Hurray! Today is the world social media day.
This anniversary was started by Mashable in 2010. Social media has played a major role in the course of human history. It has fueled innovation, created employment, created initiatives that has changed the way we live and relate with the world.
Social media has seen its expression in sharing, communication, working, loving and hating. Facebook, the poster child and the largest social media network has contributed immensely in the way the world operates. Facebook has created businesses, promoted them and built them to global positions.
The Arab Spring and major human right courses have also benefitted from the power of social media. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have been used by people who have fought poverty, discrimination and corruption. Saharareporters.com, a popular website that exposes corruption in Nigeria and Africa got its scale and international relevance because, the website smartly leveraged the use of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Employment generation across the world is also a notable positive from social media. As at 2008, the position of a social media manager was either not available or rebelled against in most companies and organisations. Today, millions of young people are being employed to head digital marketing departments. Some corporations have close to 100 people in their marketing unit who are working mainly on digital marketing.
However, everything has its downside. Social media has also been ‘hijacked’ by people who are not necessarily altruistic and charitable. They are represent the dark side of social media. From unseen stalkers, identity thieves, fraudsters, paedophiles and even terrorists who use social media tools to harm people around the world; the invaluable contribution of social media has therefore come under serious scrutiny. Many adults are still not using social media for many cogent reasons.
It is instructive to note that creators, owners, shareholders and custodians of social media entities must put heads together to chart a new way forward. Ethics and standards should be developed. Social media thrives on free speech but, harmful, hateful and destructive speech must not be allowed to take pre-eminence over the good.
Happy Social Media Day from PageOne.ng.
