Posted: April 12th, 2022

Role of visuals in Social Media

Social Media

Role of visuals in Social Media
Technology today has given birth to virtual communities where people get to interact by sharing idea, thoughts, information, and images. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter allow users to share both word and visual information. Pictures and videos are the most powerful tools on social media that any brand could use to generate traffic to the information that they are trying to communicate to their target audience. It is not surprising therefore to find a tweet that has been accompanied by an image or video getting more comments, likes, and retweets than one that is only plain text (Gretzel, 2017). For example, a company with a new or that has rebranded, let’s say BlueBand, may post the new/rebranded product on their social media account. Consumers will be drawn to the post more by the BlueBand image than the content of the text which will get them actively sharing their views and opinions on the comment section. It is acceptable to argue that visuals help to generate traffic, engage the target audience, and to clarify the concept being shared making it more relatable and memorable.
Social media and consumer behavior
Consumer behavior is heavily dependent on the reviews of other consumers on social media platforms. Positive reviews of a product on social media will attract more consumers, but one single negative review may ruin the reputation of a product. Using the same BlueBand example, consumers will share their experience with the product and their expectations from the rebranded product. Other social media users will be drawn to the post by the trending post and depending on the nature of the review, if positive, users of other competitive brands may be influenced to switch to BlueBand.

Social media and startups
Strat up companies can use social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter which also allows for visuals to advertise their brands. To increase visibility on the social media platform, these companies only need to pay a small fee to the platforms which will generate ads on behalf of the companies. The ads are designed in a way that they will reach consumers whose online behavior shows their need for a similar product. Facebooks ads have become a favorite tool for many startups as well as those that are already in the market.
Social media disorder
The desire to be constantly on social media and the fear of missing out when one has been off social media for a while has led to what psychologist call social media disorder. Many people find it hard to stay away from social media even for a day which can lead to a feeling of loneliness, paranoia, and depression (Hou et al., 2019). There is a group of young women called socialites who can hardly survive without social media and are always seeking attention and approval online which can be termed as attention deficit disorder.
How parents can monitor their kids on social media
The millennial generation has access to the internet and smartphones 24/7. Parents have to be careful about the activity of their children on social media platforms. One of the ways they can monitor their kids’ online behavior is by requesting the kid to be their friends online either with their real identities or pseudo accounts depending on how free they are with their children. Monitoring will help detect cases of bullying and sexual predators and will allow the parent to take preventive measures. Secondly, parents can set curfews on the time that the children should be online which will help limit their involvement on the social media platforms (Duggan et al., 2015).
Social media as the fourth power of the state
Media companies have consistently used social media platforms to pass political information to the public (Newman et al., 2012). Today, almost every media has a social media account where they share news even before it is released to tv and radio. Twitter is the most commonly used platforms by big political powers to share their political ideologies. Donald Trump, the current US president, is a prevalent figure on Twitter who is always sharing his controversial ideologies and policies on the platform.
Social media on children’s behavior
Social media platforms are significantly influencing the way children talk, dress, their taste of music and movies. Kids will observe what celebrity kids are doing or their adult idols and will want to imitate that. A thirteen-year-old girl will demand that her mother takes her to buy make-up so she can look like the Beyoncé she saw on Instagram or Facebook. Social media may change the psychosocial behavior of children and may make them to desire for a lifestyle that is beyond their age and engage in activities such a drug abuse at an early age (The Cabin Group, 2018). It is therefore wise that parent monitor their children on social media and limit their access as discussed earlier.
Addiction to social media
Just like the constant use of a drug triggers some form of brain chemistry, and one gets hooked to the drug, social media has caused the same impact to most of our brains. The connections and networking, the communication online gives some people the desire to be online excessively out of fear of losing the connections when they go off. Business owners may feel like they will lose their clients if they are not online to respond to their clients.

Politics and social media
Mass media companies, political parties, and survey organization have resulted in the use of social media to collect public opinion. Protests have been organized on social media again a particular policy or leader. Twitter users are the most notorious with the hashtag movement which spread like bushfire every time there is a protest. The hashtags are very visible and the more they are used, the more their visibility increases and the higher they trend hence drawing attention to the political issue at hand (Kahne, & Bowyer, 2018).
How social media drifts people apart
Before social media, friends used to meet up for lunch or coffee date and check up on each other. Today, people only check on what a friend has posted on social media and assume that they know what is going on in their lives. A simple like will be enough to show that friends are following up. In reality, the cut physical connections have led to people drawing away from each other and have alienated people from each other (Sullivan, 018).
Impact of social media on education
Social media has on the positive side enhanced learning for students. Search engine tools search as google and google scholar provide a platform where a student can search for educational materials that add to their pool of knowledge. Students can also create interactive forums on social media where they can share academic information when they are off school which has improved their performances.
How social media brings people together
Families and friends that live far apart from each other, make use of social media platforms to communicate with each other. Previously, phone communications were used to connect people which was very expensive. With social media, people can maintain real-time communications which has made it easy for people to keep in touch. Groups on Facebook have helped to bring together longtime friends, and enhanced interactions and physical meeting have been organized through the social media groups. Connections have been made among strangers in the process of sharing ideas on the platforms (Burke, & Kraut, 2014).
Social media on business
Increased brand awareness through social media has led to the growth of businesses. Using social media to advertise and connect with clients is one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies that business owners are using today. It only takes a brand to work on enhancing their visibility online by strategic marketing such a using social media brand ambassadors. Businesses can also make use of easily discoverable search engine optimization which will help draw online clients to their sites.
Conclusion
Social media is appropriately used will help both existing and upcoming business owners to grow their businesses without having to struggle with hiring marketing companies for advertising. Parents have to be very careful about how their children make use of social media to avoid bullying and sexual predators that are rampant on the platforms. Though social media, human interactions have both been lost and improved in equal measure.

References.
Burke, M., & Kraut, R. E. (2014). Growing closer on Facebook: changes in tie strength through social network site use. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 4187-4196). ACM.
Duggan, M., Lenhart, A., Lampe, C., & Ellison, N. B. (2015). Parents and social media. Pew Research Center, 1-37.
Gretzel, U. (2017). The visual turn in social media marketing. Tourismos, 12(3).
Hou, Y., Xiong, D., Jiang, T., Song, L., & Wang, Q. (2019). Social media addiction: Its impact, mediation, and intervention. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 13(1).
Kahne, J., & Bowyer, B. (2018). The political significance of social media activity and social networks. Political Communication, 35(3), 470-493.
Newman, N., Dutton, W. H., & Blank, G. (2012). Social Media in the Changing Ecology of News: The Fourth and Fifth Estates in Britain. International journal of internet science, 7(1).
Sullivan, C. (2018). How social media affects our daily lives. Retrieved from https://showcase.tempestamedia.com/how-social-media-affects-our-daily-lives-aid- 25084/
The Cabin Group. (2018). How Media Impacts Youth and Children – Disturbing Facts. Retrieved from https://www.thecabinchiangmai.com/blog/how-media-impacts-youth- and children/

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