SOCIAL MEDIA; A DOUBLEEDGED SWORD IN OUR HANDS!

The ban on the likes of TikTok notwithstanding, social media is only expected to grow bigger in the future. Post lockdown, Social Media has emerged as the only platform where one can feel the presence of people around them as well as those far away, through images, notes of thoughts, and videos. T S Haokip writes.

- T S Haokip

Based on publicly available data up to 20 April 2020, the following social media platforms are the most widely used in the following order: (Sources: KEPIOUS Analysis) Facebook has 2.498 billion monthly active users. YouTube has 2 billion monthly active users. WhatsApp has 2 billion monthly active users. Facebook Messenger has 1.3 billion monthly active users. WeChat (Weixin) has 1.165 billion monthly active users. Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users. It is worth mentioning that the choice of platforms varies with location, age group and profession.

Abuse of platform

Pros and cons of social media do exist; some people loathe social media, accusing it to be the one biggest reason for the decline of physical activities and academic interests among the younger generations, while there are people who considered social media as the next best thing to none. The abuse of this microblogging, messaging, image, and video sharing platforms as a means of spreading fake news and hatred/communal messages is a serious concern. It has resulted in multiple incidents of assaults, threats, loss of lives, and the vandalising of properties. Fake news in itself is an injustice to people that violates their right to access fact news. When fake news is coupled with communal propaganda, the results could be devastating.

Privacy concerns