Consolidating and Automating Social Media Impacts to Risk and Compliance

As a millennial, my interest on internet, social media, and mobile technology started when I was young. I had started using mobile devices and the internet when Facebook was introduced as a key social media platform. At the time of its launch, Facebook was a social media platform which I primarily used to communicate with my friends and share photos. However, over the years, the social media platform changed but I was never unaware of the changes. Facebook introduced several ads on the platform and people started posting their personal opinions and propaganda through the platform. Over the years, I noticed that I began to spend a lot of time on social media platforms without being aware of how spending time on social media would affect me. I became aware of the effects of social media when I was debating a political issue with a friend who informed me that my opinions on various matters were simply based on what I had read and videos I had watched on social media platforms and that some of them were not true. This surprised me and it made me wonder the positive and negative influences that social media can have an individual level and the public 

I began my research by simply searching for current journals and newspaper articles regarding the general issue of social media. At the start of the research, it became apparent to me that social media has several differences to traditional media and that one should understand the differences first. The study by Ravasi et al. (2019) observed that when starting to study social media, one should first begin by highlight the inherent differences that the traditional media and the current social media can have. The authors argued that there was a need to have a clear distinction between the traditional media reputation and the current social media reputation. The study observed that social media is a modern media that has a wider global audience and encourages interactions with users. Understanding these differences was used to guide my research at the preliminary stages. 

One of the aspects of social media that was considered different from the traditional media was that it had a wider global audience and could have a massive reach. This reminded me of the viral videos and posts that I have interacted with. Tellis et al. (2019) observed the impact of viral videos that get to have a great deal of exposure at a minimal cost since people could easily share the videos from one platform to another. I was surprised by the research as it indicated that there were more than 55% of the content on YouTube that had gone viral and this was used to reach several more people that it was initially intended. The study was also eye opening as I learned that the technique that ads use to generate viral content is the use of emotions. Ads that had positive emotions of amusement, inspiration, excitement, and warmth invited people to share the information. 

Another positive influence of social media that was discovered was that social media has an influence on the presence of global brands. According to Kim (2019), social media can be used to influence the success of a global company locally. The authors specifically observed that “Social media may help a brand manager better understand consumers’ acceptance of and attitudes toward a brand” (Kim et al., 2019). The statement made me aware of the fact that there have been several global brands today that have experienced a significant amount of success in the local markets. In my local area, I observed that one of the reasons for the successes of these companies was that they made an effective use of social media. The strategy that was used involved raising brand awareness through social media platform such as Facebook and Twitter. These companies have been successful by showcasing their products online and in return receive a huge amount of followers. 

I also found that the use of social media could be used in enterprise social media platforms. The use of enterprise social media platforms was something new as I learned that it involves the use of web-based platforms to communicate to other workers or customers. After studying 157 employees, Liu and Bakici (2019) revealed that enterprise in social media in the organizations could be used to motivate employees towards information sharing and this improves the brand image of a company. 

Upon learning that social media had a significant impact on the field of marketing and business enterprises through the use of viral videos and posts, I began wondering whether the positive use of social media could be replicated in other places such as healthcare, hotels, retail, and the military. One of the novel applications of social media that I found was that social media could be used in healthcare to facilitate injury prevention and reduced the risks of injuries through the promotion of healthy behaviors. The study by Zazzera et al. (2020) observed that social media could be used to prevent traumatic injury and facilitate information regarding injury related topics. The authors observed a specific application of social media where it was used by public health officials to influence online conversations about the injury. This made me realize that I had also used social media to search for information regarding various health concerns. I had also gone through several posts that taught me regarding the importance of healthy habits and exercising. 

The research on some of the positive influences of social media also revealed to me that the use of social media had impacted military operations. I had never actually thought that social media could impact a unique field like the military. Biszko (2019) examined how military leaders use social media to advance their interests. The author states that “One feature of the military’s information environment is a mutually implicative shared interest with social media users all over the world” (Biszko, 2019). This indicates that the military can use social media to gain intelligence about their country and the international environment. The information that is used by the military can also be used to make speculations about intelligence activities of foreign adversaries. However, the study also showed that social media has made the work of the military to become quite difficult since social media information can be used to enhance propaganda. 

The research was then centered on the negative impacts that social media can have especially by impacting military activities. My understanding of the effects of social media were changed once I considered the study by Stengel (2019) who observed that “we are in the middle of a global information war”. The global information war that he was talking about was the fact that there could be other countries that could use social media and information to spread propaganda. Stengel (2019) specifically observed the case where there were Russia-sounding twitter handles that would get hundreds of comments by spreading propaganda. The study by the author showed that Russians were good at the use of social media in order to influence the United States. Haidt and Rose-Stockwell (2019) also observed that social media has not achieved its initial intention of global connectivity but has increasingly created an environment for cyberbullying. Reading the articles was quite alarming because it made me realize that the information that I have for instance regarding various political candidates could be based on propaganda that has been spread by the Russians. 

