4 Ways Social Media Is Changing Your Relationships..Research conducted on this...

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/06/14/social-media-real-world-infographic/

Dr. Rachna Jain has conducted a research on social media. She indicated that social media is a type of online media which expedites conversation and also allows the readers/viewers to participate in in the creation of the contents as opposed to the one dimensional traditional media.

The key important features of social media is its emphasis on creating and maintaining relationship as once you created a content, it invites other people, some you might not know, to follow the content that you build.

The social media is also changing the foundation of the way we relate especially its implications on running a business which involves interpersonal relationships. 

In terms of relationship, social media allows to connect with people rapidly, gauging the level of intimacy, exposed to its contagion effect and facilitates comparisons of oneself against the others.

Further findings:

1. Allows you to connect with more people.

With social media you can connect with more people of various levels, ethnic background, different countries, ideologies etc. For business purposes it open the door to penetrate new customers/contacts, enlarge the company’s database, new business ventures etc.

2. Makes it easy to overestimate levels of intimacy.

The negative aspect of social media is that it does not reflect the true intimacy as the digital intimacy gave the wrong perception and hopes of what we actually want out of the relationship. This will result in alienating the true people that is part of your daily life in pursuit of intimacy with online friends.

3. You are more susceptible to the social media contagion effect

This is another of the social media downside risk whereby you are exposed and subject to the emotional contagion effects of the online friends. Any negative or aggressive moods transmitted to you by the online friends will highly be transmitted the mood yourself. As you are getting more exposed or intimate, it is crucial that you monitor your own influence and reactions. Chances are that out well-mannered and politeness adopted in a face to face relationship will discarded when connecting with the online friends. This is also can be a negative effect on any business transactions.

4.  Comparing yourself with others

The social media can also affect your self-esteem as it can diminish your success while amplified your failure triggered by our rush to “compete” against the success of other people in running their lives.

How to benefit from social media.

Strategies to be adopted to benefit from the social media:

a. Limit time spend on social media.

Set time in day to update or to take part in conversations. If it involves business, care must be taken as not to jeopardise the smooth running of the business.

b. Monitor emotions and reactions. 

This is hugely important as it will affect you psychologically and emotionally.

c.  Not to compare too often with others.

d. Set goals or guidelines for business relationship

e.     Have a clear strategy and plan to implements the strategy

f. Maintain a balance between on line and of line life.

It is crucial to have a face to face communication and not dependable merely on email, phones and social sites.

Dr. Alex Lickerman, M.D. quoted that, " The Internet is an amazing tool. But even as it's shrunk the world and brought us closer together, it's threatened to push us further apart. Like any useful tool, to make technology serve us well requires the exercise of good judgment. For whatever reason, the restraints that stop most of us from blurting out things in public we know we shouldn't seem far weaker when our mode of communication is typing. Unfortunately, typed messages often wound even more gravely, while electronic messages of remorse paradoxically have little power to heal. Perhaps we just don't think such messages have the same power to harm as when we we say them in person. Perhaps in the heat of the moment without another's physical presence to hold us back, we just don't care. Whatever the reason, it's clearly far easier for us to be meaner to one another online. Let's try not to be."

Based on research conducted by :Dr. Rachna Jain  a psychologist by training and a social marketer by preference. She writes about the interconnections of neuroscience, psychology and social media.