Social Media or Conventional Media
Introduction
Media plays a major role in creating awareness and providing information to the public. Media runs on the revenue earned by advertisements published. Advertisements are the common target of both social media and conventional media. Considering the preferences of choice among these media, we must first analyze the pros and cons of each. This essay aims to analyze this aspect and conclude with the most preferred media.
Conventional Media
Posts, television, radio, CD, newspaper, Print media etc. are the conventional forms of media to reach the customers. This media has been evolving over the years and has reached the saturation point of life cycle with people going digital especially in the urban areas. However, conventional media also has changed to cater to the digital era with modern technologies and interesting programmes. Conventional media has its own place in households in the form of TV serials, programmes, movies, music etc. Conventional media has cemented its place in all the households and has become a part of every family. The current teens and younger generation stick with the mobiles and show aversion to the conventional media giving full preference to social media. Conventional media gets the preference when it comes to catering mass people on a large scale.
Pros and Cons of Conventional media
The Pros of Conventional media are; direct message- Immediate impact- Mass marketing- Formal language- Controlled communication- Caters to entire family- Authentic content- Highly secure
The Cons of Conventional media are; One way communication- Push strategy- Paid and Expensive than social media- Polished content- Closed system- Less Interactive- Scheduled programs
Social Media
Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, You tube etc. are the popular social media. Information is passed in seconds to large masses through social media. Youngsters and teens have become addicts of social media and this marks the emerging trend in advertising and marketing. Social media takes the digital form with access to internet. Social media is undoubtedly the preference of the current youngsters and mobile phone generation.
Pros and Cons of Social media
The Pros of Social media are: Networking- Less expensive- Constant scope for improvisation- Pull strategy- Two way communication- Interactive with feedbacks- Message more effective as it resembles a friend's advice- Open system- Transparent- One-on-one marketing- Community decision-making- Less publication time- Vast area of coverage- Superior technology The Cons of Social media are; Unauthentic content- Unstructured communication- Informal language- More Exaggeration- More Gossips- Highly insecure- Cyber criminals emerge- White collar crimes rise- Cyber security- Hackers- Viruses- Identity theft- Privacy at stakes - Health problems
Conclusion
As a result of the above analysis, it can be concluded that social media has an edge over the conventional media in the digital era especially in cost, target market, market research and technology areas. Social media has transformed customers into a well-informed buyer by providing comparing options and making prices transparent. This aspect of social media allows the buyer to make a well informed and researched decision on the purchase. The rising security threats online is a serious issue of social media. China has banned Facebook and other social networking sites. Mr. Donald Trump, American President has retracted back to conventional media of postal service to send confidential information after the Wikileaks issue and highly insecure online social media. Social media beats conventional media in the educated and urban population. However, conventional media belongs to the mass people and will continue to beat social media in the low income and middle class categories of people.
-Chelladurai.P
