Reaping The Benefits Of Social Media, Even From The Simplest Of Things

Ilustrasi (Raga Granada / YOU)

We have discussed all the dark sides of social media and how to minimize its impact through the article "Detox Social Media and When Should We Take That Step". Like many things, social media has two sides: good and bad. The final article of VOI's unique series, "The Two Eyes Sword of Social Media", is how we can reap the benefits of social media.

It never occurred to Sadam alias Mazzini Giuseppe, the owner of the Twitter account @mazzini_gsp, to become a history activist and have tens of thousands of followers. His name took off on social media thanks to his threads about history.

Slowly but surely, his life changed after becoming widely known on the Twitter universe. Starting from benefits for personal, such as material to benefits for the wider community.

"A little bit there are changes in terms of finance. But that's a bonus, yes. What makes me feel more change is that I feel my life is a little more useful," said Mazzini to VOI.

Mazzini is grateful to be one of the people who can open up space for discussion of history and bring affordable historical discussions to various parties, both those who are already working in the world of history and those who are not.

"Because it deals with history, the positive side of social media is designed to be able to open historical discussions that are not in the text book, with language that is easy to understand. The impact is that it opens the discussion room wide open and so how come many people like history because of the content that is scattered around the world. social media, "explained Mazzini.

Illustration (Unsplash / Claudio Schwarz)

Making a profit

Cybersecurity experts from CISSReC Pratama Persadha, confirmed that if social media is used appropriately, there will be many benefits. Some of these include giving someone the opportunity to talk and share what they know.

Yes, like Saddam. Apart from that, social media can also build relationships with coworkers, family, and make someone known all over the world quickly.

"Social media provides millennials with various benefits and opportunities to empower themselves in various ways. Millennials can maintain good social relations and support networks that were possible before social media was impossible, and can access more information than ever before," said Pratama, contacted. VOI.

Apart from the social relationship side, if used properly, social media is also useful for business. For the business realm, via social media makes it easier to interact with customers and share information in real time. This certainly helps entrepreneurs reach their customers better, expand their networks online, and sell and promote their products and services.

For the younger generation who have grown up digitally, there are indeed many activities that involve social media. Even socializing on social media can be used to make money and study.

Even though there are many positive sides, it doesn't mean there are no risks. Social media behavior in Indonesia can sometimes be detrimental to others, which is unavoidable. In fact, Microsoft has included Indonesia in the list of disrespectful social media users.

Apart from that, Pratama also gave other cases, for example in the case of Dayana and Fiki Naki. When Dayana revealed that she didn't need Indonesian citizens, Instagram users in Indonesia were busy unfollowing Dayana's account, which previously had 2.1 million followers to 1.3 million followers.

The point is, we really have to be smart in managing social media so that we don't go home. So how do you reap the benefits of social media?

Infographics (VOI / Raga Granada)

Reap the benefits

Pratama said, the key to the solution is a healthy internet curriculum to enter the education level, so that from an early age the internet can be directed to be productive, active and positive. Don't only criticize but also be creative in making positive content or making positive internet-based movements.

Apart from external factors, self-protection also needs to be done so that social media remains positive. According to Mazzini, social media basically also needs to protect oneself. This can be done by skipping content that is considered negative, it can also be muted or reported, whose features are already available on social media.

"Also, the filter of accounts being followed is toxic or not, if it's toxic, just unfollow it instead of taking a long time with the negative impact of the content he shares," he added.

"If you are creator content on social media, try to design the content that you want to share, conceptualize it first, mature it, so that people will misunderstand our content. Either misunderstanding is in the form of disinformation or misunderstanding that invites people to bully," concluded Mazzini.

Follow the Writing of this edition of Series: "Social Media Two-Edged Sword"