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Social Media: is a more power tool than Mainstream Media

Literature Review Social Media: is a more power tool than Mainstream Media

Submitted to: MAM MUNAZA AKHTAR Submitted by: MOHSIN MUNAWAR 6009 RIZWAN YOUSAF 5987 SUBJECT: INTRODUCTION TO ACADAMIC WRITING TOPIC: LITERATURE REVIEW CLASS: MBA 6TH MORNING

GOVERNMENT COLLEGE UNIVERSITY FAISALABAD

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Social Media: is a more power tool than Mainstream Media

Introduction
Pakistans social media is leaving behind the mainstream media these days. The world we live in today is very different than the world that most of us remember from our childhood age. The twenty-first century is a technologically dependent, media saturated and globally connected world. In these days each and every person has personal computer, laptop and smart phone and these people also connect with the world through internet. Because now in modern age,internet is available everywhere. Every adult having internet connection on any device must use social media network to connect with family and friends and to be up-to-date about environmental circumstances. The powerful social media is successfully rooting itself in the mainstream media of the country. (Amanda Lenhart, February 2010) Social media has now become more than a platform for making new friends and searching the old ones. Today a common Pakistani, when leaks news which has not yet been on air and you ask him, I have not yet seen it on any news channel! How come you know it dear? a certain reply one would get this, I know it from Facebook or --reporter has just made a new tweet! This popular mode of communication has a large impact, hence now we see that each of the news channel has its own page on Facebook or account on twitter, where pages and tweets keep the audience up-to-date. Through sharing, a single post by individual, thousands of people able to view it within an hour.

The mainstream media criticizes due to its corrupt Anchors or Analysts, its vulgarity in different programs and its unethical act against Pakistan and Pakistani culture. (brown) . Surveys show a steep drop in public trust in journalism occurring during the past 25 years. Mainstream media are low on the trust scale for many and have been slow to reach out in a genuine way to engage people. According to many news organizations interaction

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Social Media: is a more power tool than Mainstream Media

is giving people buttons to push on Web sites or creating a walled space where people can comment on the news or post their own iReports. (Skoler) Today, mostly people want to share information, not be fed it by news organiztion. They expect to be listened to whenever they have knowledge about and raise questions. They want news that connects with their life style and interests or environment. They want to have control over their information. And they want attachmentthey build their trust with those they engage withpeople, who chat with them, listen and keep in touch with relationship. (Skoler)

Literature review
Social media has emerged as powerful and influential medium in Pakistan for information and opinions though some say it is largely uncontrolled and unauthentic and causes confusion among the masses due to unconfirmed or rumors facts and figures. The social media in Pakistan is said to be passing through from its evolutionary stage and impacted positively and negatively alike on internet connected society because the consumption of social media reflects on minds of its users in any way. Interestingly social media activists and particularly few bloggers have gained reputation for their bold analysis and logical point of views about incidences, social and political ideologies, and multiple areas of interest. And some of them still failed to make a difference and remained anonymous. (safdar, 2012 news) Due to technological changes new forms of communication (social Media) have come to know. Effects of social media on the mainstream media have become an important debate. According to a survey, out of the 42.4 % of Asian internet users, Pakistan makes for a majority of this proportion. Social Networking sites are crowded by a good number of Pakistanis on a daily basis and it is perhaps a lesser known fact but after the development of Orkut social site, the third largest number of users right after Brazil and India were from Pakistan.

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Social Media: is a more power tool than Mainstream Media

Since the 1990s, the internet usage in Pakistan has almost doubled and it is refreshing to see a good ratio of the population of both young and old alike get together on internet platform to consume information and stay connected. Last year, there were talks of Facebook to be banned in Pakistan and this was almost impossible considering the number of Pakistani users Facebook boost up in 2012. Because Facebook users of Pakistan grow up from 1.8 million to 3.6 million and according to a survey the mostly users were with the age bracket of 18 to 24. What people generally do is equate the scenario in Pakistan with that of the developed countries. For a developing country like Pakistan who recently accept the power of internet, it is perhaps not fair to compare the social media marketing strategy with companies that spend billions of dollars on media marketing. Social networking websites allow individuals to interact with one another and build relationships. When companies join the social channels, consumers can interact with them. That interaction feels personal to users because of their previous experiences with social networking site interactions Today, every social networking site, like Facebook, Twitter or youtube has quite a significant number of users from this part of the world and a good strength of the Pakistan based companies have jumped on the social media bandwagon to promote and market their products. However, it is still in its infancy as a company still would make use of YouTube marketing but maybe not on a large scale. (Assaad, et al., 7 February 2013.) Social media has emerged as a smart tool in Pakistans elect ion history, which parties are phenomenally using for electioneering but with a limited reach to the countrywide electorates. Analysts believe the social media is growing as an attractive tool for political parties daily activities and a cheap medium of communication to propagate against rivals and publicize their motives. However, they rule out the fast emerging social media websites could take over the traditional mode of electioneering like displaying of banners and posters at least for now. (Akech, December 2012)Social media attracts

