Michelle's Blog

Module Reflection

Throughout this course, I have gained a better understanding of the development of the web and the importance of the social network. The course provides a variety of topics that highlights the effects and impact on the use of social media and the intricacies behind the networks. For example, the topic on social media strategies and metrics has given me a better insight on how businesses collect customers’ data and how to analyse it, by using specific social media metrics to measure their current performance. I found this topic quite interesting, as it gave me an example of what the marketing profession may entail. Furthermore, learning the different concepts about privacy paradox, data protection, filter bubbles and social media anxiety has made me realize that I needed to be more careful and critical on the usage of social media.

Interesting Topics

However, one of the topics that I particularly enjoyed was in Lecture 3: The good, the bad and the ugly. The topic was in regards to the effect of social media and the concept of privacy paradox. Although social media is arguably a huge benefit to facilitate social and economic interactions, there are many negative aspects that needed to be considered, such as invasion of privacy, security breach and psychological well-being. The discussion on privacy and security made me realize that I need to be more cautious on what I share online, as there are social boundaries that is needed to take account. Due to this, I became vastly aware on the social media platform that I use and had to readjust my privacy settings for the sake of my privacy and future. Alongside with that, the increasing incidents on the breaching of data privacy have shown me the importance of maintaining data security.

Another topic that has intrigued me is the effect of social media on a person’s psychological well-being. With the society becoming more reliant on the use of technology, social media became an integral part of many people lives. However after further research, an early exposure of social media can be more harmful than beneficial. As evidence, anxiety and depression has been on the rise amongst teenagers. This topic in particular intrigued me due to my immense personal interest in psychological aspects of a business. With this topic, it has helped me to understand the possible dangers of social media whilst also opportunities it may bring, in terms of digital marketing.

Overall, I found this course highly enjoyable and engaging. Learning about the intricacies behind social network metrics and social media strategy has sparked my interest in the digital marketing field.

Social Media Anxiety and Mental health

Social media anxiety is a concept where the engagement of social media may affect an individual’s mental health and well-being. It concerns with an individual who may have a social obsession in the online platform, whether trying to maintain their online persona or popularity. However, the level of obsession can be quite concerning, as it disrupts their daily activities

Implications with Social Media

Over the years, there has been an increase on the use of social media. With the rapid advancements of technology, it has led to a growth of new social platforms and means of communications. Online platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, has become one of the most used social mediums of human interaction, as figure 1 indicates (Clement, 2019).

So with the ever-increasing of social platforms, social media has become an unavoidable ‘trend’ that has bewitched many people. Evidence can be seen in figure 2, where it shows the drastic increase of people using social media over a decade, and it is forecasted that in 2021 there will be 3.1 billion people partaking in the social media phenomenon (Clement, 2019). This may indicate how social media has become an integral part of many people’s lives and the current generation. Some may even argue that social media has become a form of addiction to many people, especially amongst the younger generations. As evidence, figure 3 demonstrate the average time an individual spent on social media over the years, which is 2 hours a day and showing a steady increase (Clement 2019).

The evolvement of social media has allowed further interconnectivity with many people, from families to business deals all across the globe. However, there have been many debates on the effect of social media and its extensive use, especially to teenagers and young adults. Research has shown that teenagers and young adults are prone to be the most effected with social media, as they are likely to spend the most time. According to NHS, in 2017, there was a 70% increased on young people exhibiting mental health symptoms, including depression and anxiety. This does not mean that the cause was as a result of social media, however social media may have played a significant role in effecting their mental well-being.

Social Media Anxiety and mental health

Platforms like Instagram and Twitter are notorious for sharing your thoughts, opinions, experiences and materialistic commodities. Through these platforms, people across the globe are able to share a part of their life and possibly even build relationships. However, the excessive use of these platforms can exhibit some unhealthy traits and behaviour. For example, people who share their photos and experiences on Instagram may become attached to the ‘like and comments’ tool and leading to compulsive behaviour in order for ‘more likes’. This form of behaviour can lead to a negative mindset and spiral to the use of social media as a form of self-validation (Donelley, 2019). As a result, the lack of ‘likes’, retweets or engagement in social media may cause the user to be self-conscious and may perceive themselves as unlikeable or unfunny, which can lead to amplify their anxiety and effect their self-esteem and well-being.

