Category Social Media

These days, social media marketing has become one of the most fundamental factors for businesses. Suppose you have deployed your creative team already to develop your business using social media; you must know the complicated challenges. Given the constraints of scarce resources and time, the imperative lies in thoroughly assessing the SMM panel as the genuine remedy for social media marketing. These SMM panels help generate organic traffic for your business marketing from authentic profiles. In previous instances, there have been occasions where specific social media marketing services were utilized. It is easy to manage your ads campaigns as they are remote experiences. Essentially, an SMM panel is a perfect solution to target your prospective audiences without wasting your time.

The top benefits of SMM panel are as follows:

Using the SMM services, you can attain your potential audiences within a lesser time when you post an enhanced quality about your new product or services. It takes time until your fans respond by commenting and sharing your content. 

Numerous SMM panels offer a range of services across various social media platforms, including the prominent ones like Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook, as previously noted.You can attain the services going around with the variables such as likes, comments, shares, subscriptions, views, and other social media signals. The best Instagram SMM Panel marketers usually develop the profile’s manually so that the traffic will come from natural resources. 

The SMM reseller panel comes equipped with straightforward options and direct features, enabling easy management of your social media service orders.The automation of the orders serves you a green light to perform your business brand’s actions.Each order is meticulously monitored to ensure that no significant social media actions, vital for the growth of your business, are overlooked.

Here’s how SMM panel services can help

Applications of social media offer online work and make it likely for individuals to offer their services as well as products online. Selling these products and maintaining the competence of the services is extremely significant, but the marketing of these services on social media applications is also compulsory. Marketing makes it possible for online services to reach the vaster spectrum and get the necessary audience. You can buy SMM panel services to get the necessary momentum in the form of augmented likes, views, and tweets.

Following are the benefits of the SMM panel:

When people begin their work online, they do not have adequate resources and money to invest in the marketing of their work. The cheap panel offers these people the opportunity to market their products at the beginning of their career, to connect to the larger audience and improve their scope and outcome of the work.

The Instagram SMM panel is a cheap panel that offers social media marketing services. This panel offers the services of social media marketing reasonably. The cheap provision of these services makes it possible for many people to avail of these services and improve the scope of their work.

The SMM panel quickly finishes the people’s tasks quickly with possible low rates. This combination of the quick speed with the reduced charges allows people to attain their objective of excelling quickly in their work field. The fast social media marketing of the services is the foundation of success in the online world, and low rates make it feasible to attain for everyone.

This panel offers its services in a user-friendly manner. All of its functions and features are designed so that everyone can understand easily and can avail of. The course of getting in touch to this panel and availing its services is very straightforward and wide-ranging. It does not provide any complex ways, which can hinder the involvement of the people and beginners.

Thus, there are many advantages of SMM panel services.

You aren’t the only one who is spending most of your time hooked on social media and your latest smartphone.  Do you think perhaps you can’t cut them out of your life completely, but here I have some tips to help you take back control of your smartphone, your social media usage, and your life.

How often do you switch on your smartphone, and in a jiffy discover having lost 30 minutes of your valuable time, or perhaps your whole day? Time is the most important resource at your disposal, and once you lose it, you shall never get it back. 

We don’t realize how easy it is to get lost in our mobile screens as we tap from one app to another, and scroll through social feeds on our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Connected India account. The latest smartphones and social media apps are designed to hook, and keep you continuously engaged, and in some cases can even lead to addiction. But there are ways to insulate your mind from all these distractions, and take back control of your tech.

Here comes some tips to wean yourself away from compulsive smartphone and social media habits, and how to regain control over consuming the technology.

It’s Time to Change Notification Settings

I won’t be surprised if your push notifications are still set to defaults. You may be getting bombarded by emails, messages, alerts from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and dozens of other apps? Cut out the clutter.

Check your notification settings on all your devices—smartphones, desktops, tablets, and laptops—and turn everything off that’s not essential. Notifications that appear as red dots next to your app icons are visual cues literally begging you to check them. The golden rule is to turn off all notifications except for direct messages and mentions because these are the ones coming from real users.

Use Original Android and iOS Apps

Smartphone makers and app developers have begun to respond to the tech addiction backlash from users. For iPhone users, now the iOS12 has a built-in feature called Screen Time, that not only tracks your screen time and app usage, but helps you schedule limits and “Downtime” away from selected apps and alerts. This is the way you should use it.

In case you’re running the latest version of Android, you can do the same with Google’s Digital Wellbeing app. This provides you a dashboard that breaks down your app usage, how often you normally unlock your phone, and on an average, how many notifications you receive. You can go ahead and set your app limits and turn off unnecessary notifications.

