Social media has grown and developed over the last 10 years, bringing us a useful tool to communicate and spread information easily but at the same time it has become a very wild and dangerous place to be in.
In the next article we are going to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of social media.
Platforms nowadays allow users to build connections by sharing content, commenting on posts, and voting on polls. This allows people to engage in a variety of discussions and share opinions.
These are the common reasons why people use social media:
Also read: How many followers do you need on TikTok to get paid?
As we can see almost everyone uses social media to stay in contact with their friends, their environment and to entertain themselves. For that reason this are advantages and disadvantages of social media.
Advantages of social media
Here are some of the most common:
1. Build your brand
Social media helps you build your brand by interacting with others and sharing information about your brand and interesting things about yourself. By sharing content on social media you can gain followers who will be interested in what you have to say. It also helps build trust between the viewer and the content creator because it creates a closer relationship with your audience.
2. Reach a large audience
Millions of people use social media every day, making it easier for businesses to find potential customers online for that reason social media has become an essential tool for businesses worldwide. It allows them to engage with customers without being physically present. When someone sees something interesting posted by someone else, they might want.
3. Connect to new people
When you use social media, you connect to people who share your interests and values. This can help build relationships, which may lead to business opportunities later on down the road and create contact for future business collaborations.
4. Create your audiences
Building an audience of people who like what you offer is super important. Having a significant online following means there’s a good chance that someone will see what you post and contact you about it later, which could lead to more opportunities for both sides, it doesn’t matter if you are a business or a content creator.
5. Target audiences based on their interests
When choosing who should receive marketing messages via social media, it’s essential not just to reach out indiscriminately but also to target those who would be most likely interested in what you have to offer. You don’t only have to focus on the people who are following at the moment but also on the target audience you will like to reach in the near future. Knowing how your audience communicates, in which apps they spend most of their time and certain details like this will help you to focus your communication strategy.
6. Free to use
Social media is free! No fees or subscriptions are involved; you donñt have to pay to create and post high quality content. You might only have to pay for some apps to maintain your content, edit or in some cases create it (like paying a monthly fee for an editing app). Still, these are usually very low and affordable if you’re willing to do some research.
Disadvantages of Social Media
Social media has become essential to our lives to the point that it is hard to live without them. This is because we interact with people worldwide and stay in contact with our environment. However, there are some downsides as well. Here are some disadvantages of social media:
1. Spending a lot of time on social media
Social media is addictive and can consume your time if you don’t have any other interests. Constantly checking their phones for new messages or updates may become anxious if they do not see anything. This can lead to stress and anxiety if people use social media excessively. As well, it can be harmful for your health. Studies have shown that when people spend too much time on social media, they have trouble getting to sleep, leading to insomnia and other sleep disorders. Also spreading so much time on our phones can lead to bad posture and back pain.
2. Decrease in Communication skills
Social media is a great tool to stay in contact and communicate with others but everyday it makes us more self-centered and less empathetic towards others. Communication is much more than only what is said, when we reduce the real interaction it becomes difficult to interact with others and analice their non verbal communication. Also using a specificity slang to said things in a short and faster way it decrees our communication
3. Fake news
Fake news are in our day to day life nowadays but it is hard to differentiate what’s real from what’s not due to their viral nature; these stories often spread like wildfire among young people who lack critical thinking skills or experience with reading between the lines regarding online content and not knowing if the new is actually true or completely made up.
4. Cyber attacks are becoming more prevalent in today’s world
We post our whole life on social media, our favorite places, where we go for holidays and the internet has become a dangerous place. Anyone can access the content posted on social media without prior notice or permission from the user who originally posted it.
How can you protect yourself? By using passwords that are difficult to guess (like capital letters or numbers), changing passwords regularly, and staying away from public Wi-Fi hotspots wherever possible.
5. Getting close to Depression
Getting close to depression is another potential side effect of spending too much time on social media sites like Tiktok or Instagram (see point above). Getting too caught up in one’s own life can lead to low self-esteem and depression. One way to prevent this is by knowing that what you see in social media often is not the real life and people tend to post the good sides about their lives and when everything seems perfect.
Also read: Learn how to use Instagram’s Branded Content Tool
