Information technology and communication have changed rapidly over the last 20 years with a key development as emergence of social-networks.
The pace of change is accelerating. For example, the development of mobile technology has played an important role in shaping the impact of social networks. In a world dominated by mobile devices in terms of the total number of minutes spent on the network.
This puts the means to connect anywhere, anytime on any device in everyone’s hands.
Why do people share information on social networks?
A fascinating study by the Consumer Insight Group of the New York Times revealed the motivations cited by participants to share information on social networks. These include the desire to uncover valuable and entertaining content for others; identify yourself; promote and develop relationships and share information about brands and causes, such as support.
These factors have caused social networks to move from being a useful way to keep in touch with family members to being used in ways that make a real impact on society and friends.
Social networks are being used in ways that shape politics, business, world culture, education, careers, innovation, and more.
The impact of social networks on society.
Almost a quarter of the world’s population is now on Facebook. In the United States, nearly 80% of all Internet users are on this platform. Because social networking feeds interactions between people become more powerful as they grow.
Thanks to the Internet, each person with marginal views can see you’re not alone. And when these people find each other through social networks can do things: create memes, publications, and online worlds that reinforce their whole vision of the world, and then break into the mainstream.
Without social networking, social, ethical, environmental, and political conditions would have minimal visibility. The increased visibility of the problems has shifted the balance of power from a few hands to the masses.
While activism on social networks generates greater awareness of social problems, doubts remain about whether this awareness translating into real-change.
Some argue that social exchange has encouraged people to use computers and mobile phones to express their concerns about social issues without having to be actively involved with campaigns in real life. Its support is limited to pressing the “Like” button or sharing content.
The researchers found that public support is an action designed to meet the opinions of others, while people who give private do so because the cause is aligned with their values.
The impact of social networks on commerce.
The rise of social networks means it is unusual to find an organization that does not reach your customers and prospects through a social networking platform or another. Companies see the importance of using social media to connect with customers and generate revenue.
Companies have realized that they can use social networks to generate ideas, stimulate demand, and create offers for specific products. This is important in traditional brick and motor companies, and obviously in the world of e-commerce.
Many studies suggest that the implementation of social networks in the workplace can strengthen knowledge sharing. The result is to improve project management activities and the diffusion of expertise. Full implementation of social technologies in the workplace eliminates limits, eliminates silos, and can increase interaction and help create more highly skilled workers and experts.
On the other side: the low number of social “actions” can lead to negative social and destroy evidence of business credibility.
Interestingly, although the use of social networking has become the norm rather than the exception in business, some companies, after experiencing firsthand some negative effects of social networks, have decided to go against the tide and delete buttons on social networking on their websites.
A case study of Taloon.com, a retailer of electronic commerce in Finland, found that conversions increased by 11.9% when they eliminated the buttons to share their product pages.
These results highlight the double-edged nature of the impact of social networks. When products attract many actions, they can bolster sales. But when the opposite occurs, customers begin to distrust the product and company. This is what Dr. Paul Marsden, psychologist and author of the “Handbook of Social Commerce”, called “social proof”.
The impact of social networks in the world of work.
Social networks have had a profound effect on recruitment and hiring. 19 percent of hiring managers make their hiring decisions based on the information found on social networks. According to the survey Recruitment of social networks 2016 CareerBuilder, 60% of employers use social networking sites to research candidates.
Professional social networks like LinkedIn are important social media platforms for anyone who wants to excel in his profession.
The impact of social networks on training and development.
Candidates for jobs that develop skills in the latest and most advanced techniques of social networks are much more employable.
A 2013 survey conducted by Pearson Learning Solutions reported a significant increase in the use of social networks in learning. More than half the educators who were interviewed agreed that social interaction promotes exchange, providing an environment that fosters learning.
Despite the lack of privacy issues and some cases of cheating among students long-distance, this has not deterred social platforms to be used in education.
The impact of social networking on relationships.
One of the effects of social networks is encouraging people to form artificial links and appreciate real friendships. The term “friend”, as used in social networks, it lacks the intimacy identified with conventional friendships, where people really know, they want to talk to each other, have an intimate bond, and often interact face to face.
It has been said that information is power. Without a means of distributing information, people cannot seize power. A positive impact of social networks is the distribution of information in today’s world. Platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and others have made it possible to access information simply by clicking a button.
Research by parse.ly shows that the life expectancy of a story published on the web is 2.6 days compared with 3.2 days when a story is shared on social networks. That’s a difference of 23%, which is significant when you consider that thousands of millions of people use the Internet daily.
This means that the longer circulating information generates more and more discussion will be the impact of social networks.
While the world would be a much slower place without social networks, it has caused much harm as well. However, the positive impact of social networks is astronomical and far exceeds the evils associated with the exchange.
At the end of the day, sharing is to make people see and respond to the content. While still remaining relevant content and the need for information exist, always worth any organization use social networks continue publishing.
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