QUESTION : The world today is turning more to electronic
communications such as the e-mail, Facebook,
and Short Message System ( SMS ). What is your opinion of this growing trend? Discuss.
Do you know that 23.8 billion people
world wide rely on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Short Message System
( SMS ), email and many more. Amazingly, these people are dare to admit that
they can’t even live without those media. Why is that so? What had brought
the guts in them to say so? Definitely because it must be some reasons behind
this phenomena. It is shown that the social media have contributed
significantly in the field of education, communication as well as in business.
First of all, media such as
Facebook, is one of knowledge sources. Here is a simple example. ‘Doctors
Group’ in Facebook is created and joined by many Facebook users with purpose of
discussing on certain topics about medic. It can be about diseases, modern
treatments or medicine. In such group, each member is free to contribute and
share additional knowledge by posting his or her opinions. The discussion itself,
may consist of question and answer ( Q&A ) session or sharing facts which can be expressed by posting educational articles and essays or
through video clips. Therefore, these media have successfully established
themselves as an effective alternative for learning instead of using books
only.
Unavoidably, people have to stay
away from their homes and families for any purposes such as for studying abroad
or even for working outstation. They use media such as Skype, SMS, or video
conference for long-distance communication. Let’s say a student in Egypt may
use Skype to communicate live with his mother in Malaysia anytime when he needs
a company. A busy VIP or businessman prefers to use video conference rather
than going to the meeting place due to the matter of time and cost. Isn’t that clear
enough to portray how the media are beneficial for communication means?
Absolutely yes.
Malaysians nowadays, due to
compact daily schedule, are more preferred to do online shopping. Hence,
business runners may not want to miss this golden opportunity to widen their
business. Wonder how this may relate with the media? Here is the answer. A
boutique owner, let’s say, uses Facebook to advertise her products. By posting
pictures of items together with their respective prices for customers reference,
this can ease them to make purchases. Not only that, her business’s email is also inserted for any enquiries, orders or
complaints from customers. The buyers also are not an exception. They also need
to have at least one email account to purchase as well as to make payment. From
here, we can conclude that business can be developed more with the help of the
media.
In a new era, people tend to
change their lifestyle to adapt. This also applies to people nowadays where
technologies are learned and mastered in order to ease one’s life. Media have
been proven to be something important in our lives due to how they can be
beneficial to us. Hence, we need to appreciate the media and use them for our
own benefits.