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Social Media: is a more power tool than Mainstream Media

prompt response from the public, (said Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) deputy director information) The media real face or mirror of society in which it operates. This is totally true and that what other alternatives media and the viewers are crying about. That is also the answer for why we hate Pakistani Media? Mainstream Media should be the mirror of society it is operating in but our media became the mirror of other hindus and Christian country, mainstream media of Pakistan projecting mostly non Muslim courtiers ideology facts, value, culture and their stories and their views. (Brock Bastian, 2013) The technology has made it easier for people to raise their voice through their blogs and social networking and social sites. But its not reach on authentic and professional level yet, as some contents seem reliable, some look rumors and some seem mad statement. But the mix-up things will filter it in the future as if electronic media is doing itself. And it will be surety that it accepted by responsible bloggers or activism and rumors maker theorists will be rejected by readers. (Dr Jabbar Khattak) The development of Twitter has changed the gate keeping process and flow of information in television news. Because of Twitter, the power of news delivery is now in the hands of newsroom persons who, in the past, were not work as storytellers. But now they regularly make tweets or blogging (Blasingame) Twitter is a great real-time tool for distributing opinion, but it is not the alternative for curated coverage of crisis. (Newman, 2009) Bloggers are not journalists yes it is true statement for a different type of reasons, social is still giving a big and tough competition to the mainstream media for amassing audience. Readers prefer the alternative news outlets that are not giving them the sensationalized news like mainstream media. They prefer social media where they get unofficial story with more personal experience. (aurangzeb, july 28, 2012) It seems that some negative activities are being conducted through the use of social media too. Such cases of not just the cyber crime, but also crimes which are committed

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Social Media: is a more power tool than Mainstream Media

through using social media as a means of gathering information can already be seen. But unfortunately, just as mainstream media is often instrumental in spreading propaganda in the interest of one group against another; social media has also been plagued with similar problem of bias. Recently in Pakistan, the politically active people have gathered their online communities to spread their works and to network better. (zaheer, 2012) We all have recently witnessed how the social media could be proved useful for accelerating a cause. In Shazaib Khans murder case, it was the social media that brought the killer behind bars or else. Like any other tale of injustice that takes place in the streets of Karachi, it would have never made it to the mainstream media. There would never have been so much pressure put on the government to bring the matter to justice if it wasnt for the social media.

REFERENCES
Akech, Akoko. December 2012. Covering Elections: Mainstream Media Performance . December 2012. Amanda Lenhart, Kristen Purcell,Aaron Smith. February 2010. Social Media and Young Adults:Social media and mobile internet use among teens and. February 2010. Assaad, Waad and Gomez, Jorge Marx. 7 February 2013.. Social Network in marketing (Social Media Marketing) Opportunities and Risks. 7 February 2013. aurangzeb. july 28, 2012. Will the Mainstream media take the backseat with the rise of Social Media. july 28, 2012. Blasingame, Dale. Twitter First: Changing TV News 140 Characters at a Time. Brock Bastian, Mark Nielsen, Damien Riggs. 2013. Media Representations and Responsibilities:. 2013. brown, jane D. Mass media influences on sexuality - Statistical Data Included. Dr Jabbar Khattak, Editor at Daily Awami Awaz. http://asiancorrespondent.com. 2012. The growing influence of social media on Pakistani mainstream media. 2012.

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Social Media: is a more power tool than Mainstream Media

Kietzmann, Jan and 241251., Kristopher Hermkens. Business Horizons 54:. 2011. "Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media". 2011. Newman, Nic. 2009. The rise of social media and its impact on mainstream journalism. 2009. safdar, waqas. 2012 news. Social Medias role in Pakistan: What Bloggers & Journalists think. 2012 news. said Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) deputy director information, Riaz Siddiqui. Skoler, Michael. Why the News Media Became IrrelevantAnd How Social Media Can Help . zaheer, sidra. 2012. Social Media Wrongly Used in Spreading Rumours. 2012.