However, it’s not only the user who’s delivering the content can be affected, the people who receive it may also be affected. For example, social influencers who flaunt their expensive commodities or adventurous experiences can create sense of envy to their audience and leading them to compare themselves to them or their peers. And realizing that they are missing out on the experience, may lead to a reflection of inadequacy and reduce their self-esteem. However, despite the negative feelings it may bring, the user still feels the need to tune in and engage further in social media, in fear of missing the ‘trend’. This concept is known as FOMO, or ‘Fear of missing out’, which has led many teenagers and young adults to feel anxious and depressed when they are not connected to social media. Yet in turn, it creates a vicious cycle on affecting the well-being of the mind.

Additionally, social platforms that are image-driven like Instagram has led many teenagers to be self-conscious on their body image. Research has shown that there is a correlation between image-driven platforms having a negative impact on the mentality of the individual. Since the majority of the post in Instagram is a reflection of the ‘ideal’ image or the ‘ideal’ life that an individual should have, it has led to a misconstruction on the ‘beauty standard’ or societal expectations. With teenagers comparing themselves on who seems ‘prettier, richer, thinner’, it has led to further impact on their self-image and insecurities (Miller, 2018). And with the internet being readily accessible, this ‘obsession comparison disorder’ can form at an early age, since the younger generation is easily exposed on the influence of social media

Key debates and controversies

However not all social media can negate to negative influence, as there are different uses for different social media platform.

Gephi Analysis

Above is a network model I made using Gephi, which is a network analysis model that helps to demonstrate the relationship of the networks by using social media information. The network model here represents the interconnected relationship between users and a hashtag, as I wanted to see where the source of the hashtag derived from. Firstly I decided to use the Twitter streaming importer, which enables me to analyse hashtags in twitter and gather twitter users information. For the hashtag, I decided to pick #Shadowbysuga, as I saw it was worldwide trending and I could find interesting data information. Within the twitter streaming importer, I decided to apply the user network logic rather than a full network. This implies that I’ll find users who are currently tweeting the hashtag and who are also following each other. To an extent it can also pinpoint different communities of people who partake in that hashtag.

The streaming importer found 166 nodes, implying that there are 166 users currently tweeting with the hashtag, The display of the nodes however are quite cluttered, so I decided to change the display to Yifan-Hu, which now you can see the nodes are visibly clear and the network relationship are more apparent.

For further depth of the network relationship, I wanted to group the nodes to their communities So I decided to run the modularity class and network diameter to detect any community structure from the hashtag.

To see the different communities of network and their sizes, I change the color of the nodes based on their modularity class and ranking the size by Betweenenss centrality. And as you can see from the diagram, some nodes have become larger, meaning that it may imply that the user may have a bigger following/influence or official accounts,whilst the different colors can imply the different set of communities the user/node belong to.

In this final network diagram, it shows the user names and how the hashtag actually derived from one particular node/account, which was @bts_twt, as majority of the nodes are pointing to that user. And it is interesting to see, how there’s another different set of community nodes branching off from the center and expanding the hashtag to other users.

About Me

My name is Vicha Michelle and I am currently studying Business and Management in Royal Holloway University.

Professional interest and studies

One of the reasons I choose this course was due to my personal interest in social media and digital marketing. With the current generation becoming more digitally-savvy, the use of social media has become prevalent and a salient tool for many businesses. Due to this, I became interested in the impact and influence of social media networks for business and individuals. This interest could stem from my previous studies in A-levels, which was Sociology, Business and Media communication. And through these studies, it shows how social media play a significant impact for individual’s well-being or even the success of a business. For example, media and sociology discuss further on the individuals perspective and how social media can have a psychological impact on an individual, whilst business studies discuss the importance of digital marketing. Nonetheless, my previous studies and this module have helped me to further understand the value and consequences on the use of social media.

Work Experience

Back in 2016, I was able to gain work experience as a marketing assistant intern in Pertamina, which is a state-owned oil and gas company in Indonesia. This internship lasted for a month and I was able to gain a better insight within the marketing department and the business environment. During the internship, I learnt how important it is to utilize the use of social media as a form of digital marketing and the importance in maintaining a good social network. As a marketing assistant intern, I had the honor in attending the business meeting with clients, and I was able to observe and witness the creative process in making their marketing campaigns, for example, picking the right theme of colors for a billboard poster and designing covers for their social media. It was an enjoyable experience