Research Paper About Effects of Social media (Essay Sample)

Effects of social media
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Social media is a platform that uses websites and applications to enable the sharing of information among users. This is made possible through the internet. Some of these applications include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram among others. Social media has been seen to have various effects among individuals and even in organizations. These effects are both positive and negative.
Social media has revolutionized the way business is conducted. Many organizations are increasingly using social media to advertise their businesses, interact with their customers at a more personal level. Social media allows businesses to increase their sales through positive publicity as they can reach a much wider customer base. Positive reviews on a product allow for increased sales as customers willingly recommend it to others. (Allcot, Braghier, Eichmeyer & Gentzknow 2020) With more than three billion users, social media allows boosting of brand awareness thus increasing sales.
Social media has also been seen to affect politics. Almost all politicians no longer rely on mainstream media to reach their constituents, a tweet is enough to reach out to their supporters or even a Facebook live session. In the 2008 US elections Barack Obama widely used social media in his bid to become the next US president, this largely contributed to his popularity among voters which in turn saw him become the first African American president in the US. (Bruns, Enli, Skogerbo, Larsen & Christensen 2015). Social media can also cause the downfall of a political career. For example, a wrong tweet can cause an unprecedented uproar online which can negatively affect an aspirant. Political activism has been on the rise as more people interact on social media.
Mental health has been greatly influenced by the use of social media. People can connect with more people online even if they are miles apart. Individuals can interact more with people with whom they share similar experiences, these interactions help in preventing loneliness. The effect of this is that individuals can be able to reduce stress levels or even anxiety. Healthy use of social media among individuals creates a strong social network that is linked to good mental health. However, excessive use of social media can cause detrimental effects on an individual as it is highly addictive. One might be caught in the frenzy of not wanting to miss out. (Akram & Kumar 2017)
Social media has created employment opportunities for numerous people across the world, this includes content creators, social media managers, brand influencers among others. T. (Allcot, Braghier, Eichmeyer & Gentzknow 2020) The rise in the use of social media has allowed young people particularly to be more creative and innovative. One can also create and operate their business on social medi