Debate Essay: Is Social Media Empowering or Exploiting Consumers?

This essay examines the dual nature of social media, exploring whether it primarily empowers or exploits consumers. It discusses how social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube have transformed communication and information sharing, impacting consumer trust and purchasing decisions. The essay highlights social media's role in enabling individuals to express opinions, participate in campaigns, and hold corporations accountable. However, it also addresses the negative aspects, such as the potential for exploitation, privacy concerns, and the impact on young children. The essay concludes that social media is a double-edged sword, requiring a balance between freedom of expression and the need to mitigate its harmful effects. Desklib offers a wealth of similar essays and resources for students.

Essay

Is social media empowering or exploiting consumers?
Over the years, the development of the social media has been the provocative issue.
Subsequent to its commencement, it had a historical influence on each and every day life of
people through altering the manners in which the individual converse as well as communicate
with the each other. Social media signifies both optimistic as well as opposing impacts on the
community, however it is important to ascertain whether the one side tip the scale more as
compared to the other side (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2016). Considering this, the main aim of
the current essay is to discuss and analyse whether social media is empowering or exploiting
the consumers. The essay will going to include arguments, understanding and analysis of the
topic significantly. It is obvious to say that online social media is now surrounding almost
each and every one in this contemporary communities. The universal acceptance of the social
media has empowered all the generations to remain connected along with actively contribute
in the sharing of opinions and views. Several social media platforms such as Twitter,
Facebook, Instagram and YouTube have dramatically altered as well as impacted the manner
the novel generation is mounting up. According to the research being undertaken by the Mass
Relevance which offers a social media curation platform to customers originated that around
fifty nine percent of the customers are more often to trust a brand which is available on social
media platform.
Figure 1: Extent to which customers trust different forms of advertising
(Anon, 2012).
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In addition to this, it has also been originated that around sixty four percent of the
customers being interrogated have previously purchased products on the basis of the presence
of social media as well as reviews (Chaney, 2012). The above figures clearly explains the
impact of social media on the consumers. As per the Nielsen’s latest Global Trust in
Advertising report, which has surveyed more than 27000 online participants in 56 nations of
the world and almost ninety two percent of the customers across the globe responded that
they trust earned media like suggestions from the friends and family and many other types of
advertising which has augmented to eighteen percent since the year 2007. Furthermore, the
second most trusted source of brand information was the online reviews of the customers
along with the messaging.
Similarly, these platforms also enclose an important degree of data as well as
functions which offers all the consumers from all facets of life the capability of sharing
resources with other living around the whole world at whirlwind pace. As per Di Bitetto,
Pettineo and D’Anselmi, (2015), principally the young generation are actively making use of
internet for participating in different campaigns just to express their viewpoints. On the other
hand, according to Castells (2009), Social media offers these people the capability and
competence for creating their own content and impact their own networks of data and
newscast. In this context Zerfaß and Boelter (2005) have introduced the novel term “the new
opinion-makers” for the purpose of illustrating the manner in which the control of content
creation has modified because of the social media. Moreover, according to Coombs and
Holladay (2015), the internet has offered a platform to the people to counter in the
corporation actions. Through development of their own content as well as contributing in the
social media, these people can place importance pressure on the business organizations
towards engagement in responsible behaviour.
With all the countless things being provided by the social media, it also offers an
undesirable features which seem to negatively impact the people across the globe and more
particularly the young children. Social media is influencing these young children to the point
where many of them has eventually disallowed the notion of connecting with the online
social society. In addition to this, social media has offered people, who have the intention the
make utilization of this service only to harm others and the capability of reaching victims
throughout the globe. In the today’s modern world and culture, the grandest component is
perhaps only the technology (McRoberts and et.al, 2018). The takeover of the social media
specifically its terrifying ability of exploiting the generation in whether they do, think, like
and believe is the biggest element in the current culture. Besides, the social media was being
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fashioned out for adults and teens however, now even the children are truly repositioning
themselves and going from a simple selves to a kind social celebrity. For such type of
exploitation, culture needs to be blamed certainly. Nonetheless, as recurrent operators of the
social media for example, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, people and young
children are exploiting themselves. People have accepted the very hospitable solicitation into
a treacherous world or the computer screen of vicious uprightness. Further, social media has
encouraged adults, teens and children to make their private life public and most of the time
they all struggle to recover their long lost privacy. Furthermore, with advancement of
technology with a rapid pace, a simple video or a picture can hunt people forever. The future
employers, university administration and the websites are exploiting human beings with the
latest advancement of culture. For making an effort to going ahead and even just keeping up,
they are also in return exploiting the technologies as well. The question arise, who is at the
fault? As per the recent study being conducted by Núñez-Gómez and et.al, (2021), the alpha
generation has an all-inclusive experience with the technology without making any
differentiation amid the formats and devices, for example adults, they make use of internet in
seclusion. Even kids are watching internet as a significant entertainment tool and particularly
YouTube which has more audience as compared to the combined TV channels. Therefore,
from the above discussion it can be concluded that although social media is offering different
benefits to the customers particularly the young generation, there negative influences cannot
be neglected. There is a requirement of balance on an individual rights to express and speech.
It can further be concluded that social media is nothing but a double edged sword in the
functioning of the nations.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Anon. 2012. State of the Media: The Social Media Report. Neilsen.
Castells, M., 2009. Communication Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Coombs, W.T. and Holladay, S.J., 2015. How Activists shape CSR: Insight from the Internet
Contagion and Contingency Theories. Corporate Social Responsibility in the Digital
Age. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.85-98.
Di Bitetto, M., Pettineo, S. and D’Anselmi, P., 2015. Dear Brands of the World: CSR and the
Social Media. Corporate Social Responsibility in the Digital Age. Bingley: Emerald
Group Publishing Limited.
Kaplan, A.M. and Haenlein, M., 2016. Users of the world, unite! The challenges and
opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53(1), pp.59–68.
McRoberts, S., Bonsignore, E., Peyton, T., and Yarosh, S., 2016. Do it for the viewers!
audience engagement behaviours of young YouTube. Proceedings of the 15th
International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (Manchester: ACM),
pp.334–343.
Núñez-Gómez, P., Rodrigo-Martín, L., Rodrigo-Martín, I., and Mañas-Viniegra, L., 2020.
Consumption trends and new channels for marketing to minors and adolescents. The
Alpha generation in Spain and its technological consumption. Iberian Journal of
Information Systems and Technologies E34, pp.391–407.
Zerfaß, A. and Boelter, D., 2005. The new opinion makers - weblogs as a challenge for
campaigns, marketing, PR and the media. Nausner & Nausner.
Online references
Chaney, P., 2012. Brands should use social media to engage consumers, amplify messages
and promote trust, Digital intelligence today. [Online]. Available through:
<http://digitalintelligencetoday.com/brands-should-use-social-media-to-engage-
consumers-amplify-messages-and-promote-trust-survey-says/>. [Accessed on
23rdMarch 2022].
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