Monitoring Your App Usage

While you are busy using tech and social media, it can often create a sense of illusion about how much time you’ve spent looking at the screen. The remedy lies in monitoring your usage time from app to app. This is a great way to identify behaviors that you wish to change. Although there are built-in functionality such as iOS Screen Time and Android’s Digital Wellbeing, there are also apps like Moment for iOS and Rescue Time for Mac and Windows that help you keep a check on how much time you’re spending on apps and devices besides using your smartphone for other functions.

Grayscale

According to the Center for Humane Technology (CHT), the colored icons reward our brains every time we unlock them. Set your phone to grayscale to convince your mind to check your phone less frequently.

If you are using an iOS device, go to Settings > General > Accessibility and scroll down to Accessibility Shortcut. Now, if you check the Color Filters option, it will unlock a feature allowing you to tap the side button thrice or home button to switch grayscale on or off on your IPhone.

On Android phones, the process may differ, but you can check under Settings > About phone. With Digital Wellbeing present in the Android Pie, apps turn gray when you’ve reached your daily limit.

Don’t Use Your Phone as an Alarm Clock

You shouldn’t keep your smartphone within easy reach during the night. Don’t put it for charging on your nightstand, and if your phone needs to be charged, keep your phone further away from your bed or ideally leave it in another room so you’re not tempted to pick it up in the middle of the night. Get a separate alarm clock so your wake-up cycle isn’t tied to your smartphone.

Fix Social Boundaries

We need a lot of social etiquettes while using technology in a responsible manner. You must know when is it appropriate to use your smartphone, and when is it considered rude? If you’re having a one-to-one conversation with someone, resist the urge to pull a device, because it’s the first step toward cutting out unhealthy behavior. Make a rule to not keep devices on your dining table during meals. There may be small kids at the table who don’t have their own devices yet, and you will be setting a bad precedent if you’re scrolling through your Instagram posts in one hand, while eating with the other, and barely participating in the conversation.

Take Care of Distractions 

There are many apps out there that help you focus and cut out your digital distractions. An app called Thrive puts users into Thrive Mode and subsequently blocks all apps, calls, notifications, and texts except for “VIPs” you’ve previously designated. There are meditation apps like Calm and Headspace that help you to de-stress and focus your energy on positive activities. You can use an app like freedom that blocks apps and websites for a given period of time. You can use gamification to motivate yourself.

You can also use extensions that help you use sites like Facebook and YouTube in a more structured manner. You can choose Distraction Free YouTube feature that can easily remove recommended videos from sidebars to keep you from getting unnecessarily engaged. Besides, tools like News Feed Eradicator masks Facebook posts for those users who normally use the app only for seeing events and groups. Moreover, the Facebook Demetricator extension can hide even likes, comments, and share numbers to keep you away from fixating on feedback and rewards cycles.

The best Social media management company has the capacity to transform the way businesses take their brands to their target audience. Social media is considered the best place to create brand awareness and value and increase the customer base. It also serves as an exceptional platform for brands to interact with their customers effectively. 

Businesses of all types and sizes reach out to social media to connect with their prospects. Promising marketing on social media can bring exceptional success for the business, creating brand advocates and driving sales and leads. 

Social Media Management Company scope of work: 

The best social media management company will leverage digital marketing, in which brands leverage the power of social media networks to achieve their branding and marketing goals. But it is not merely creating business accounts on Twitter and Instagram and randomly posting brand news. Social media marketing has a plan and strategy in place with measurable goals. It involves the following steps.

• Creating, optimising, and maintaining business profiles
• Posting content frequently and in regular intervals in the form of pictures, videos, stories, etc., to represent the brand
• Responding to the comments and shares to manage online brand reputation
• Engaging with customers, followers, and also influencers in the niche to build a brand community.

Partnering with a social media management company: 

When social media marketing is done perfectly, it transforms the business into an active part of the community where the target audience exists. It will generate more website traffic and persuade them to become leads. It helps improve brand awareness and build relationships. But performing all these tactics perfectly and measuring the campaign’s success could be hectic. But most businesses can accomplish this by partnering with social media marketing agencies.

The social media marketing company will already have a strategy planned for the business and will try in all ways to create an identity for the brand in the target niche. There are tremendous benefits to partnering with such companies, which eventually end in resonating the brand image across geographic boundaries. 

FAQ:

1. What are the platforms involved in social media marketing?

The social media marketing platforms that SMM companies leverage for marketing are YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, etc. 

