How Social Media is taking the lights from traditional mass media – By Sameh Habeeb
Are we witnessing the end of Traditional Mass Media?
Social media is the best tool of the era to market products, services, and even political, social, economic and environmental ideas or causes. Social media consists of social networking platforms such as Facebook and Instagram while traditional media consists of mass media such as newspaper, TV, billboards, and radio. It is quite obvious that in the 21st century, digital media has trumped over mass media due to various reasons.
One of them is because the content on social media is tailor-made, customized to the individual viewing it. Social media not only takes into account parameters such as age and gender but also likes and dislikes the data regarding which it gathers from past use of the application. Social media reactions can be used to predict behavior too. This ensures that the content that a person is viewing pleases him or her and results in him or her making a purchase.
The content on social media is very pleasing and attractive which is why the users are highly likely to react. In digital media, there is an option to interact and this increases the engagement of the person with the post. The producers of the content receive feedback from their customers and incorporate it into their product or service. This increases consumer awareness and brand loyalty.
Another advantage of social media is that posts can be tracked, that is, the analytics regarding user engagement with any given post can be obtained. The business owner can view details of the person interacting with the post and gather relevant and useful statistics.
Social media has been designed to grab the attention of the users but the same cannot be said of traditional media. It’s not possible for users to interact with the content and for the producers to measure the interaction with their content quantitatively.
If used wisely, social media can be a great place for marketing and promotion. It can also be an excellent source of inspiration, entertainment, and joy.