User:Lyra.taylor/Social media

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Social media is omnipresent in today's society, and can impact and shape lives of users in both positive and negative ways. Social media are communication channels that foster the creation of information and involves a sender and a receiver. One main effect of social media is connecting people together from different background, society and culture which has affected people social relationships.

Social Media
The term “social media” refers to the various, online means of interacting with and among society, in which people are able to share, create and exchange information and/or ideas in virtual communities, networks, and platforms. The most common and popular social media platforms are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Social media brings people together and directs them into becoming a community; social media plays a role in teaching people to be proficient members of a society. Social media like Instagram and Facebook has made us interconnected and reminded us a society of every norm and values we are meant to follow. "Media usually has an impact on society and culture and are seen as one of the major factors of social change". There are quite a number of social networking sites ranging from Instagram, Facebook, You Tube and more and each of these social media sites has an impact on the society has stated below.


 * Creating a community: First impact of social media sites is uniting people together to achieve certain objectives. People create friendships and relationships on social media and this is an important part in creating positive change in the society.
 * Without social media, social, ethical, environmental and political ills would have minimal visibility.

The History of Social Media
Before the internet, the first communication that resembled social media was an electronic telegraph sent by Samuel Morse, from Baltimore to Washington, DC. The message read, “What hath God wrought?”.

The earliest, authentic social media site was Six Degrees. Six Degrees was able to upload user profiles in 1997. This platform was closely followed by Friendster in 2001. These early social platforms were used by millions, used email address registration, and began the basics of social networking. In 2002, LinkedIn was developed for career-oriented professionals, looking to connect with other like-minded people. LinkedIn now has over 675 million users worldwide and is among one of the most popular social networking sites today. In 2003, Myspace was launched, and by 2006, it was the most visited website in the world, as it allowed users to attach music directly to their profiles. By 2008, Facebook had taken over the social media world, and has remained at the top since.

Features of Social Media
The purpose of social media varies from platform to platform (professionals connecting on LinkedIn; photo-sharing on Snapchat), however, the base features are often the same across many sites and platforms. Social media is intended to allow the user to communicate to a chosen audience. It has developed over the years to allow users to share this information instantly.

Another key aspect of social media is allowing the user to share images and visual content. Accompanied with (or without) the written content, the use of images helps convey their desired message. While some social media sites are more focused on one of these two features, they are often connected. For example, Facebook and LinkedIn primarily are used to share word-heavy content, while Instagram and Twitter, or Snapchat are used for more photo and graphics-based communication.

To connect these two features, social media also allows the user to have privacy over their personal page, profile, or network. Almost all social media is protected by having a username, email login and/or password. There is now an option to secure your social profile with a cellular phone number.

Social Media as a Tool
Social media has a wide range of uses: from communication to marketing to learning to social mobilization

Studies from 2010 show how social media can help vulnerable populations “overcome social isolation and barriers to inclusion in Canadian society”.

Social media has shown itself to be a useful tool for marketing and communications, as its purpose is to spread a message across a large population/audience. Communications and marketing specialists are able to capitalize on the use of social media by using platforms to advertise and target their particular audience.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools (from grade schools to college/universities) have turned to social media as a form to carry out classes. Zoom has become the top choice for video calls and has increased its revenue by $4 billion since 2021, a 53% increase from the previous year.