“A restaurant we haven’t tried, an art gallery we want to check out or that interesting office next door. Let’s google it, or look for it on Twitter and Facebook.” Is the information credited? Not always. Are we going to believe it? Of course we are.
In her report ‘15 Social Media Statistics That Every Business Needs to Know,’ Erin Richards states that 50 per cent of online shoppers have made their purchase based on a recommendation through a social media network. Likewise, 64 per cent of Twitter users and 51 per cent of Facebook users are more likely to buy products of brands that they follow.
I agree that social media platforms today are more about building a “brand” or an image than actually talking to friends and connecting.
Most people are designing their pages and posting what they want others to “think” that they are and that is not necessarily what they actually are. Thus, the image that is reflected is not always the truth. Usually, it is half of the truth and more often it is not at all related to the real image.
From markets and shops to ethics, politics and social groups, they all use social media platforms to promote themselves. Each and every group has its own way to do it, irrespective if it is right or wrong way of working on their “brand”.
Considering the younger generation and the fact that some of them have not yet developed their own notions and opinions, it is dangerous to leave them to get influenced by random social media users.
Marketing people are not the only ones trying to convey messages through social media, individuals try and publicise a figment of their imagination about who they would like to be — essentially, all that they can or cannot be in reality.
This is a result of the stress and pressure that media places on generation X and Z. This generation was brought up to what is set out to be the perfect individual with a perfect personality and body, perfect family and with the perfect company etc. With that in mind, they are constantly under the pressure to be that perfect person, and if they can’t, they should fake it.
Generation Z is a generation that was born with a great history behind them, a lot of stories of success and failure. However, they missed out on a lot of things, most importantly, experience.
It is a generation that wants to hear or see how a situation has influenced someone rather than actually being influenced themselves. Although this generation is exposed to an enormous amount of information, they are easy targets to deceive and manipulate.
The writer is a media student at University of Sharjah
The International Government Communication Forum (IGCF), held in Sharjah, is an annual forum that shares global best practices in fields of government communication and aims to build a platform for better communication between governments and their citizens. This column is a collaborative effort with Gulf News featuring work by UAE-based students as part of that initiative.