Advantages of associating with a social media marketing company:

The landscape of social media marketing is competitive, and thus brands need the assistance of social marketing companies to grow their presence. Here is a brief guide to what a social media marketing company can do for a business and why businesses should take their help. 

• Social media marketing experts can access a wealth of information and resources to channel the marketing strategy. They can run marketing campaigns that are impossible to accomplish in-house.
• Social media is not about posting pictures and staying online. It involves being abreast of social algorithms. Knowledge of social advertising and audience segmentation is mandatory. This is exactly what social media marketing experts will do to the business.
• India’s best social media marketing company will have in-house experts with extensive knowledge and experience working with real brands. Their experiences and exposure to these tactics will not match DIY marketing. 
• They are capable of running campaigns in a quick turnaround time and within budget with their top-notch tools. They also have powerful analytical tools to measure the success of the project. 
• Above all, by outsourcing social media marketing, brands could concentrate on developing their business and leave the rest to the experts. 

Services offered by social media marketing companies:

The best social media management company will offer myriad services at the most affordable price. They can handle the entire social media presence of the brands and guide them on their posts. Other services offered by social media marketing companies are as follows.

• Develop content that resonates with the brand’s image and social strategy.
• Helping brands execute and manage paid social campaigns. This helps them to stay on top of the latest trends.
• Analysing audience behaviour and tuning marketing campaigns accordingly.  
• Indulging in influencer marketing to create a good brand image in the chosen niche.
• Scale and monitor the campaign’s success, and send the reports to the clients. 
• Try all digital channels, such as paid search, SEO, and other tactics, to improve the ROI of the business.

Bottom Line:

The best social media management company can offer valuable expertise and manpower to enhance the company’s efforts. They do much more than merely publish posts on social networks. By following an appropriate strategy, they can drive the business forward and help it realise its key performance indicators. 

It wasn’t long ago when an old school telegram was considered to be the coolest medium of establishing communication to present time when Facebook has almost doubled down its effort on the development of a mind-reading device. Social media has indeed crossed several stages of evolution, and stages that have established it as a platform that is here to stay and grow. One of the major factors behind the unprecedented growth that social media is witnessing both in terms of users and scope of constant growth is the technology used behind it.

The innovation in social media technology has come a long way since Six Degrees, the platform that ruled till 1997 and which in later years gave rise to  the new technologies for social media. The foundation stone of social media technology was raised in 1997 with SixDegrees.com, the first social media site.

The platform allowed users to create a profile page, curate a list of connections, and send messages to their network. At one time, the website had over one million users before being sold off for $125 million, and finally meeting a premature demise in 2001 with decline in the domain.

However, there were a few exceptions, at the back of their strong business model ready for growth from day one. Social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat continued to come on top of the social media landscape in terms of user count. In recent times, there were some other key names that joined the social media technology evolution landscape – Grindr, Vero, and Helo amongst others.

How Important is Technology for Social Media? 

Technology plays a major role in social media’s evolution. On a more precise level, it started with the inception of mobile apps and the advent of smartphones and laptops. In 2019 alone, according to a  report by Lyfe Marketing, over 91% of all social media users logged into their social channels through mobile devices.

Let us find out the list of technologies that are helping social media app developers take the platform to its next evolution set. 

Technologies Helping Social Media To Evolve

1.  Radio Frequency Identification Tags (RFID)

More commonly known as RFID, it’s  a small computer chip that can store information about an individual or object. These chips come with a unique serial number that can be connected to the data stored on the chip. Let us explain the application of this technology through this example: Suppose you are attending a music concert and scanning your RFID device with another RFID device that has social features integrated into it. By simply bringing your RFID device to another similar device, The RFID feature can allow you to like a band on Instagram or Facebook or even download some of your favorite music tracks on your device. 

The growing usefulness and popularity of RFID in the event and ecommerce business has led to many social media app development companies to incorporate RFID features into their mobile applications. 

2.  Augmented Reality (AR)

Augmented Reality or AR and mixed reality have become one of the most popular features of social media apps. There are possibly multiple uses of AR by integrating it with the application, but the most  prominent and popular use is found in face filters. AR-driven filters first used by Snapchat are useful for both individuals and businesses by helping them to deliver engaging content.

Another important use of AR in social media is seen in the social media advertisements. Snapchat had previously created an AR-based app for Snap Original where the youth icon and rapper popularly known as Bhad Bhabie engaged with the users as if they were doing in reality.  

3.  Artificial Intelligence 

There are many new-age technologies that are hugely impacting the social media sector in recent time, but the one name which will be placed right at the top is Artificial Intelligence or AI.

