What Is Social Media A Turning Point For America?

Social Media, a Turning Point for America Are social networking websites and apps putting a negative or positive spin on today's society? Over the last nineteen years, the world of social media has rapidly evolved, becoming the primary outlet for millions of Americans to stay connected at the convenience of a touch of a button. With immediate access to information through sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, many believe American society has taken a major turn for the better. While social networking can play a significant role on just one individual's everyday life, it also helps contribute success in large or small businesses, charities, and even schools/educators. As social media is advancing and becoming

“Statistics show that advertisers spent over 5.1 billion dollars on social media advertising in 2013 and this figure is expected to exceed $14 billion by 2018. Data also revealed that in the third quarter of 2014, Facebook brought in $2.96 billion in advertising revenue, 66 percent of which came from mobile ads. Twitter generated 85% of its total revenue from mobile advertising in the same quarter, representing around $320 million.”() The question is, are these campaigns really paying off in the long run? Absolutely! “On Facebook, desktop ads have 8.1x higher click-through rates and mobile ads have 9.1x higher click-through rates than normal web ads. Meanwhile, Promoted Tweets have shown average engagement rates of 1-3 percent—much higher than traditional banner ads. This is exactly why by just June of 2014, nearly 80% of United States marketers were using promoted tweets.”() Not only that, but in 2014 consumers also made 10 percent more purchases that linked right back to social media advertisements than they had the previous year. Unlike conventional approaches to advertising, social media offers users instant access to what's new and trending

Similar to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, people use hashtags to benefit a charity and once a hashtag has so many posts it becomes trending and is posted at the top of social media trends. “The ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ was an activity launched to promote awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and encourage donations to research for this disease.The campaign went viral on social media during July to August 2014.”() The “challenge” consisted of nominating followers through a social media video and challenging them to donate 100 dollars to the ALS organization or pour a bucket of ice water over their head then assigning someone else to do the same. “The initiative was hugely successful, involved millions of people and, just in the US, collected 35 times more money than in the same time period in 2013.”() The organization studied possible factors that determined the strong success of the campaign to gauge the possibility of using similar methods to promote public health interventions. After research, they found that positive contributions included involvement of wellknown people through social media which triggered a positive combination of social pressure and competitiveness, the chain-letter like method of nomination, and the ironic and entertaining nature of the performance.() After