Latest Trends In Social Media Scope

Abstract

Social media have become a peculiar phenomenon which is currently familiar to anyone. As Internet has changed the way people communicate, social networking sites have become the places where people spend most of their leisure time. It is so because humans are social and they need to share thoughts with others, and modern technology has simplified the ways it could be handled by. The review under study presents the key points of social media space, its functional peculiarities and main sources of impact on the human mentality. The influential powers of social media include their emotional, selling, motivating, uniting and social impacts. It also enumerates the highlighted points by which social media are different from other traditional media forms, such as radio or television. The research proceeds in covering the main benefits of social media forms in marketing, social networking and self-articulation. Social media functions include allowance, simplicity, influence power and flexibility that are presented in business marketing making its management more rapid and suitable for the present time needs. The study is supplied with data tables and systematized classification of the processed material. The obtained results can be presented within the theoretical or practical courses of journalism, social media marketing and network communication.

Keywords: Communication, media trends, social media

Introduction

Social Media are the newest phenomena based on the human necessity to socialize and interact with one another. Their simultaneous technologies enable social media networks to upload the latest data for introduction and sharing. These pretty modern technologies are able to bring more friends and provide with social interaction at a distance. The online followers can become one’s business partners in perspective as well as possible spouses for life waiting to get captive and involved. These quick and, at the same time, cheap means of involvement have their own characteristics which cannot be ignored and left unvalued.

Problem Statement

The way and pace of social interaction have changed over the last 20 years. Social media started with the development of mobile technology which proceeded to the emergence of social media technology. Across the globe, mobile devices dominate in terms of total minute spent online. The problem under study is to reveal the current tendency of social media development and to describe the latest trends of their presentation in the media scope.

Research Questions

The study of social media impact is bound with several matters to be disclosed. Firstly, it is necessary to determine the reasons which enable people for the online interaction with each other. Secondly, it is essential to track the current tendency of media development in this scope of investigation. Thirdly, one of the targets is to retrace the key motivation of the rapid development of communicating technology.

Purpose of the Study

The research is aimed to present the basic trends of modern journalism which seem to be relevant for social interaction at present time. Moreover, the authors of the research tend to determine the functions of social media in human life. Significant data are provided by comparing the existing network forms of communication with the traditional ones. The stated peculiarities of modern social media trends bring up their unity with the sphere of marketing and management.

Research Methods

Among the various ways of scientific analysis, the following methods have been used in the presented research: comparative analyses, statistical analyses, data observation and distribution.

Findings

Audio-visual media, which include radio, film, television, have been replaced by the media industry, represented as the part of the digital world. This area deals with the collection, processing and production of information by means of new technological tools. Their aim is to create long-term communication between the participants of social interaction (Vartanova, 2015). The modern understanding of media differs from the concept of media communication fields such as media or journalism. Its significance is expending and gets more profound as time goes by.

At present, media are associated with an environment connected to the life of modern society. Over the past twenty years, the life of society has undergone significant changes. Televisions provide access to an unlimited number of channels, computers provide databases and open services and networks for communication, cell phones provide communication center services, etc. It is obvious that media researchers give the name to a new audience that have grown up within the digital media - the Z-audience (Mediatrends, 2019). Table 01 shows the Russian media landscape in 2020, reflecting the change in the information focus of the Russian observer - from a television news source to Internet portals. According to the survey conducted by "FOMnibus" (2020), the number of permanent Internet audience in the Russian Federation for the period 2010-2020 increased from 4% to 27% (Table 01).

The genre structure of modern journalism has acquired an unprecedented flavour. Experts refer to its main trends in the media space:

1. are especially well represented in foreign journalism. This function allows one information block to be presented at several sites simultaneously. The scale of this area allows to present one’s product / service on the market, expanding influence within the minimum period of time. The advertising display is a particular example of effective market promotion. Its frequency, brightness and unexpectedness allows the brand to be presented to a wide audience. The advertiser possesses the right to choose the site for placing the display determining its cost (Vartanova, 2015).