AI is the quintessential component of every social media platform that is currently active in the market. The technology has become so important that now it’s involved as a default note in the social media development cost. 

Facebook used advanced machine learning for a number of applications such as face recognition in posts, targeting users for advertisements and even for improving their search functionality. LinkedIn finds use for AI in offering job recommendations, suggesting people important contacts with whom they should connect, and sending them relevant posts for their feed.

Snapchat has been successfully using the computer vision capability for tracking physical features and overlaying filters that move with them in real-time. These are some good examples that validate the use of AI in the different genres of the social media domain. 

4.  Blockchain

Decentralization of social media is one of the most important genres of the social media sector. There are many instances of social media and blockchain convergence that businesses from both sides are experimenting with. Here are some examples:

The social media networks usually depend on ad-based business models that has a common problem of creators not getting an equal compensation for their content on the platform. They actually need a professional contract to ensure the creators get the amount that their content deserves without any delay or unreasonable deductions.

Businesses are often forced to combat internet censorship. By adopting distributed ledger, the users can easily read and curate their own content with a guarantee that no authority will be able to block access to content. 

5.  IoT

Another very useful social media and technology trends is the Internet of Things. It’s a fact that social media depends heavily on technology for monitoring social media and some of the well known brands that use it are N&W, Disney, and Tencent, etc. 

Social media app development companies having loT skills are much sought after by businesses because they help them create solutions around real-time monitoring of data and insights emanating from social media.This proves very helpful as it enables them to make better business decisions. 

These are essentially five technologies that are taking the social media sector towards a new evolution era – one that will be truly democratic and transparent in nature. Do you wish to be a part of such a revolution?

Social media landscape in India is dominated by big names like Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, and Twitter. For example, a popular channel like Facebook has more than 300 millions users while Whatsapp has another 400 millions. Even a Chinese app TikTok had 150 million users. Besides, there are millions who are active on Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. Unfortunately, there is not even one Indian social media platform that is even closer to these behemoths in terms of popularity and user base.

Last year, in an unprecedented move, the government of India banned as many as 59 Chinese apps including the widely popular short video app TikTok. That was kind of an opportunity window, Indian developers had been looking for since long. Some smart entrepreneurs seized this opportunity to come out with their own app that can be truly described as the beginning of home grown Indian social media platforms. Let us discuss some of the leading names that have been creating a lot of buzz.

At present, with respect to the new IT act related to the functioning of social media, the government of India has taken a very strict stand against foreign based social channels like Facebook, Whatsapp, and Twitter. Therefore, time is ripe for domestic players to rise to the occasion and show to the entire world that when it comes to developing a versatile social media app, they are second to none, and they are quite capable of creating a product of international standard without any outside support.

The one name that comes right at the top is ShareChat, a short video, and picture sharing app. It is primarily a regional language social media platform that is changing the way in which the next billion users from India will interact on the internet.

ShareChat, the Bengaluru based app has over 60 million monthly active users spread across the country. It’s currently available in 15 Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Odia, Kannada, Assamese, Haryanvi, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri and Urdu. In a very short period, it has become so popular that a brand as powerful as Twitter decided to come onboard when ShareChat raised $100 million of funding last year. The Indian app is silently leading a social media revolution with a strong focus on regional outreach keeping its unique identity intact. The current move of the central government against leading social media platforms that have serious privacy, cyber security and national security risks is commendable. It will be even better if they offer a helping hand to these homegrown social media channels because that will be also ideal for the growth of Indian startup ecosystem.

There is another very interesting app called Public, which is essentially a video-only social media platform. It has registered an impressive 50 million users who are creating more than one million videos every month. India has abundant talent and resources and the vacuum created by the TikTok ban is a blessing in disguise for Indian app makers to create products that have the potential to do well in the global market. Currently, Public app is available in five Indian languages: Hindi,  Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil and Telugu, and is aiming for over 100 million active users by the end of the year.

Another worth mentioning app is Roposo, which is a short-video making app. There have been more than 65 million downloads of this app in the country. Post ban on the Chinese apps, most ex TikTok users, and influencers with huge fan followings of their own, have migrated to Roposo in large numbers. According to Mayank Bhangadia, Roposo’s co-founder, it’s a clean and ethical platform. The objective of Roposo is to provide every talented Indian with an opportunity to grow rapidly.

There is another purely Indian social app called Chingari that is creating a lot of ripples among users.  It’s very similar to TikYok, the banned Chinese app. It has witnessed record number of downloads and over 2 million views per hour. The app was founded by  Biswatma Nayak and Siddharth Gautam last year and is currently trending at the top on Google Play Store, and has already been downloaded over 3 million times. The popularity of the app is attracting a lot of investors who may come on board to help scale up its operations.

