So is social media really social?
This raises the question of promoting or destroying social capital?? People can feel lonely so connect to others in a social media setting but this has no face-to-face contact begging the question.. Is this meaningless with no value?? Therefore, is this an illusion of belonging? If someone makes contact with someone else for a quick chat online, they can be at home alone, and this chat gives a sense of belonging but really is this meaningless as there is no real value to the conversation...
Personally I do not think this is meaningless to people. Even although the contact is brief this can benefit and individual to combat loneliness issues. Do you agree?
With your own social capital are you bonding (Long term) or bridging (short term)? People can dip in and out of websites and this is apparent when using Facebook for example. Yes we read what is on peoples pages but their is no real meaningfulness in it, so this is bridging. Businesses are more keen to create bonding relationships with customers, therefore creating substantial information and interaction with people.
As you can see from this info graphic the percentages are very high (and probably ever increasing) for users of social media.
Sharon Foster 18 May 2017
I agree with what you're saying that people prefer talking online rather than face to face which in my opinion is no where near the same. I'd say social media is only social to an extent as people aren't having the same level of communication as they would if it was face to face
ReplyDeleteI didn't mean people prefer talking online than face to face. I agree there is a huge difference, but sometimes, for example, if a parent is stuck in the house sometimes online interaction is their only option. I'm old fashioned and do believe that face to face interaction is always better or even a good telephone conversation. But even that is reduced by peoples willingness to text instead of picking up the phone.
DeleteI agree with all of this Sharon you've found a wealth of information on this subject and explained it very clearly. I mostly agree with the fact that a lot of social media users use it as they are lonely and it is destroying the face to face aspect of socialising. Great info graghic and overall blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you, yes apart from people who have no choice to socialise mainly online I agree that social media is playing a large part of destroying face to face socialising, especially in the younger generations.
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