Social Media has become a large and important part of daily life in contemporary society. It has been commonly defined to refer to “the many relatively inexpensive and widely accessible electronic tools that enable anyone to publish and access information, collaborate on a common effort, or build relationships.” It is an assortment of mobile and web-based technologies that create interactive platforms that people can utilize in the communication of ideas and development of user-generated content. Social media enables people to exchange ideas, data and images and has introduced many changes to communication between individuals, communities, organizations as well as businesses. It enables the exchange of information that has multiple sources and multiple audiences – a marked departure from traditional media, which involved only one source communicating with multiple audiences.

Many people use social media for both personal as well as professional reasons, with social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn being the most popular and widely utilized. People use Facebook as a means of communicating with friends as well as building an online community. This enables them to share their ideas, thoughts, photos, political views and other information with a wide range of people all over the world. Many people prefer Facebook over other modes of comunication such as email due to its ease of use and universality, enabling them to communicate with numerous individuals at the same time. Instead of targeting specific people in one’s communications, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram allows you to post information for multiple audiences to view, comment and engage with.

The use of Facebook in ones personal commications; however, poses some interesting questions regarding people’s motivations and how they choose to use the social media platform. For a certain segment of the population it has become a popularity contest, an accumulation of as many “friends” as one can have; it has become a competition. This calls into question the honesty and integrity of such individuals and what they choose to post. With the shaping of ones online persona being a preoccupation, it is hard to know whether someone is being honest or whether they are simply trying to show off. This creates a dishonest representation and only further exacerbates the consequences of competition, namely the creation of division between individuals.

Social Media platforms such as LinkedIn grant the user an opportunity to display their professional credentials to a wide range of businesses, organization and individuals with hopes of building working relationships. Though a Curiculum Vitae is useful when an employee is presenting their credentials to a specific potential employer, LinkedIn allows a two way street in the search and recruitment of work. Additionally, Facebook, Twitter as well as Instagram may all be used to expand a businesses market by allowing yet another venue for advertisement and other branding opportunities. 

Murthy, Dhiraj (2013). Twitter: Social Communication in the Twitter Age. Cambridge: Polity. pp. 7–8. ISBN 978-0-7456-6510-8.