Many celebrities have faced rather unpleasant and negative attention and consequences because of their unintentional (sometimes totally intentional for publicity) scandalous posts. A celebrity post can also be very influential to their fans. Do you remember how the ‘Oscar Selfie’ became an overnight rage and ever since then group selfies have become the new trend? And of course, it was a major win for Samsung’s visibility and buzz as the Oscar Selfie was clicked with a Samsung phone.