2.- transformation of genres into a new form. As a rule, such forms are hybrid and do not have a clear attachment to a single type of media, such as multimedia, or online broadcasts. Due to social media, the diffusion of genres is observed in publications that combine visual image with audio and video filming. The perceived image of a picture or sound is decisive for later viewing or reading the content. As a result, the successful combination of the general form of the hybrid genre determines the success of the brand's advertising campaign (Mesfin et al., 2019).

3 are the main tools of a modern journalist. Social platforms are used to publish their own materials and collect information. One of the most popular platforms in Russia is Instagram, as well as Youtube, Facebook and VKontakte. The precursors of social networking are email, teleconferencing, and online chatting. However, the listed forms of interaction have generally been concentrated around the business communication of the interlocutors. Social networks allow the interlocutors to conduct informal communication, discussing common interests and sharing events from their personal lives. With the development of digital technologies, all forms of media began to create their representations on social networks. This approach is aimed at acquiring a new target audience (Gambetti & Schultz, 2015).

is the use of certain programs when writing texts. Arithmetic algorithms cope with the task of creating news notes. The expansion of the genre palette is obvious in the near future. The power of graphics processes allows you to process data interactively. The APIs application enables to integrate artificial intelligence capabilities into new programs and devices (Vartanova, 2015).

5. is a function of reconstructing events using virtual processing of the environment. In this case, the technology is involved in the reality recreation. However, this ability is devoided of objectivity, so the responsibility for its implementation up to the journalists. Nonnie de la Peña was the first journalist to make a report about the parallel universe (Gambetti & Schultz, 2015). By filming Hunger in Los Angeles for the Sundance Film Festival, she was able to move viewers to a grocery line in one of the US neighborhoods. Having experienced this, the observers were able to observe the fainting of hunger by a man who was standing in front of them in one line. Thus, the immerse method seems appealing to the masses today.

New York Times Consumer Insight Group performed a social study devoted to the psychological impact of social media on the human nature (Andreassen, 2015).The study was aimed to reveal the motivation for sharing information among the users of social media networks. The survey presented a number of reasons which comprised: 

1. to share valuable and entertaining content to others;

2. to define themselves as personalities or participants of  certain social groups;

3. to grow and nourish relationship with opinion-supporters;

4. to get one's word out about a brand/ a community/ a real object;

5. to express the causes for one's preferences and likes (Andreassen, 2015). 

The conducted research has shown the reasons for which people use social network. The reasons may differ – from the marketing ones (by sharing information about the products) to the intimate needs (by sending nudes or loving texts) (Andreassen, 2015). Yet, the reasons have their outcomes which actually make the impact. So, when supporting some issue, people get a strong emotional impact that makes them feel content (emotional impact). When passing the necessary information about a product, the agents influence the products’ action in the market (selling impact). When uploading one’s images or video to share with the audience – they get happier to show their goals or experience (motivating impact). When they communicate nurturing relationships and keeping in touch with people, they feel full and mingling (social impact). When participating in some activities arranged online, people feel involved, busy and up-to-date (uniting impact).

The analyzed data helps to single out five main impacts that social media produce on the society:

• the emotional impact (84% of social media users);
• the selling impact (94% of attendants);
• the motivating impact (68% of users);
• the social impact (78% of participants);
• the uniting impact (69% of attendants).

Thus, sharing the information on the media, people benefit their social or career status by improving their social standing as well as providing utility to the network. 

Social media have become alive phenomena that are able to influence not only business but also human lives. Have you ever thought of a possibility for someone to get divorced after meeting a person online without meeting in real? Such real-life stories are becoming more and more frequent. In addition to this, it is necessary to mention that numerous individuals who are used to handling social media as their primary type of correspondence, tend to feel restless and depressed once they stay away from the concrete Social Media Platform. Side effects of uneasiness, anxiety, gloom, depression, FOMO, OCD can be activated by the fact that no interaction happens online (Mesfin et al., 2019).

The narrated information proves that everyone is to be conscious about the use of social media which may have important, productive or positive outcome for the users. With the fame of social media sites, the function of networks (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Vkontakte and Instagram) keeps on advancing. With their right usage, it is necessary to find out their benefits in marketing, social networking and self-articulation (Chang & Lu, 2015).