Connectd India is another very exciting app which has positioned itself as an all-in-one app with features of many leading apps. The USP of this app is its unique feature of anonymous counseling service which will likely make it acceptable among youngsters.The future of home grown social media apps looks quite bright, and it will be interesting to see whether they will keep their focus primarily on the Indian users or will become truly global.

What is that one activity you find common among most age groups? The answer is quite simple. It’s the use of social media. Everybody seems so enamoured by the attraction of social media. It doesn’t matter where you go – park, playground, cinema hall, club, airport, office, school or even your own sweet home, you will hardly find anyone without a mobile in their hands. And every now and then, they would be checking their social media updates. 

According to a Pew Research Center report of 2018, around 88% of people in the 18 to 29 years age group acknowledged using social media. In the age group of 30 to 49 years, it was 78%. Although in the higher age group the percentage decreased marginally, but not too much. There were 64% people in the age group of 50 to 64 years who were frequent users of social media. Why is there so much addiction to social media? How does it affect the human brain?

The continuous flow of communication and connection that we get from social media is changing the way we think and react. We are developing habits which are good as well as harmful for our mental health. From a neurological point of view, social media has a major impact on human’s brain functions. It affects the brain in different ways that can trigger various responses. Getting a positive reaction on social media affects many parts of the brain. So, when you get likes on Facebook and Instagram, it activates the striatum and ventral tegmental regions of your brain that acknowledges rewards and appreciation. The positive feedback on social media releases dopamine receptors which are G protein regulating motor activity and neurological disorders.

There was another experiment carried out by employing the MRI test to monitor brain activity during social media use and found similar results. Researchers also analyzed teenagers’ brains and discovered that after receiving more likes on their Instagram pictures, there was increased activity experienced in their neural regions of the brain that controls the reward processing, attention, and social cognition. The heavy users of social media should be aware of the consequences of the channels they use since it’s so closely connected to their reward system. Addiction to drugs and gambling have a direct connection to the reward system of an individual’s brain. Therefore, social media users need to be watchful of their activities on their preferred channel.

Social media also affects the decision making capacity and the parts of the brain controlling the emotional processing functions. In another experiment done on adolescents, it was found that whenever they felt left out on social media, it affected the emotional and sensory processing region of their brains. This happened when they were excluded from some chat, group or events on social media.

The research still seems to be in its initial stages as to how social media use affects the average human brain. Although we are now better informed than earlier, yet a lot still needs to be learned. 

Social Media is a very important tool that affects our life in many ways. It doesn’t matter wherever you are – US, Brazil, France, Italy, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, India, China or Japan, there is a very high probability that you may have an active presence on one or the other social media channel. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Whatsapp have not only connected people around the world but also entwined their lives. It has made us aware of people from different countries having their own languages and culture. Before, social media became such a rage, we had little means to know what is happening elsewhere. Forget about what was happening in a distant country, we were not even aware of what was happening in our own country. 

Although we had newspapers, radio and television news channels, they were generally very selective about the news they wanted to share with the public. Moreover, most of these mediums were owned by corporates who were under pressure to tow the pro government stand. Once social media made an entry in people’s lives, all this changed. They soon undermined the monopoly of traditional media because of their authenticity, and the speed at which they delivered the news. It became a powerful vehicle of change in society after making people aware about the issues and problems facing them at large. 

For almost one and a half years, social media has kept us informed about the corona pandemic. It is mostly through channels like Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp, we know what measures other countries are taking to control its spread. We also come to know about the extent of infection and the casualties caused by the virus. International organisations such as WHO, UNICEF and UN keep issuing important updates and notifications related to the pandemic, and it is again social media channels that keep us informed. Since the pandemic became more lethal and started taking a heavy toll on human lives, scientists and researchers all over the world have been busy developing an effective vaccine to control it. Social media has continuously kept us in the loop about the development process of vaccines and also about the latest mutants of coronavirus.

Social media has always raised issues of women empowerment and sexual harassment at work places. It was in Oct 2017, when Alyssa Milano, the American actor through a tweet shared about her own exploitation, and asked her followers to do the same. Her tweet soon became viral and got more than 50000 likes and 25000 retweets. That one tweet created the #MeToo movement that spread from Hollywood to Bollywood, and from power corridors of White House to the corporate meeting rooms of Mumbai. Everyday, new revelations came about how rich and powerful men from film industry, business and politics misused their position and openly indulged in sexual harassment of women who came to them for some work or favour. There were countless women who showed courage and resolve and came forward to share their ordeal in the hands of powerful men who were otherwise highly respected in the society. Nobody had any clue that these so called men of honour were actually molesters, rapists and lechers. President Trump was also named by a couple of women for his indecent and disrespectful gestures towards them in the past.

