One of the most prolific and influential developments in recent years that simply would not be able to exist without the advent of the internet is that of the mighty powerhouse that is social media.
Whether you only use social media platforms on a personal level, or else your business is represented on a professional basis and has its own official social media accounts, either way it can sometimes seem as if you spend the vast majority of your time checking and updating your pages.
Like many other inventions, technological and otherwise, there are always pros and cons, however with social media, there are certainly strong arguments in both cases. With this in mind, continue reading to learn of the main pros and cons of social media.
Pro: Social Media Is Fantastic For Increasing Brand Awareness
Whether you own or run a small, family-run business or are in charge of a larger, national or even international business, the advent of social media has meant that it has become significantly easier to create, build and maximize an online presence and awareness of your brand.
Social media platforms also offer the opportunity to essentially start a new business from scratch, especially one that can be entirely run online.
Con: Social Media Places Pressure On Young People
Obviously, for many years celebrities across the length and breadth of the entertainment industry and beyond have been subjected, either voluntarily or else without their consent, to airbrushing and other editing to their face and body prior to publication. This was often an accepted fact and part and parcel of promotion, but the advent of social media has introduced something far darker.
These days, the pressure applied upon young teenagers, both male and female, to seek this conventional and wholly unobtainable ‘perfect’ aesthetic image has meant there has been a significant rise in young people suffering with their mental health and body image. This constant comparison to others, when in reality everyone’s posts are altered and therefore by no means a true depiction, is one of the worst negatives of the advent of social media.
Pro: Social Media Has Created A Huge Number Of Jobs
As the internet has virtually single-handedly changed the way that businesses operate, so too has the advent of social media meant that social media content creators and social media managers are now considered essential job titles within a company.
This huge influx of social media-based jobs also means that there is a higher flexibility in working from home and frankly, working from anywhere, roles which have seen a generally increased importance placed on the quality and speed of internet providers. The best internet provider in Utah, for example, will ensure that whatever your specific individual, or indeed business, needs, you’ll be able to connect.
Con: Social Media Is Relentless
Cast your minds back if, of course, you are indeed old enough, to a time when the internet itself, let alone social media, was more than a Star Trek-esque fantasy in the minds of one or two forward-thinking inventors overseas.
If, for example, you had arranged with another to meet them at a certain time in a certain place, once the time had passed there was no option but to meet them; you had no way of contacting them short of a carrier pigeon (and they were hard to come by back in the ‘90s).
Now, with the myriad of different social media platforms, there is literally no escape from the barrage of messages one receives each and every day and it can often feel as if no time is available for private activities or reflection without the risk of offending someone if you do not reply promptly.
