Globalization has transform the world to modern and dynamic. Almost every aspect changed under Globalization, such as economic, political, and social. This essay discusses the author’s opinion on what is the most important social change that is created from globalization.
According to Merriam Webster dictionary, the word globalization means “the act or process of globalizing or the state of being globalized”. Globalization happens when almost all parts of the world is connected from one another. R Robertson mentioned that The compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole (R.Robertson, Globalization, 1992:8)
According to Oxford Bibliographies, social change is the significant alteration of social structure and cultural patterns through time. Globalization has brought massive social change. Before the era of globalization, life was very traditional and monotone. There were no technology and what people are doing from day to day is not much different.
Generally, there are two types of social change: evolutionary and revolutionary. Evolutionary social change changes gradually for a long time. However, revolutionary social change is something that changes the world very fast in a very short time. Personally, I agree that the most important social change resulted from globalization is social media. Before social media exist, communication was not really dynamic even though televisions have exists. Social media does not only impact on communication, but also to human culture and lifestyle.
The first social media is Six Degrees which was made in 1997. In 2004, Facebook was invented. Social media grows rapidly as Facebook exists. After Facebook, twitter come to rise and today Instagram becomes very popular.
Social media created new dynamic that does not exist before. Before social media, human role was passive. Televisions are one of the electronic media that has exist since long time. Since 1947, television has been used in United States although only few thousands are using it. In media such as televisions, newspaper and magazine, the audience are just consumer and watching. It’s one way communication because only the system is speaking. In social media, everyone could play active role. It shifts from one way communication into two way communication. Facebook and twitter enables us to express our ideas and feelings through status. Instagram gives us room to share our moments and memories through pictures. Blogs allows us to write articles in a way like journalist.
Moreover, social media helps us to expand our networking circle. We could be friends and communicate with people across the globe. It is not just the people we know, but strangers could be our friends. Everyone could share their moments, where they are at, and their daily activities. Many people could see their friend’s activities.
Texting and calling also becomes part of social media. Chatting messengers such as line and WhatsApp could minimize the cost of texting and calling. We do not have to worry on the cost if we communicate even to different country. The other advantage of having chatting messenger is that we can create groups for making discussion. Texting is no longer using word only, but it enables emoticon and sticker.
The world is completely changed since social media come to rise. Everyone could brand and present themselves any time. Before social media exists, it is very hard to express their feelings and ideas in public. But today, the posting that we share through social media defines who we are although there could be fake information.
As time goes by, social media could be connected between one another. For example when we post pictures in Instagram and write status on twitter, it could be shared to Facebook at the same time. It becomes much easier. News is also provided in social media. LINE is no longer just a chatting application, but it is also platform to read news and play games.
Raising popularity is getting much easier under the power of social media. Some celebrities such as Justin Bieber become famous through You Tube videos. It’s not only the people who come to top of the stage could gain their popularity. Everyone has the opportunity, not only the person who comes from celebrity family. There is always viral moment flooding from social media coming from simple postings.
Another important thing is that social media gives room to raise income. Social media is more than social platform, but it is also business platform. Everyone could develop their business and selling products. People do not have to go to the store. It is enough for them to just confirm and the goods will arrive in their house.
Since online business is growing, on the same time online transaction is developing. One of the factor of online transaction is through social media. Today, E-Banking application allows us transaction without having to step far to ATM. Mobile banking also provide room for online transaction. Even some day, social media could become the future banks. According to Richard Eldridge of Lenddo “Social media is transforming banking relationships in very significant ways, from improving customer service to allowing users to send money to others via online platforms. New financial technology companies are using social media to help people simply open a bank account. Social media can even impact your ability to get a loan.”
He also added “The biggest challenge is maintaining security standards and ensuring customers knowingly provide personal information. Banks will also have to implement sophisticated social media policies.” Social media has expand to almost all aspects of human life.
On the opposite, social media creates side effects. The users of social media keeps increasing but there are people who don’t get enough education on how to use social media. Wars and conflict could explode just through sentences or even words expressed in status. When people spread hoax or fake news, there is possibility that the people who watch it might spread that fake information too. There might also be fake transaction in social media. At the end, any verbal violations in social media could end the users being thrown into prison. There is one extreme case. Man in Thailand was imprisoned just because of giving like in Facebook page that discredit the king. If just liking something that is not appropriate could end up in prison, what if we have write status?
It doesn’t have to be something extreme. Although it is social media, it could make some people become anti-social. Many people are overly attached with gadgets. Even when they are gathering with their friends, family or business partner they keep focusing on gadgets. It makes the far becomes closer, and the closer becomes further.
To a large degree, social media has created so many positive impacts and it has creates new dynamics in the world. Many things that human never imagine before exist due to social media presence. However, social media could bring negative impacts when there is miss-use. Personally, I believe that social media is the most important social change in globalization. But what is more important is the education of social media.
Reference:
- Obo. (2017, October 19). Retrieved November 06, 2017, from http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756384/obo-9780199756384-0047.xml
- Globalization. (n.d.). Retrieved November 06, 2017, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/globalization
- Social Change: Meaning, Types and Characteristics. (2016, March 03). Retrieved November 06, 2017, from http://www.psychologydiscussion.net/social-psychology-2/social-change/social-change-meaning-types-and-characteristics/1446
- News, C. (2014, February 04). Then and now: a history of social networking sites. Retrieved November 06, 2017, from https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/then-and-now-a-history-of-social-networking-sites/
- Written by Alejandra Guzman, Senior Manager and Global Leadership Fellow Farida Vis. (n.d.). 6 ways social media is changing the world. Retrieved November 06, 2017, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/04/6-ways-social-media-is-changing-the-world
- Hur, J. (2017, September 05). History of the Television. Retrieved November 07, 2017, from https://bebusinessed.com/history/history-of-the-television/
- Andwika, R. (2015, December 15). Kasus-kasus apes orang di penjara gara-gara main Facebook. Retrieved November 07, 2017, from https://www.merdeka.com/peristiwa/kasus-kasus-apes-orang-di-penjara-gara-gara-main-facebook/pria-ini-divonis-penjara-32-tahun-hanya-karena-beri-jempol-di-fb.html
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