Facebook's calibrated response
The phenomenal growth of social media platforms like Facebook in recent years has provided a rich ground for research in communication studies. Suddenly, assumptions made based on 20th-century perspectives on communication models and methods have been defied.
For instance, many people have assumed that social media and instant messaging bring in an unprecedented level of connection and openness among people on different levels. Instead, the world today is more divided than ever, and consumers who are constantly plugged into social media have started to realize this.
I, for one, am slowly weaning myself from this Facebook habit. By removing the Facebook app from my mobile phone and tablet, I have diminished that easy pull of social media to distract me from my more important tasks, or worse, to engage in useless debates. But I have not reached the point of quitting Facebook yet.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has recently acknowledged this "writing on the wall" when he announced last month that Facebook was making changes in its algorithms. This was after he admitted that Facebook users were spending "50 million hours less on the site." The decline is expected and will continue henceforth unless Zuckerberg and his team can find a way to bring another level of value to their product.
Zuckerberg's remedy of going back to the basics is nothing novel but is nevertheless a welcome development. Zuckerberg said that he wants Facebook to return to its original mission, that is, "to help people connect." This "focus on meaningful connections" is being done by tweaking Facebook's algorithms into highlighting updates of users' family and friends and reducing content on news and politics.
But this so-called "meaningful connection" is likewise facing its own challenge. Researchers have warned about the dangers of social media supplanting face-to-face interactions and relationships. This rings true in both the personal and business realms where there is no better substitute to personal, face-to-face interaction.
Studies done in the previous decade about Facebook have shown a high level of gratification toward the social media platform as a tool for socializing, entertainment, self-status seeking, and entertainment.
More recent studies, however, have warned of the dangers of social media use particularly on the privacy of its users. It is no secret that social networks have become a rich minefield of data for advertisers, retailers, and political operators to know about the preferences of individuals from various demographics.
Another one that has alarmed experts is the danger of sharing too much information like posting inappropriate photos. In a study entitled "Dangers and opportunities for social media in medicine" published by the US National Institutes of Health in 2013, experts warn about misjudgments in the medical world involving social media posts, "enabling all manner of distasteful content to be publicly posted by medical students, residents, and other healthcare providers, violating the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship, and reducing privacy."
Nevertheless, user-generated content, social interaction, and real-time collaboration are what make social media platforms like Facebook relevant and useful. But just like any other modern tool of various eras, social media can exploit human weaknesses and become dangerous if basic instincts get in the way of prudence.
Prudence is not exactly Zuckerberg's favorite virtue. "The biggest risk is not to take any risk," he was reported to have said. But the nations and communities that some experts say social media is tearing apart may finally now be driving Zuckerberg and his team to calibrate their risky enterprise.
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