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● “Social media has played a key role in democratising our discourse” - Narendra Modi
● “Technology and social media have brought power back to the people” - Mark McKinnon
● “The great thing about social media was how it gave a voice to voiceless people” - Jon Ronson
● “Whoever controls the media, controls the mind” - Jim Morrison
● “Connectivity is a human right” - Mark Zuckerberg
Anecdotes/Short Stories
● Year-2008 saw the election of Barack Obama as the first black President of USA. However, his rise was
accompanied by the silent rise of social media - Twitter, Facebook - which played a major role in influencing
people. A similar story, but in another year - 2014, for another leader - Narendra Modi and for another
country - India.
● During 2010, there was widespread discontent against autocratic regimes across Middle-East often referred
to as Arab Spring. While discontent wasn’t new, what was new was the Social media and its power. Social
media played a huge role in mobilising people who were demanding democracy and voice in decision making.
● #MeToo campaign on Social media against sexual harassment and assault, became a global movement and
helped in demonstrating the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the
workplace.
● The war for Net Neutrality in India wasn’t fought on any ground, water or space but on Social Media. The
support on social media finally led to government confirming the principle of net neutrality.
INTRODUCTION
● Connectivity and communicating form the basis for sharing, learning, debating and discussing.
● Beginning from the ancient times, they have been an integral component of our lives, our society. They not
involve direct modes like talking, sending letters etc., but also indirect modes like - performing arts and non-
performing arts.
● Hence, it is of no surprise that human beings are often referred to as social animal.
● However, the content and means of communication have not remained static. They started with Pigeon post,
moved on to postal letters, then to telephones and now to smart phones and social media.
● Interestingly, Social Media is not only changing how people communicate but also what people
communicate.
● As of today, social media is becoming an integral part of our life. Our days starts with checking and updating
our social media accounts and ends on a similar note.
● However amidst all these, there has been growing reception and debate on the problems and the challenges
of social media.
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DEFINITION
● In common parlance, Social media is seen synonymous with Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, LinkedIn etc.
● However, social media goes beyond this and has a much more broader scope. It is an umbrella term and,
refers to websites and applications that enables users to create, share content, interact and to participate in
social networking.
● This interaction can take many forms, but some common types include:
○ Sharing opinions, links of third parties, photos, videos and posts
○ Public updates to a profile, including information on current activities and even location data
○ Commenting and rating on the photos, posts, updates, videos and links shared by others.
● Privacy
○ Social media has put a huge question mark of privacy of people. E.g. Case of Facebook and Cambridge
Analytica where personal information of users was being traded for monetary gains.
CONCLUSION
● Social media today has emerged as a double-edged sword. While it has transformed the way what we think,
believe and act, it has led to violation of privacy, problem of trolls, fake news etc.
● These volley of problems has called for regulations and restrictions regarding social media. However,
regulating social media is not only desirable but also not possible. It is the uniqueness of social media that is
self regulating:
○ Issues of privacy are being tackled with technology and better laws. For e.g. Privacy with Technology;
EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has become a model law for protecting privacy.
○ Fake news is increasingly being tackled by Social media activism and citizen journalism.
○ Social media is itself becoming the means for educating and making people aware of the issues and
challenges of social media.
○ While social media is making law enforcement tough, it is also helping in preventing and resolving crimes
at the same time.
● The way forward must be to ensure -:
○ Formulation and enforcement of Strict Privacy Law
○ Strict cyber security system and Law enforcement
○ Making children aware of the problems of social media right from the beginning by Parents, Teachers and
Society at large.
● The potential of social media is revolutionary. With increasing digital penetration and increasing development
of application, social media rise is indispensable. Also, the values of social media like freedom, transparency,
openness etc. are innate to human being, part of their social being.
● As Victor Hugo said, “No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come". Today, this power is
“Social Media”.
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