#TheTrendsOfSocialMedia

Social Media is “in” these days. Or in modern terms, it is a trending interest of the people.

When you ask random people or conduct a survey if they have an account in any social media, mostly will answer “yes”. Why? The dominant answer would be the convenient and easy communication which was made possible by the Social Media.

The popular social media for the people are Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and etc. But among all the social media commonly used, Facebook is the most popular. Facebook users can share and post status, photos, and videos and can communicate other people through their Facebook Messenger. With these features, it became a convenient on the users’ part that it enables to do multiple tasks in one application.

As many are using and into social media, there were words invented or have a corresponding meaning which are being commonly used whenever you are trying to access social media. “Trending” and “hashtags” are first popularized by Twitter then Facebook and other social media adopted this kind of feature to allow the users to maximize the usage of the application or website.

The fast-growing development and demand for Social Media in this generation, it is undeniable that it has a great impact to the people and society. Aside from the benefit of having an easy communication, Social Media has other advantages that will surely boost the personal and professional growth of an individual.

Personal Growth. We may have that one relative who migrated to another country and have not contacted for several years. So, when Facebook became popular, or other social media, you can simply search the name of your relative hoping that he or she has an account on FB. Once you’re connected with him/ her you can now start having a conversation with your relative whom you were not able to see for several years. This kind of communication is inexpensive also. As you only need to be connected in and start communicating with your long-distance relatives or friends. For this instance, it emphasizes how useful advanced technologies and social media are to us.

As one of the means of modern communication, sharing and gaining of knowledge can be done through the use of social media. Reliable articles and videos are made available in these social media as it could assist in enriching our knowledge about a specific topic and to help improve our skills to perform effectively.

What we share and post in our Social Media accounts reflects our image. It could somehow determine our personalities, interests and opinions based on what we post. But we have to keep in our minds that we must be careful and be aware of the possible consequences on what we post. Sharing personal opinions regarding politics are very sensitive topics that it may offend other people and can cause online arguments. Thus, it is very essential to review what you are about to post to avoid these scenarios.

Online bullying or bashing might be the possible effect when someone disagrees with the opinion you have pointed out. These negative consequences would likely to affect an individual’s emotion and psychological aspects. An individual undergoing such problem must be taken seriously.

The benefits of Social Media are intended to assist on the personal development of an individual. However, we may have taken advantage to these benefits that it almost hinder us from improving our individual skills and knowledge. Hence, it is the responsibility of a person to be familiarized with the advantages and disadvantages of Social Media. And to be able to avoid the undesirable outcomes because of its misuse.

Professional Growth. Businesses these days are actively using Social Media for advertising and selling their products online. With this, they will be able to reach more number of customers, not only local customers can be reached but also the foreign customers. As your business widened its network and enticed more customers, an increase on the profit is expected.

“Branding” became one of the goals of the businesses with the aid of the advanced technology. Many businesses became known because of their visibility on the Social Media. Some would invest on the paid advertisements of the popular Social Media, such as Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and Instagram, in order for the users of these media will be able to notice the said businesses. Thus, Social Media played a big role for a more effective introduction and advertisements of the businesses to the entire world of social media.

But, despite of the existing benefits that Social Media has brought to us, there are corresponding disadvantages that we cannot avoid. Many issues have emerged related to Social Media such as bashing, fake news, security of identity/ information, online bullying, and many more. I may have participated or became a victim on some of the Social Media issues due to intense emotion or our opinions are totally opposite which resulted to disagreements and unending arguments. Hence, to avoid the occurrence of these undesirable consequences I have created my Personal Commitment Statements for the Responsible Use of Social Media:

Think twice before regretting your shared posts.
Avoid posting sensitive topics, such as related to the politics, could offend others.
As much as possible, share positive and happy posts or topics only.
Refrain from posting status or sharing posts consecutively. It may annoy other Social Media users while scrolling their Timelines.
Accept the friend requests of those whom you know personally.
Do not forget to heck the security settings of your Social Media account at all times.
Make sure to log-out your account to avoid the use of others.

Both the positive and negative effects of Social Media cannot be avoided easily and totally. But instead, an individual must know how to balance these effects and has the basic knowledge how to manage them. This responsibility does not depend on others, but it all lies in our hands. Before this digital world will be total mess in our society, we have to start correcting the mistakes and practice the responsible use of social media.