Hello everyone, how are you doing today? Hope the week is going fine and peachy for everyone on here?
My topic for today will be inspired by the third topic that was chosen by the community in our last hangout on Discord. And that is THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA.
Social media has come a long way indeed.
At first, when the closest thing we had to entertainment was television, radio, and newspapers, during this time they were all referred to as simply media. Just different forms of propagating information. I remember back then to become popular in any field you needed the backing of someone influential or rich so that your success would be guaranteed. Any other method and you might not be so successful.
During that time, our only source of information and entertainment was on the radio and on the television while our only means of livelihood were in companies and factories.
And then, the age of social media came and everything changed. At first, it was just a means of connecting people around the world with just a few clicks of buttons. But then, with the monetization of many platforms, the game was turned up all the way.
And today, social media is a full-time job for some people. It has made people famous and enabled them to be recognized all over the world. Typical examples are Broda Shaggi, Mr. Sabinus, Rema, and even Mayorkun. These are top celebrities in Nigeria and they were all discovered by the power of social media.
So now, what do I like about social media?
- I love the fact that I can use it to make money. Just the mere idea that I can put out content and it will convert to cash is just so good and I love it so much. These days, all you need to become a brand ambassador is to just have a large following online. If you have people who engage in your posts and enjoy the content you put out, a time will come when a company will discover you and appoint you as an ambassador. And they will surely pay you big time for that. And also, even if you are not a brand ambassador, as long as you meet some stipulated criteria, your regular content will earn as well.
- And I also love the fact that it connects everyone to everyone else. They say that the world is a global village, this is all thanks to the social media. You can be in contact with old friends, even total strangers through social media apps. You can have access to comedies, tutorials, services, and what have you. You can literally make a thousand dollars without having to step out of your house. With social media, the distance between the consumer and producer just got closer.
And of course, there are bad sides to this particular form of media. And I will let you know right now.
- Social media has made it so much easier to carry out fraudulent activities. People will go online and scam others, robbing them of their hard-earned money. Hackers also have their field day, sending phish links that will give them access to private accounts once clicked. The thing is that acts like these keep increasing every single day and there does not seem to be a way to put a stop to it all.
- And also, this one is also motivated by money. Since people found out money could be made on social media platforms, all people care about now is growing their number of followers because that is what will increase the amount of money they earn. You will find people that do not really have content, they put out rubbish all in the name of they want to build and grow. These are the kind of people that post fake news, hate speech, indecent and immoral material just so that they can boost traffic and people will follow them. And now these days, there are just so many of these out there that filtering through them is just so difficult.
Sometimes, when you think of these disadvantages, it tends to make you want to just give up on social media as a whole. Because when you go online, you find all sorts of content that make no sense at all. And the thing is that the creators of these platforms prefer it that way because it means more money for them.
But I do not let them deter me. Every time I go online, I know what exactly I am after. If I want comedy I know where to go, if I want tutorials I know where to go and if I want motivation I also know where to go. That way I reduce the amount of unnecessary content I get to consume. I try to engage with those whose content I enjoy because there is always something that can be learned. And I believe it also helps me in my own journey as a content creator and a blogger.
These are the lenses through which I view social media, although as far as I am concerned, the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. And as long as it is a source of revenue for most of us, then we have to live with the disadvantages as well. We just have to be careful that we do not fall victim to any of them.
Thank you for reading, till we meet in the next post.