Social media has significantly improved the way people communicate today. Research shows that currently, the number of people using social media is at 2.8 billion (Sponcil & Gitimu, 2013). It, therefore, means that more than a third of the world's population utilizes a form of social media exclusively for communication purposes. With social media forming an essential aspect of human communication today, more emphasis has been put on how social media has impacted communication. The strong communication skills acquired through reading, receiving, and sending messages has enabled people around the world to connect easily. The rise in the use of social media has provided the world with a new tool for exchanging short messages, depicting expressions, and reading all of which have had a significant impact on verbal and non-verbal communication.
First, social media has eased communication thus enabling people living distant from one another to exchange information more efficiently. Before the advent of social media, the primary mode of communication was through letters which had to be sent through the mail. Such traditional means were significantly ineffective as communication was slow. The use of the old-fashioned telephones was also expensive and could not be afforded by many especially when communicating on an international scale. The internet, therefore, has provided individuals with a new way of interacting socially thus releasing individuals from the bondage of slowness and exorbitant costs. As such, individuals can fully express themselves without having to fear that their information will not be received as expected due to their described inefficiencies (Sponcil & Gitimu, 2013).
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The most common types of social media sites utilized today include Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram among others. News platforms and broadcasting companies have found new ways of communicating with the audiences. Initially, without the social media platforms, such companies had to rely on conventional means of communication such as live broadcast or the use of magazines. However, the age of computer and smartphones with internet communication has provided the media fraternity with an opportunity to communicate to a vast mass of active social media users and pass their messages to a broad audience. According to a 2018 statistics, Facebook alone had a worldwide user base of 2.27 billion people (Sponcil & Gitimu, 2013). Therefore, it becomes easier for news companies to spread information instantaneously as they emerge.
Critics have consistently held that social media has affected the way people communicate especially with regards to non-verbal communications. The lack of physical expressions and emotions has become a significant issue due to the barrier that comes with distance. However, the recent developments in the social media debunk this assertion. The development of smileys and ideograms utilized in web pages and electronic messages has markedly improved the way people communicate. For instance, there are specific ideograms for joy, sorrow, surprise, love, and hate among others. Therefore, this has played an important role in compensating for the lack of facial expressions albeit in a better way as a person has ideograms for different feelings and emotions. As such, this is an improvement to communications on telephones or mails as expressions in this media are limited.
Swan (2017) asserted that social media sites come with a wide array of literature in the form of news, stories, research, and excerpts shared on the online platforms. Platforms such as Facebook are endowed with a wide variety of pages on health, nutrition, politics, and governance amongst many others. As users are constantly exposed to these materials, they significantly learn and appreciate the use of language and writing skills which has a tremendous impact on the way they communicate. Furthermore, platforms such as Twitter where the primary mode of expression is through writing enables an individual to sharpen their communication skills because they are aware of the large audience that will be exposed to their material. Also, the constant exchange of short messages on this platform enhances quick communication skills that could significantly help during emergency situations.
A recent research body found out that social media has enormous positive effects on child development as far as communication is concerned. The study concluded that children benefit more so in terms of their literacy skills. The blogs found in the social networking sites assist the students to gain more positive attitudes towards the prospects of writing (Swan, 2017). Furthermore, it gives the children an opportunity to become more confident in their writing skills. As children are given more freedom to express themselves on such sites, they develop the much-needed impetus to learn the trends in communication. Platforms such as Instagram and Facebook that primarily deal with videos are better placed to improve speech and non-verbal cues especially when the children themselves are involved as the subjects.
It is therefore without a doubt that social media has had a significant impact on communication. The rise in the use of social media has provided the world with a new tool for exchanging short messages, depicting expressions, and reading all of which have had a significant impact on the verbal and non-verbal exchange of information. Communication, especially on long-distance, has become much easier with newsrooms finding the leverage to send and receive messages instantaneously. With the installation of applications that allow the use of emojis and ideograms, social media has improved non-verbal communication to considerable levels. The blogs and literature materials available in the platforms enable people to improve language but also their writing skills. Young learners, on the other hand, have an opportunity to develop their literacy skills. Therefore, the recent improvement in communication, especially on the millennials, has a deep connection to the increasing use of social media.
References
Sponcil, M., & Gitimu, P. (2013). Use of social media by college students: Relationship to communication and self-concept. Journal of Technology Research, 4, 1.
Swan, K. (2017). Gaining Perspective: Social Media’s Impact on Adolescent Literacy Development. Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1801&context=ehd_theses
