Social media has enabled people to make friends from all over the world. Social media can take various form, from photo-sharing apps like Instagram and Tumblr to user-generated content platforms like Twitter and YouTube. Social media has become widespread and has a lot of influence on people today. Some quarters opine that social media divides. But it is more of a uniting force because it can go beyond boundaries, share different opinions that can lead to a healthy debate and has the power to highlight issues which have not come to light due to various reason. In these aspects, social media is more of a uniting force.
Detractors to the view suggest that social media enables people to make friends from various social classes and cultural backgrounds. People can connect with each other from across the world and also maintain a relationship with friends and families who have moved abroad. For example, through websites like Facebook, people can send a friend request to people with similar likes and interests. Furthermore, sites like Tumblr enable a person living in Singapore to become friends with a person living in Paris. When people form friendships with people from other cultures than they can become sensitive and understanding of other cultures. Additionally, video calling and live streaming services on apps like Instagram, Facebook and Skype can allow people to connect with people through video calls. This can allow them to witness events like New Years Eve fireworks, Weddings and Graduation ceremonies if one cannot be present physically. Thus, social media has indeed made the world a small place and has also reduced the gap between people.
Another positive view is that social media also allows healthy debates by ensuring that people can express their varying opinions. Many people have access to social media apps today. People can use these apps to offer their different views. Social media empowers people to put forth their opinions and views and comment on various social and political issues. For example, many governments understanding the rising use of social media have started putting polls and asking for feedback on various issues. Singaporean government created a website called eGov2015 in a bid to ensure that feedback from Singaporeans from all walks of life can be heard and to facilitate greater co-creation and collaboration between the government and the people. Thus, it can be said that social media acts as a unifying force in bringing people together by means of differing opinions.
Social media has helped in shedding light on issues that otherwise would not have come to the front. As social media is used globally, it can spread the news on a global level and make people aware of the situation around the world. For example, The Ice Bucket Challenge brought forth to the issue of ALS and successfully raised $100 million for the ALS association. Another example can be the Me-Too movement, which became a worldwide phenomenon. Started by actress Alyssa Milano, it became a simple yet powerful way to express solidarity with victims of sexual harassment and shed light on the power imbalance that exists between men and women within societies across the world. The more recent Trashtag challenge also brought to the front the issue of plastic pollution. People from across the world have participated in the challenge from children in Congo to adults and teenagers cleaning beaches in Mumbai. Thus, social media unites people and brings them together by striking a chord between them to work for the greater good of society.
Despite all the benefits, social media has created a bubble for the youth of today. Social media significantly influences their impressionable minds and help them find information that supports their political or social views. It also makes them blind to look at the issue objectively and make decisions based on facts and reasoning. Third-party cookies and algorithms of apps like Instagram and Facebook present only that information to people that they are interested in seeing. For example, people are more likely to follow and like pages which align with their views and ideologies rather than pages that show facts. This trend of streamlining and showing information based on online behaviour may have a negative impact in the long run. This is because it may give rise to confirmation bias and may give people the false beliefs that their views are correct while the opposing views are wrong or skewed. Moreover, if they do come across counter-views they might become defensive of their own views and would not accept the truth. In this respect, social media divides.
In conclusion, social media is more of a uniting force rather than a dividing force. Though it might create rifts between the young and the old, the older generations are catching up to using social media. The social media also helps people to connect with friends and family and form new friendships with people from different cultural backgrounds. Moreover, social media holds great power in influencing people to take action on various issues and in this sense becomes a uniting force than a dividing force.