Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media

Social media

Social media can be defining as websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. Moreover they are internet sites where people interact freely, sharing and discussing information about each other and their lives, using a multimedia mix of personal words, pictures, video & audio.

Furthermore, social media depend on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content.

Classification of Social Media

1. Collaborative projects                        -   Wikipedia
2. Blogs & micro blogs                           -   Twitter
3. Social news networking sites            -   Digg & Liker net
4. Content communities                          -  YouTube & Dailymotion
5. Social Networking sites                     -   Facebook
6. Virtual game worlds                           -   World of warcraft
7. Virtual social world                             -  Second Life

Quality, reach, frequency, accessibility, immediacy, usability & permanence are special features that differentiate social media from industrial media.

Advantages of Social Media

1.  Easy for communication
2. Quick & cost effective
3. Build associations
4. Knowledge sharing -Social media contains wide range of knowledge related to different fields and it is free to share any kind of knowledge through social media. It is a way to enhance the knowledge of people.
5. Opportunity for shy, socially awkward people to communicate

Advantages of Social Media for Business Organizations

 Broad reach

Global connections can be made by social media. Consequently businesses can reach to a huge market where number of consumers & opportunities available.


Reduces overall marketing cost

Since social media is free business organizations can use it as a marketing tool. As the above mention business can reach to a large number for customers with no or less cost. Likewise make aware about product & services can be done effectively than other methods.

Help to offer better customer service & engage with the customers

Businesses can create value for the customers through social media.Customer complaints handling & giving quick response to them can be done too. 

Ability to design own online personality

Business organizations can develop & maintain their own personality through social media.

Ability to monitor other businesses

Through social media organizations can monitor their competitors and see what they are doing and how the customers are reacting to them.

Provide competitive advantage

Achieve above advantages in an extraordinary manner leads organization to achieve competitive advantage than other organizations. 

Disadvantages of Social Media 

1. Time wasting
2. Privacy issues
3. Online bulling
4. Fake profiles
5. Boast & exaggerates
6. Less  face to face interaction with family & friends