The pros and cons of social media | Digital Letterpress: Part 11

“People influence people.” – Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Facebook

This simple quote from the creator of one of the most popular social networks in history is the foundation of modern marketing and advertising strategy. Facebook connects individuals in staggering ways, removing the need for close proximity in order to cultivate friendships. Facebook and other social media networks have changed our perception for how the world can interact and grow together. The Internet has weaved tight webs around us, interconnecting us with one another. But is that web slowly choking us? Is there a price to pay for the ability to instantly reach out and connect with someone through a digital space?

Digital connectedness affects us in two arenas: business and personal.

Business world — what’s the impact?

Social media has changed the way businesses conduct their interactions with customers. In recent years, we’ve seen companies vie for presence on social networks in order to build relationships with audiences. In 2010, Emily Bryson York published an article detailing a move by Starbucks to rejuvenate its business through digital social interaction. The company went from having little presence online to having “5.7 million Facebook fans and 775,000 Twitter followers.” The results of the migration to social media? Starbucks has seen major improvement in its business. So, to reiterate the question, what’s the impact?

Pro: Business can easily connect with customers. They can build relationships with current, loyal audiences while reaching out to those on the fence about the company. Social media allows for immediate contact from customer to business, allowing an easy channel for ideas, complaints, suggestions, testimonials, etc. The reach is a huge advantage.

Con: While social media allows business to connect with thousands of individuals, moving the relationship-building tools to digital spaces essentially removes much of the personal aspect of connection. Of course, the Internet allows customers to communicate directly to a corporate office located thousands of miles away, but at the same time, the feeling of possible face-to-face communication is completely removed. With a local business, one is able to speak directly to a company owner’s face. Dealing solely through social media sidesteps this ability.

Pro: Businesses can rely on opinion leaders to market products because of the interconnectivity of society. Because products, ideas, innovations can now move quickly through the diffusion process, they can hit the vital “tipping point” on their way to wide-spread success.

Con: As an individual, one might feel “vulnerable” in digital spaces since personal information now contributes to how companies advertise. Our digital fingerprints provide valuable indicators for how businesses can reach us through ads or commercials. Commercials before Youtube videos might seems super relevant to our lives. That’s because they are. They are shown to us based on browsing history, etc. Looking for curtains on Target’s website? Prepare to see ads for them on Facebook the next time you scroll through your newsfeed. Such advertising is convenient and effective, but at the same time, it’s a little scary. Is that level of personalized advertising worth our privacy?

Personal world — how has social media affected it?

It’s hard to remember a time without social media. Not being able to remember isn’t because social media has been around that long, but because it’s infiltrated our daily lives so deeply. Our digital selves are second nature at this point. So what’s the impact?

Pro: Like with business, it allows for greater connection, communication, and influence. In just a few clicks, we can be in touch with someone. It’s convenient, fast, and effortless.

Con: We’re building connections, but how personal are they? In her TED Talk, Sherry Turkle warns of the dangers of allowing our digital lives to overrun our real one. She posits that we’ve lost the ability to truly be alone without feeling lonely. We’re losing sight of what it means to find oneself without longing for the connection to other people.

Pro: We can now keep up with dozens of people without losing touch. People you haven’t seen in years can sit in your friends list waiting for the day you need to contact them. We can keep friendships alive solely through the use of this technology. We can even grow friendships with people we’ve never even met. “Friendship” has shifted in definition over the past two decades, no longer bound to something experienced face-to-face.

Con: Are we diluting the meaning of connection and friendship? Tom Geoghegan of BBC News Magazine reports that we can only keep up a core “between six and 12” friends. If that’s the case, dozens of people we might consider friends in digital spaces shouldn’t be defined as such. We might be able to reach out to them and converse, but we won’t be able to make true connections with them. The shift in the definition of “friend” isn’t necessarily positive. If we term everyone as friends, then who is to say who one’s real friends are?

Because there are pros and cons to both business and personal arenas, one must move with caution using social media.

It has profoundly changed the way we interact, yes, but is it all good? I think the most successful way to proceed with our digital selves is to examine how we’re using them. Are we using the digital space as a way to escape or avoid our real lives? Or are we using it as merely an extension?

Social networks should only serve our connection with people, not hinder it. If we lose sight of the core importance of communication, connection, and relationship, then social media will never be a positive influence over us. The importance in that lies in the fact that social media isn’t necessarily to blame. We can’t fault it for taking away our ability to see value in true communication; we can only blame ourselves for losing sight of it.

Using technology doesn’t have to control us, and we shouldn’t let it. Moving forward, we can look at its benefits and learn how to let it further enhance our lives without constricting them. One of the most important things we have in life is the ability to connect with each other, and we should never let that be devalued by technology.