Hashtags are very important tools on social media through which you can reach a larger audience to share your stories. In recent times, issues such as #BlackLivesMatter and #WeAreHere came to the forefront only because of social media. These are type of news that mainstream media don’t find interesting, and so they deliberately avoid them. It is left to the social media where those directly impacted by issues get a chance to speak and express themselves. People also get first hand information from real victims. Sometimes, even the government and the concerned authorities come to know about the problems that people face. Based on these feedbacks, the necessary steps are taken by the officials.

Social media is also used for raising political protests in some countries. #UmbrellaRevolution and #Resist are some of the fine examples. It is also used for charity and benevolence purposes with hashtags such as #IceBucketChallenge. Besides, social media also stood for victims of terror attacks and natural disasters with popularising hashtags like #PrayForParis and #PreyForJapan.

Everyday, one or the other campaign is usually started on social media channels like Twitter and Facebook to raise awareness. Users of such platforms have realised that they can rely on the power of social media to spread their message to a larger audience that will ultimately put pressure on the government to act. This trend will likely continue in the future too because day by day the popularity of social channels is only increasing.

The entertainment industry in present times is not what it used to be a decade back. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter have changed the dynamics of entertainment. Let’s discuss how social media has changed our relations with entertainers, how they became so famous and what is their income model.

Social media has provided an ideal platform for the celebrities, actors and models who use these popular channels to post their photographs and information about their upcoming projects.The moment they post something, fans and admirers go berserk and reply back with likes and comments. They also send direct messages (DM) in the hope that the celebrity might reply, and when someone manages a reply, he/she goes to cloud nine. This is the power of social media. And this is not just limited to Hollywood, but is common around the world. You go to any part of the world, celebrities behave the same way. They want adulation, and fans give them just that. Even Bollywood stars are no exception, and Indian social media can vouch for that. 

Social media has changed the way celebrities are created. There are many influencers who are famous for the sake of being famous. They are no great achievers in any field, but social media especially Instagram is packed with their pictures, news, quotes and updates. For example, Kim Kardashian who is one of the leading influencers on social media without having any significant contribution in either films, music or modelling. You will often find her promoting either a cosmetic label, fitness product, or any other brand for which she charges thousands of dollars.

Social media has also come as a boon for such Hollywood stars who are not among the A listers. They have a huge following on social media and any top producer will love casting them in his project because their popularity will ensure the success of their ventures. Celebrities like Dwayne Johnson are not known for their acting skills, still his films are super duper hits. This is all due to their massive popularity on social media. In fact, social media itself has become the biggest reality show and everyone wants a piece of it.

Monetization of Popularity 

Social media has now become much more than just a communication platform. It’s a channel where you make money. In the past, the chartbuster singers hardly released a single album in a year, but that is not the case anymore. Now, you have YouTube, Instagram and Spotify stars who release their albums online on these channels and earn millions. And they don’t limit themselves with a single release, but are very prolific and come out with a new song every two to three months. This keeps them popular and rich at the same time. Can they ask for more? Social media has become a great medium for making money. For example, even if you have 1000 followers on Instagram, you can easily monetize that to have a regular income. There are many start-up brands that like to work with such minor celebrities since they cannot afford big stars. Many such small time influencers on social media in course of time became big names and started earning millions. The process of making a celebrity was turned on its head by social media. Now anyone with the right attitude and zeal can earn name and fame on social media.

Democratisation of Stars

Social media has demolished the idea of ‘elite class” and brought a level playing field. Now, the stars cannot guarantee the success of a project on the strength of their past achievements. Everybody – Big, small, or struggling artists have an equal chance to be successful. You don’t need to have a lot of connections to book a studio recording deal. You can release your number on the social media itself. In fact, the traditional ‘elite class’ now has a negative connotation, and is seen with contempt. Such celebrities are now considered ignorant of the real world.

Social media is particularly the most ideal platform for newcomers who are planning to make it big in the world of entertainment. Now they don’t need big production houses, endorsements, or advertisement blitzkrieg to promote themselves. They need only two things: talent, and attitude – the rest social media can take care of. In fact, to the courtesy of pandemic, whatever aura they had around them because of their stunning looks and appearance seems to have dissipated. They look so average in their homes without the support staff that made them look like Gods. In normal times, these mega stars were surrounded by a bevy of makeup artists who made them look like Greek Gods, but the pandemic has changed all that. They look as ordinary as any other person walking down the street. The aura of super stardom has vanished. This is the biggest reality check for audiences.

