What is happening with social networks in 2019?

The definition of social networks



Social networks are simply places and apps that work at different levels - professional, relational, and others - but always allowing the sharing of information and media between people and/or businesses. 

Now that we know what are social networks, let's talk about the change they are experiencing and let's see at what point we are now.



1. Have social networks always remained the same?

Answer: no, they haven't.

The first one was Six Degrees and it appeared in 1997. It allowed people to create friends' lists and users profiles. In 2003 Hi5 and Myspace. These ones had the function to interact with others registered in the network. In 2004, Facebook, one of the most successful networks in the history of the Internet. With this one you could find and keep in touch with people from your childhood, your work, etc. In 2005, Youtube, a big platform to share and consume videos and music. In 2006, Twitter, where you can express your ideas with freedom. In 2010 Instagram was launched. It allows you to post photos, give likes and comments, follow people you know (or maybe unknown ones). In 2014, Snapchat, where you can send private photos to your friends and they are deleted in 24 hours.

As we can see, they have been always improving and adding more and more functions to make people feel closer to each other.






2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of social networks?

Social networks are a good way to keep in touch with others, meet new people, share photos, get inspired by others' posts, sell products, win things by participating in draws, get information in real-time, get recognition which is good for influencers, brands, businesses, etc. 

It may seem catchy and fabulous, right? Yes, it is. But we should be aware of the disadvantages that they also have because it can be a double-edged sword. Some of those bad points are the following ones: 

- A possibility to be hurtful and cyberbully 
- Decrease face-to-face communication 
- Make people more dependent and insecure in the real world
- Cancel communication skills
- Break real relationships
- Create skewed self-image
- Privacy right cancelled
- The exposure to fake news 



3. In which ways can people start feeling complexed, dependent and insecure?

People in general, but mostly teenagers have an idol that they follow and want to emulate. Here we have the problem of the skewed image created. Maybe the idol has many followers that he/she doesn't even know but their audience wants to have the same and if they don't get it, they will be frustrated. The same happens with the number of likes. How can this useless thing influence people's feelings? A number doesn't determine your value. You are not a better person if you have more likes than others. Actually, that "popular" person maybe has a lot of insecurities and he/she posts fake photos and full of filters, pretending to have a perfect life and a perfect body.


4. What is an influencer and how to become one? (an extended profession in 2019)

A social media influencer is a "normal" person who is a representative of the general public and who uses social media platforms like YouTube and Instagram among others, to express their opinions on specific brands or products and by consequence, influencing their audience.


To become one, you have to follow these steps:

- Find your niche and create a space for yourself to build an audience. Of course, you also have to be different.

-Build your self-brand, do research and think about how do you want your brand to look.

- Decide which platforms you are working with, make a strategy in networks to engage people.

- Publish your content and post regularly in the perfect hours, when the platform is more popular.

- Put always your personality across and be relatable.

- Engage with your audience, keep the relationship on.

- Promote yourself on networks


5. Exposure to fake news


We are constantly receiving information from many places, even if we don't see the news on TV, don't read the newspaper and don't listen to the radio. Currently, almost everyone is on social networks, so they read and see what is posted there. They don't know whether it's true or not, but as we are becoming lazy, we just believe what is there. This poses a great danger, it can influence people's opinions and lead to fights, misunderstandings and even distress in real newspapers.




Some curious quotes

"How different would people act if they couldn't show off on social media? Would they still do it?" - Donna Lynn Hope

“You are what you share.” - Charles Leadbeater, We Think: The Power Of Mass Creativity

“Distracted from distraction by distraction” - T.S. Eliot

“I was basically born knowing how to casually stalk people on social media.” -  Becky Albertalli, The Upside of Unrequited

“It’s a highly deceptive world, one that constantly asks you to comment but doesn’t really care what you have to say.” - David Levithan, Two Boys Kissing

Interesting additional video of that topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E7hkPZ-HTk