The stand-out points by which social media differ from traditional media forms such as television, newspaper, or radio adverts, are the following:

• online way of communication;
• simplicity and rapidness at connection and exchange of information;
• wide spread variety of Internet channels that affect several tools of human perception: audio, visual, digital canals;
• a wide range of broadcasting means such as video and audio pods, private forums, public discussion boards, blogging, chatting, emails, text messaging, etc.;
• a most effective way of getting closer to the online responder.

The listed peculiarities represent the technological features of the social media network. Apart from them, there is a number of which social media communication can donate to the marketing advertising.

Firstly, social media networks have become an easy way to keep in touch with valid and prospective customers. The amount of network participants can grow strongly due to the fact that the network advertisements are not focused on a particular audience or group of viewers. Its main target is to initiate the interest of different social groups and categories. The represented feature is valuable for the company’s potential bring more customers to the market place, regardless of their social class and level of education (Gordhamer, 2019).

Secondly, social media network system is a free and cheap way to post and regularly update the company’s adverts at a very rapid pace. As a matter of fact, they have become essential for every modern marketing company to master the social media network’s basic technics and tools. According to the Social Media Business Statistics (2014), the company’s absence in social media network speaks of its inefficiency: “Not being present in the social media networks in the current times is not an option for marketing companies” (Shea, 2014). Consequently, each contemporary enterprise or organization is to keep the line of the changing technology and tools to be able to tune its innovations and peculiar qualities to the public through network system.

Thirdly, social media build a collective opinion platform about the company’s most positive and negative sides. Its objectiveness is doubtless, as various people are free to type the information they find necessary to share with the public. As a result, the social media networks are set up by healthy discussions on relevant products that raise the company’s prestige and popularity. Obviously, this function of social media network system singles out a two-way form of communication by which the company’s authority get opportunity to impact the audience’s views and judgements.

Thus, advertising in marketing has evolved reasonably through times due to the peculiarities of the social media scope. Stepping forward from the traditional print, radio and television advertising, modern marketing has become on the benefits of the social media networks. The potential capacity of social media platforms’ function is incomparable with all the previous forms of market advertising. Its allowance, simplicity, influence power and flexibility give companies the opportunity to hyper-target a vast number of audience they want to reach.

Conclusion

The development of media trends tends to prolong its dynamic process. The stated data give a general picture of the main trends. Due to the upcoming economic challenges and business transformations, digital opportunities have introduced new media technologies which include multimedia and transmedia, hybridization of genres, social networks, artificial intelligence, virtual (VR) and augmented (AR) reality. Alongside the written paper, the terms ‘social media’ and ‘social media market’ are used interchangeably. Social media are innovative tools that organizations use for creating a very strong public relation with the customers on the virtual networks.

References

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• Chang, Y., Yu, H., & Lu, H. (2015). Persuasive messages, popularity cohesion, and message diffusion in social media marketing. Journal of Business Research, 68, 777 – 782.

• Gambetti, R. C., & Schultz, D. E. (2015). Reshaping the boundaries of marketing communication to bond with consumers. Journal of Marketing Communications, 21(1), 1-4.

• Gordhamer, S. (2019). 4 ways Social media is changing business. Mashable. Retrieved on 02 June 2021 from: http://Mashable.com /2009/09/22/Social-MediaBusiness/

• Mediatrends (2019). Content, audience, monetization. New Reporter. Retrieved on 02 June 2021 from: https://newreporter.org/2019/05/20/mediatrendy-2019-kontent-auditoriya-monetizaciya/

• Mesfin, A. B., Rachel, F. M., & Viswanath, K. (2019). Association of social media use with social well-being, positive mental health, and self-rated health: disentangling routine use from emotional connection to use. Health Education & Behavior, 2(46), 79-93.

• Shea, B. (2014). Social Media Business Statistics, Facts, Figures and Trends 2014. Adweek [Infographic]. Retrieved on 02 June 2021 from: https://www.adweek.com/digital/social-business-trends-2014/

• Vartanova, E. V. (2015). Towards media research as a topical area of scientific knowledge. Mediaalmanah, 2(67), 8-10.