SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILING AND ABUSES

Every day, more than one billion people connect with each other using social media. People post pictures on Instagram, like Facebook post, retweet twitter messages and share YouTube videos. In fact, various platforms are used in sending messages to family, friends and loved ones. The past decade has witnessed the birth of many of these platforms and how they have completely changed the way we communicate with people within and outside our localities.

Social Media provides the avenue of reaching anyone around the world, at any time, with just a few keystrokes. The medium is almost free unlike putting calls through several miles. We can also share elements of our life, from what we enjoy to photos of ourselves and of families and friends. In all, the platform makes one feels like being a part of another person’s world, despite distance.

This new media as it is otherwise referred to, has greatly changed our world with the evolution and emergence of new ones on a frequent basis. Often time, each of the platforms seeks to build on the deficiency of one or improve on the limitation of others. Also, while some are meant for particular category of people with similar interests or for professional associates, a host of the social media platforms are nothing but a gross bunk and prototypes of already existing ones.

As it is the case with every innovation, these social media platforms are no doubt a revolutionary invention that could be helpful if put to good use. As useful as the social media plat- form is, it is sad that users, most especially the youth, are not really optimising the advantages of the platform. Apart from choosing to use the relevant social media platforms peculiar to one’s profession or discipline, the focus should be on exploring the gains of these platforms for personal development.

The love and preference given to these new media by the present generation is akin to when a lactating mother replaces breast milk meant to naturally nourish a toddler with evaporated milk. In other words, the union and togetherness of human-to-human relationship is gradually being substituted for these social media platforms thereby undermining the place of personal interactions and promoting a ‘smart-phone, dumb people’ relationship at the detriment of the former.

A comic miniature once portrayed the various social media as platforms ‘that brings you closer to those far away from you but distant you from those close to you.’ This is not only true about the social media but also underscored the need for self-caution and understanding of ones’ limitations so as not to usurp the love and time meant for one’s family for the social media.

Another common feature of this new media aside its addictive tendency is its fictitious misrepresentation. Social media addicts usually take issues on the platform to the extreme to the extent of personalising discourse. It gets so ridiculous that many often indulge in the use of derogatory words and foul languages as a way of exhibiting their disapproval to a course forgetting that the platform on its own encourages illusionary imagery; that is, an individual can claim to be what he is not or paint a near-perfect picture of himself to deceive other users of the platforms.

It is also a common sight to see people inundate the social platforms with half naked photographs and pictures of every action they do including when using the gents/ladies and showcasing some actions considered to be extremely private affairs. As much as these seem to be fun, it should not be abused or allowed to take away our individual self-esteem and human dignity.

A more critical aspect in the use of the social media which is grossly unknown to many is the aspect of social media profiling used by some companies and corporate organisations in monitoring their brand to keep track of emerging issues, trends as well as threats to their overall corporate reputations. With this development, organisations could interact with those that influence others on the social media with the aim of taking advantage of their influence to further expand the reach of their products and services.

Another critical aspect not known to many is the aspect of individuals’ social media profiling which is simply a description of individuals’ characteristics on social media sites. Employers now adopt this strategy as forms of secret research into the world of a prospective employee to know the areas of interests and things that an individual delights in sharing through his/ her social media platforms.

Ayo Afuwape, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Lagos