30 June is observed as World Social Media Day every year to celebrate the wonderful realm of social media across the globe. With revolutionary way of communicating it has changed our way of interacting with the world. It makes people famous overnight and provides a wide platform to gain knowledge about anything.
With controversies over their use of data, impact on mental health, hate speech, election results and fake news, social media platforms are under more pressure to be transparent with behind-the-scenes incidents.
History of World Social Media Day:
World Social Media Day was first observed on 30 June 2010 to focus on the impact of social media and its role in the world of communication. The first social media platform - Sixdegree was launched in 1997 and was founded by Andrew Weinrich. The website allowed users to list their friends and family members and had many interesting features like bulletin boards, school affiliations and profiles.
Initially, Friendster, MySpace and Facebook were used to communicate and interact. At present, platforms like Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat are also trending more.
Significance of World Social Media Day:
Social Media Day is celebrated across the globe to highlight the importance of social media platforms and how they have affected our lives.
Anyone can connect with a person sitting thousands of miles away on the messaging service app.
Social media helps people build relationships and connect with customers for brand promotion and advertising.
It helps people to understand and communicate in a better way.
Social media in the time of Covid-19:
Social media has emerged as a beacon of hope during the COVID-19 pandemic. With people asking for help with oxygen and hospital bed requirements. If one scrolls through Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, there are unlimited pleas for beds, oxygen, ventilators and remdesivir on all major platforms. People also shared their painful experience of losing their loved ones and painful fight for their existence on social media platforms.
Looking on the bright side, people also joined hands and helped others with the help of social media by responding to desperate pleas by providing correct information in the time of need.