I continued my research to understand some of the negative effects that social media by spreading propaganda and the keywords that came up from time to time was “fake news”. The keywords that I used to guide my research from this time was therefore “social media fake news”. One of the articles that I found that discussed the topic of fake news was by Kim and Dennis (2019). The authors observed that approximately 62% of adults get their news from social media and this makes the media platform an easy target for the spreading of fake news. What was quite surprising was that a survey that had indicated that approximately 23% of social media users had reported that they had spread fake news and that the news would spread faster. Kim, Moravec, and Dennis (2019) further analyzed how fake news on social media could be combated. From the study, it was observed that the unavailability of source ratings would make users doubt the credibility of the sources. The study presented new information regarding how to handle social media information by checking the credibility of information through the use of source ratings. However, the study also revealed that many users would have a confirmation bias where many would believe and spread articles that are aligned with their beliefs. This made me realize that I could sometimes have a confirmation bias where I would only believe information that was appealing to me. 

The research made me understand that there were positive and negative effects of the use of social media. However, what still puzzled me was whether social media could be used for good or evil. By considering the overall advantages and disadvantages of social media, I was wondering whether social media has done more good than harm for the society. Hemsley (2018) analyzed whether social media is beneficial or not and identified that defining social media good or bad depends on the individuals that it impacts and who it could hurt. The study observed that the benefits of social media outweighed the drawbacks such as fake news, privacy violations, and the use of Russian troll farms. The study observed that social media can be used for social good such as advocating for political changes. However, just like any other technology, it can be manipulated and used by people for their own selfish gain. I agree with the views of the author that social media can be used for beneficial purposes but there are those that can manipulate it. 

In conclusion, the study of the influences of social media showed that the media platform can have both positive and negative effects. My interest in social media begun after I had recognized that social media was influencing my views and opinions on different subjects. I therefore chose to analyze all the positive and negative influences of social media. The positive influences that I found was that it would be used by businesses to improve their communication and ensure brand awareness. Social media could also be applied successfully in different fields such as healthcare and the military. However, there were negative influences of social media where it could be used to spread fake news and propaganda. The conclusion that I arrived was that I found that people should be aware about how they use social media. One should thus critically analyze the information that they read and whether they should accept it or not. 

References 

Biszko, J. P. (2019). Consolidating and Automating Social Media Impacts to Risk.  Air & Space Power Journal ,  33 (4), 58. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=140753098&site=eds-live&scope=site 

Hemsley, J., Jacobson, J., Gruzd, A., & Mai, P. (2018). Social media for social good or evil: An introduction.  Social Media+ Society ,  4 (3), 2056305118786719. 

Haidt, J., & Rose-Stockwell, T. (2019). Why It Feels Like Every Thing Is Going Haywire.  Atlantic ,  324 (6), 56. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=139493517&site=eds-live&scope=site 

Kim, A., & Dennis, A. R. (2019). Says Who? The Effects of Presentation Format and Source Rating on Fake News in Social Media.  MIS Quarterly ,  43 (3), 1025–1039. https://doi-org.ezproxy.umuc.edu/10.25300/MISQ/2019/15188 

Kim, M.-Y., Moon, S., & Iacobucci, D. (2019). The Influence of Global Brand Distribution on Brand Popularity on Social Media.  Journal of International Marketing ,  27 (4), 22–38. https://doi-org.ezproxy.umuc.edu/10.1177/1069031X19863307 

Kim, A., Moravec, P. L., & Dennis, A. R. (2019). Combating Fake News on Social Media with Source Ratings: The Effects of User and Expert Reputation Ratings.  Journal of Management Information Systems ,  36 (3), 931–968. https://doi-org.ezproxy.umuc.edu/10.1080/07421222.2019.1628921 

Liu, Y., & Bakici, T. (2019). Enterprise social media usage: The motives and the moderating role of public social media experience.  Computers in Human Behavior ,  101 , 163–172. https://doi-org.ezproxy.umuc.edu/10.1016/j.chb.2019.07.029 

Ravasi, D., Etter, M., & Colleoni, E. (2019). Why Would the Rise of Social Media Increase the Influence of Traditional Media on Collective Judgments? A Response to Blevins and Ragozzino.  Academy of Management Review ,  44 (1), 222–226. https://doi-org.ezproxy.umuc.edu/10.5465/amr.2018.0065 

Stengel, R. (2019). The Global War on Truth.  TIME Magazine ,  194 (14), 36. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=138827688&site=eds-live&scope=site 

Tellis, G. J., MacInnis, D. J., Tirunillai, S., & Zhang, Y. (2019). What Drives Virality (Sharing) of Online Digital Content? The Critical Role of Information, Emotion, and Brand Prominence.  Journal of Marketing ,  83 (4), 1–20. https://doi-org.ezproxy.umuc.edu/10.1177/0022242919841034 

Zazzera, E. (2020). Use of Social Media for Injury Prevention: An Integrative Review.  Journal of Trauma Nursing ,  27 (1), 13–28. https://doi-org.ezproxy.umuc.edu/10.1097/JTN.0000000000000478