In the less than two decades that it’s been around, social media has radically altered culture in a number of striking ways. From changing the way people primarily interact with each other to steeply increasing the amount of time individuals spend on digital devices, social media’s impact on society can’t be understated.
While many think of shifts in social interactions when they think of the impact social media has made, it has also had a profound impact on people’s jobs. Gaining a deeper understanding of how social media is affecting various industries can give one a more nuanced understanding of how our world is evolving.
Here are six ways social media is impacting a number of industries and careers.
Companies Use Social Media to Vet Potential Candidates
In the old days, companies were more or less forced to take someone at their word. Hiring managers typically had nothing more than a one-page resume and some references to call when looking to vet a potential candidate. Today, however, many companies utilize social media to gain a deeper understanding of the individuals whom they’re hiring.
This means that companies can look back to one’s posts from when one was a teenager if they chose to. While companies aren’t necessarily using social media to check one’s qualifications, many of them use social media pages as a way to assess whether one would be a good fit culturally. While this may seem minor, this marks a huge shift in how candidates are vetted and hired across a variety of industries.
Social Media Has Caused Privacy Concerns in Healthcare
Social media has had an interesting relationship with the healthcare industry. While social media has proved to be useful for public health efforts and convenient communication between healthcare workers and patients, many are concerned about privacy issues that may arise as a byproduct of healthcare workers utilizing various platforms.
The main concern is that healthcare workers may inadvertently compromise the privacy of patients while sharing aspects of their own life and work. This has caused many healthcare organizations to create rules around employee social media use such as social media and nursing guidelines.
This implementation of guidelines in the healthcare industry is setting a precedent for how employees in all industries are able to engage with social media and how much of their work life they are able to share with others.
Social Media Is Providing Benefits and Drawbacks for Professional Athletes
In the world of professional sports, social media is playing a profound role — albeit in both positive and negative ways. One of the main positive aspects that social media has brought to professional sports is an increased ability for professional athletes to communicate and engage with fans. Being able to connect with the public in this way has allowed certain athletes to gain bigger and more loyal followings.
While social media has done some good in the space, it has also had a number of unforeseen negative consequences. Some professional athletes have had their careers negatively impacted by distasteful social media posts they made in their youth.
In addition, some college employees have claimed that a large number of college athletes don’t receive scholarships due to their social media pages and profiles. The state of social media in sports highlights the immense power of social media to have a profound effect on the trajectory of one’s career.
Marketing Has Transformed As a Result of Social Media
The ways that companies market to individuals have transformed significantly over the last several decades. Whereas print, radio, and television advertisements used to be some of the most important marketing channels, social media has now solidified its place as one of the most vital marketing channels in today’s digital age. Accordingly, social media has now become an aspect of almost every company’s marketing strategy.
Social media has also made marketing more accessible for smaller businesses. For virtually no cost, small companies are able to craft and curate social media pages to connect with an audience and grow their business. As can be seen, social media has completely altered the marketing industry and provided a new way for companies to connect with audiences.
Social Media Has Changed the Retail Landscape
In the early days of online retail, many people were concerned that ordering products online could be dangerous. Today, these attitudes have almost completely disappeared, and shopping online has become a normalized process across the world. As one can imagine, this shift from in-person shopping to online shopping has caused a seismic shift in the world of retail and how businesses operate.
Social media has presented itself as a new tool for retail businesses to sell products and convert consumers. Many brands will tap individuals with sizable social media followings to be brand ambassadors and utilize and praise their products.
Utilizing social media in retail has allowed companies to make finding products and shopping more convenient for consumers. It’s more than likely that social media will continue to be utilized in the retail space and may even lead to a reduction in physical stores.
Social Media Is Having a Profound Impact On Industries and Careers
What many once saw as a fad is now radically altering how many industries operate. From raising privacy concerns to allowing more engagement between professionals and fans, social media is changing the face of many industries. While the impact of social media on various industries and careers has been both positive and negative, it’s safe to say that it looks like social media is here to stay. Given this fact, all companies in every industry can benefit from taking advantage of social media and making an effort to avoid the pitfalls and drawbacks that can come from its utilization.
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This content is made possible by Andrew Deen.
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