Social media has removed many stereotypes in the last few years. One doesn’t need to be based in a metropolitan, or a big city to become a star. Therefore, on social media, it’s not important which particular place you belong to, but what skills you possess as an artist, or how popular you are among the audience is more important. Social media has changed the way we entertain. Now, “fifteen minutes of fame” has become a reality. We don’t go to movie theatres to watch a two hour long film. We are happy watching 15 minutes of Kapil Sharma stand up comedy on the youTube or Netflix. Now, Salman Khan’s big budget ‘Radhe’ fails to bring us to the cinema halls, because we are happy watching Manoj Bajpai in “Family man” and Pankaj Tripathi in “Ludo.” We don’t buy costly albums anymore, we rather watch free streaming of songs on social media. In short, social media has completely changed  the modalities of how entertainment is provided and how we receive it. In all likelihood the trend will continue in the future, and all those associated with the entertainment world have to brace up for this new reality. Now, audiences are the real king and only they will decide what type of content to be made and how.

People use social media for different reasons. Mostly use it for connecting with their friends and family members. Lately, a lot of people use social media for promoting their brand, and engage with their target audience.

Campaigning on Social Media

However, another area where it proved very rewarding is politics. There is hardly any election anywhere in the world where social media isn’t used for campaigns. In the US Presidential election, we all saw how social media was used both by Republican as well as Democrat candidates. One of the finest examples of the social media use was witnessed in India way back in 2013. It was Arvind Kejriwal, and his new political outfit Aam Aadmi Party that skilfully used Indian social media to upset Congress’ applecart.

David vs. Goliath

Social media has played a pivotal role in boosting the image of both Arvind Kejriwal and Anna Hazare. It literally made them ‘Hero’ from ‘Zero.’ Let’s talk about Anna Hazare’s ‘India Against Corruption’ movement which had created a frenzy among people across the country. The agitation was started against the corrupt practices of the Congress party that was in power that time. People came on the street in huge numbers in support of Anna. 

The crowd that gathered at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi was unprecedented. Anna  made the clarion call for ‘Second Azadi’ to free India from the misrule of the Congress party, the party that was in power for the last ten years. He addressed people in his inimitable style “My dear people of India! I am Anna… you are Anna.” His words had a magical effect on the people, and in a matter of weeks, the whole country was standing behind Anna Hazare.

Anna Hazare, the social worker was sitting on a fast until death at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi in support of his demand for Jan Lokpal Bill. His main supporter in that movement was Arvind Kejriwal. It was the power of social media that ignited the small spark of public annoyance into extreme anger. 

The UPA government at the center under the leadership of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh came under pressure. The government knew about the power of social media, and tried it’s best to suppress the movement.  But the public support was so much in the favour of Anna Hazare, that every attempt to diffuse the intensity of agitation failed. 

Birth of a New Political Party

Unfortunately, the formidable team of Anna and Kejriwal could not bring agitation for ‘Jan Lokpal’ to its logical end. As a result, Arvind Kejriwal decided to fight against the existing political system on their turf, and formed the Aam Aadmi Party. In the 2013  assembly elections in Delhi, his party surprised everyone and formed the government in Delhi with just 28 seats. 

Although, Congress party supported it from outside thinking that eventually it will withdraw support at the opportune time. There were few instances in Indian politics when a newly formed political party defeated a more experienced and seasoned party like Congress. There is no doubt that Indian social media played a big role in this historic victory. 

It was the hard work and dedication of lakhs of Kejriwal’s supporters that in such a short time, the party not only got more seats in Delhi assembly than expected, but also formed the government. Kejriwal knew that he cannot run a minority government, and after ruling for just 49 days, he submitted his resignation to the Lt Governor. This was a smart move on his part, and in the election that soon followed, he got a thumping majority with 67 seats out of 70. 

Social media for Fighting against social evils

Social media has always played an important role in the fight against social evils by giving people a powerful platform. It helped them raise their voices against injustice and persecution. Social media has never failed in carrying the voice of people to the government. You go anywhere in the world, you will find social media playing an important role in exposing social evils and spreading awareness. It has become an effective means to put pressure on the government. 

There are many cases like ‘Aarushi murder case’, ‘Damini rape case’, and ‘Geetika-Gopal Kanda incident’ where social media was used to fight for justice. The extreme outrage over Delhi’s heart-wrenching Damini rape case was visible on social media. People all over the country started a campaign against the government. They demanded strict action against the accused. It was the pressure built up on social media that forced the then government to take some important steps in a hurry. The entire nation and social media stood with Damini. Slogans like ‘Justice for Damini’ reverberated on Indian social media. For creating such an atmosphere in favour of the victim, the entire credit should go to social media.

