Social media

Social media has represented a shift in the way people read, learn and share information and content.  With social media, the typical communication model of traditional media (radio, press, television) has radically changed.

Social media are not just platforms through which to share posts on Instagram or follow influencers and famous people, but they are also communities for creating content, virtual meeting places, discussion forums, as well as tools to be used within a broader marketing and advertising strategy. The birth of traditional social media, with all the associated dynamics, has revolutionized many of the many aspects that characterize our society.  Not only practical ones and technologists, but also the communicative paradigms, social dynamics up to the individual balance of power that have been altered by the entry of new players that complement the traditional ones.The emergence of new technologies within everyone’s reach and an accessible Internet network, in fact, has transformed users from mere users of content to active producers of the same: everyone can create new content that anyone can modify, share and distribute at will. However, although the advent of social media has led to mostly positive changes in our society, the negative consequences should not be underestimated.  If it is true that social media allow you to quickly meet and free a number of needs, it is also true that the satisfaction of these needs is offset by the sale of personal information that is not always under the user’s direct control.  The risks to privacy are then added to the risks related to the social pressure to which the user is constantly subjected as well as those related to new forms of digital addiction, just to cite a few examples.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA AND SOCIAL NETWORK?

When it comes to social media, the most common association is definitely the one with social networks.  In fact, social networks are only part of the vast social media universe composed of many different platforms together.  This is because, if it is true that a social network is certainly a social medium, it is not necessarily always true: social networks, in fact, are not only a means through which to share and create content but a real network of people, connected, organized together and united by common interests of various kinds.