On Thursday, October 17th, the National Institute of Social Sciences hosted a first-of-its-kind forum, exploring social media’s pervasive influence in today’s society. The provocative discussion, fittingly titled “The Power & Perils of Social Media,” was led by Dario Spina, chief marketing officer at Viacom Velocity. The spirited group of panelists included experts from academia, journalism, social technology, and industry.
In efforts to make a complex topic addressable in just over an hour, the forum focused on the interrelationships between social media and culture, brand, and the individual.
Panelists asserted that culturally, the introduction of social media usurped the traditional media model of a “one to many” to a “many to many” dialogue. In short, in today’s world, anyone can be mass media. A prime example of this cultural communication shift is the phenomena of today’s Youtube, twitter, and instagram celebrities. Everyday people (as opposed to corporations) who the mass public made famous through views, retweets, and likes, and rely on for information, style, and opinions.
The “many to many” environment can be both empowering and toxic. Jeanine Liburd, chief social impact and communications officer for BET Networks, shared inspiring examples of how social media can give voice to the disenfranchised and even start movements, such as Black Lives Matter. But, at its worst, it also breeds bullies, trolls, and exacerbates mental health issues. Sometimes, it’s both at once. A recent body positivity hashtag #Flexininmycomlexion, actually arose from one eleven year old girl girl who was bullied for the color of her skin, but who was able to turn it into an online movement and successful business.
With the rise of social media, industry quickly realized that just because “many to many” was dominant, didn’t mean they couldn’t be “one” of those “many.” Speaker Michael Fanuele, president of Assembly Media, related that advertisers have to be a lot more intimate, a lot more subversive, on social media. Nowadays, corporate brand identity adopts many of the traits of the most successful everyday social media influencers: Relatable, but something to aspire to; Humorous, but not controversial; Your closest friend, who you’ve never met. Social media influencers themselves are now brands and marketing companies now exist with the sole purpose of paring brand campaigns to influencers who will endorse the product to loyal followers.
But just like we expect our friends to care about what we care about, and be there for us, we now expect the same sort of social impact from social media-driven brands. Social media is the perfect way for brands to show “they care,” or that they “stand (or kneel) with us.” However sometimes this backfires, and what social media giveth, it quickly takes away. Lisa Baird, chief marketing officer at New York Public Radio (NYPR) cautioned that one misstep, and once loyal consumers will do whatever they can to destroy a brand, sharing the recent example of the NBA’s censorship of a manager’s tweet to appease China (October, 2019).
These “betrayals” are a reminder that social media is in fact marketing-sponsored, and therefore, while users may be under the impression they have ownership over their digital space, it exists because of ad revenue. In fact, these social media giants have become some of the most powerful companies in the world, manipulating our most personal information and tendencies.
Alas, there’s very little protection offered to the individual who uses social media. Heidi Boisvert, founder, CEO, and creative director of the futurePerfect lab explained the study of Cybernetics, which very simply put, explores how humans behave when exposed to certain information through specific communication channels. While it emerged near the end of World War II, the field is more important than ever.
As writer and journalist Julie Scelfo expressed, most social media users do not understand the difference between different types of information they encounter on social media, for example, an advertisement versus a personal opinion versus a fact. She broke down the key distinction of “disinformation” versus “misinformation,” explaining that misinformation is unintentional, while disinformation is, and social media is in a very scary disinformation phase. One solution, she impressed, should be Media Literacy Education, which has been part of Canada’s public education for decades.
Reeling it all back in, David Pogue, a writer for The New York Times, reminded us that none of the “powers” or “perils” of social media are new. Social media was built based off of fundamental human tendencies - the best of them - building community, exercising empathy, the endless pursuit of knowledge - but inevitably feeds the worst of them - violence, gambling, manipulation.
Journalist and consultant Anne Nelson, made one particularly relevant conclusion: Perilous technology is what happens when tech companies ignore the social sciences.
The National Institute of the Social Sciences and the young members’ committee is thrilled to have participated in such a challenging and timely discussion. We’re looking forward to organizing more such events in the near future.
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