Social Media and Societal Impact
https://www.simplilearn.com/real-impact-social-media-article
The linked article discusses recent advances in the technology and structure surround social media and the use of these platforms by society at large. There is increased awareness throughout the networks that represent social media, and the systems themselves serve as contagion-like information spreading machines, hopping by means of likes, shares, and comments between users in a vast network. Considering the themes and topics that are often central to online discussions (politics, sports, etc.), opinions in these areas in this day and age are spread like wildfire through online communities. There is very little thought that goes into information sharing, and many accounts/users simply relay information without adding their own insights or commentary. In this sense a large portion of the network may be “dark” (not adding their own ideas), but because the information can be seen from so many vantage points and tied to so many different users who have liked/commented/shared the information, it seems to be the current most pressing topic and opinion.
Although many nodes of a social network are passively relaying and spreading information amongst their connection, they are not adding new material or insight. For this reason, ideas can be accepted into a group without any individualistic additions to the ideas. Group-think can be a result of a network that is constantly fed ideas that fit into its own agenda while not being enriched with unique additions or caveats to the original idea. We can see this in the polarity that is caused by political discussion and posts online. A post can resonate with someone on a variety of levels, but liking or sharing this post makes it more likely to be seen by others in your network but does not give them any indication of how the post made you feel or what you agreed/disagreed with. For this reason, we should always be careful and explicit over social media. Our words (sometimes the lack of them) can cause unwanted biases to form in a network and can cause division when opinions are finally vocalized but perhaps too late.