By M. Murat Yesil, Ph.D.
Social media has become a part of our lives. So much so that the desire to learn about the developments on social media platforms every day has now exceeded the size of the desire and has become an indispensable practice of daily life. A different social media platform is starting to be published with each passing day. In the past, women’s neighborhood gossip and men’s coffee shop chats have changed their ways and methods today, bringing people together on devices with internet access.
Previously, social media channels, which brought together small groups of friends on a common platform and enabled them to share information and visuals with each other, have become gigantic growing channels. Social media platforms that eliminate borders between countries have turned the world into a global village, in McLuhan‘s words. In other words, social media has created a virtual world that lives intertwined with the physical world. Social media, which initially served as a communication bridge between people living in different regions, has gradually become the organizations that direct people’s lives in almost every field from art to politics, from economy to social life.
As mentioned in the previous lines, social media platforms enable all kinds of information and visuals to reach almost every segment of society with internet access. Newspapers and magazines printed on newsprint paper and distributed by means of transportation are gradually leaving their place to social media channels. The privilege of preparing, printing, and publishing information and news is no longer in the hands of large monopolies, but in the hands of individuals who know how to use the internet. Before the development of Internet broadcasting, the reader/viewer audience, who were consumers of media products, became both producers and consumers of information and news by using social media platforms and internet journalism technologies.
Numerous scientific studies on social media have reached findings that reveal that these media will replace traditional media in the future. The impact of social media on human life is not limited to the media, but its impact is seen in almost every aspect of life. Of course, it is not possible to include all the articles showing the dimensions of the constantly developing and increasing number of social media platforms in this news story, however, we can share links to some of them here:
The 15 Biggest Social Media Sites and Apps [2023] by Karl, March 12, 2023
The social media factor in the development and promotion of religious tourism
by M. Murat Yesil, Ph.D.
Professor of Journalism and Media Studies