When we think about social media affecting our lives, we think of its impact in terms of our lack of sociability or how it has reportedly shortened our attention spans. However, social media is affecting our lives in a number of positive ways that are easily overlooked.
It has been shown, that social media has an effect on voter turnout. A study labeled “A 61-Million-Person Experiment in Social Influence and Political Mobilization” that was published in 2012 by the journal Nature, suggested that messages on peoples’ Facebook feeds could significantly influence voting patterns. The study found that the messages shared by friends increased voter turnout “directly by about 60,000 voters and indirectly through social contagion by another 280,000 voters,”. It is important to get out and vote, and the youth is really starting to understand this through their use of social media.
Social media has also become a platform for revolution. A single person is able to start a movement and reach enough people to start a discussion among legislators, something that was unheard of just a decade ago. For example, the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter has reached millions of people worldwide. A hashtag that started in the U.S. to raise awareness about the police brutality against young black men has circulated the globe. This movement has made its way into presidential debates in the form of questions asked of the nominees about its importance. Anyone with a cause they are passionate about can have their voice heard and potentially reach millions of people through social media.
With social media rising in popularity among all age groups, it is becoming the main source of news for its users. According to a study published in July 2015 by the Pew Research Center, 63% of Twitter and Facebook users say they get their news from these sites. When these sites are becoming a bigger part of peoples’ lives, it’s only natural that one would try to get the most that they can out of them. Major organizations like The New York Times understand that their viewers are plugged into social media sites more often than not so they offer options to share their stories to these sites. Organizations even build their own Facebook pages in order to promote their stories. Users are becoming more informed about current events than they have been in years. It is so much easier to browse through your favorite media and also receive your news than to go out and buy a paper or tune into your local news channel. Beware though, some sites that make their way on to social media sites are not credible.
Social media has also allowed us the advantage of immediate access. We have news, contacts, resources etc. constantly at our fingertips. Through social media, people are able to build connections or relationships that may have been impossible otherwise. Also, with the ease of building your own website or blogging, the range of accessible content is constantly growing. There is no shortage of opinions or alternative viewpoints; everyone has a say about the world around them and all of this can be accessed instantly.
While we might have shorter attention spans or find ourselves way too involved in our phones, social media is expanding our horizons as a nation. Just like most other things, social media is what you make of it.