The Acceptance of Social Media

There is no doubt that the past of social media has been glorious, the present is exciting, and the future will be accordingly bright and successful. The way different sections of the society have accepted the virtues of social media, there is every likelihood that even in future, its acceptance and usefulness will remain. In fact, the power and reach of social media will spread even further in times to come. 

Those who are still reluctant to accept its relevance may have to pay a heavier price in the future like the Congress party was made to do. In the end, it will be apt to say that it’s highly beneficial to accept the importance and usefulness of social media because those who did it are in a much better position. 

Each Has His Own Way of Entertainment

When you hear the word ‘entertainment’ what comes to your mind – television, movies, sporting events, drama, or a party ? Well! People have their own favourites. 

Some like to see ‘Big Boss’ on the colour channel, while others prefer ‘Indian Idol’, and there are those who prefer a knowledge based show like ‘Kaun Banega Carorepati.’ At the same time, there are also those who like to see sportsmen in action. They take trouble to stand in long queues for hours to watch the IPL finals. 

But this is not what the majority of people prefer. Their definition of entertainment is simple. It should be available to them 24x7x365. They should literally carry it. This is where Indian social media comes into the picture. Over the years, the mode of entertainment has changed. 

People now spend more time at home or at the office. And since the pandemic made its appearance, almost everyone is imprisoned within the four walls. 

How Social Media Became a Source of Entertainment ?

Social media initially came as a platform to connect with your long lost school friends who got separated with the passage of time. They either shifted to another city, or you settled in another place. You never imagined to see them again, but social media did just that. 

Once you discovered your childhood friend on Facebook, you wanted to share a lot of stories, anecdotes, and incidents with him. There were many pictures from important events of your life such as when you cleared your class X board exam with flying colours, when you purchased your first smartphone, when you got your first motorbike, and when you got selected for the IIT. There were many moments that you wanted to share with your best friend. 

Gradually, people started spending more time on these social media channels. They found there are a lot of things they can do to entertain themselves. They can watch standup comedy by Raju Srivastava, they can watch Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’ video on YouTube, and they can also watch the highlights of the Soccer World Cup. 

Watching Videos

People keep on posting interesting and informative videos on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For instance, if you missed the ‘Indian Idol’ final, you can always watch it on Facebook, or YouTube. 

If you had gone for a party on Sunday evening and missed the latest ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’ you can still catch that episode on YouTube, or any other channel. You can watch interviews of your favorite singer or the film star.

Sometimes, you get to see legends of yesteryear who are no more. You cannot imagine how a Kishore Kumar, or a Dev Anand fan would feel after seeing their idols talking in a video. These videos may have been recorded long ago, but you are still able to enjoy them because of these social media channels. 

You also get to see interesting videos of forest and wild animals on channels like Discovery and Animal Planet. It’s really exciting to see how a tiger chases its prey, and how a bison scares off a lion. These videos are so engrossing and entertaining that you spend hours watching them. 

Watching Important Events

In the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics, social media was an important source of giving updates and news about various events. It was exciting to see India’s Mirabai Chanu winning the silver medal. 

And when Neeraj Chopra won India’s first ever Gold medal in the track and field event, the social media was exploding with record traffic. Everybody wanted  to witness that historical moment when a 23 year old young man from Haryana threw his Javelin more than 87 metres. And there was no better platform than social media to watch that event.. 

Again on the 15th August, when Prime Narendra Modi stood on the rampant of Red Fort, people watched this event on Twitter. When the Taliban seized Kabul, people all over the world first watched this on Twitter. It also showed the pictures of how Afghani men, women, and children were Jostling at Kabul Airport to board inside planes. 

Engaging with Celebrities

Instagram is the favorite channel of celebrities. Whether it’s a Bollywood star like Priyanka Chopra, Dipika Padukone, or Ranvir Singh, or Hollywood A-listers like Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone, or Anna Hathaway, they are all on Instagram. Besides, they also have millions of followers who religiously follow their icons, and anxiously wait for their latest photographs or videos. 

Celebrities too know that to maintain their popularity, they need to engage frequently with their fans. Sometimes, a lucky user also manages a reply from these celebrities. The channel is also used for uploading promos of latest movies. 

People often get free entertainment through these engagements, and celebrities get a much-needed promotion  of their next movie. There is a lot of curiosity among common people about the private lives of celebrities. And Instagram is one platform that keeps feeding them with such videos,