How Social Media Can Impact Lives

By: Victoria

My previous post on the downsides of the media led me to seriously question the industry that I had already sold my soul to. I decided then, that it was only fair to you readers, and myself included, that I look up all the positive things that came with the media. And thus, restoring my faith in humanity, and more importantly, my faith in this industry.

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The 2015 Nepal Earthquake is a perfect example of how social media can change the lives of people for good. In just two days, Facebook raised more than $10 million for rescue efforts (Berenson para. 1). Two days! It is no secret that social media has improved connectivity around the world, especially to hard-to-reach places like Nepal. The fact that Facebook could rally so many people in such a short period of time, serves only to demonstrate the enormous power it has to do good. Facebook also activated a feature called ‘Safety Check’, which let people who were affected notify their friends and family that they were safe (Zuckerberg para. 1-2).

And Facebook weren’t the only ones in the fold. Google also mobilized its ‘Person Finder’ to help friends and family look for their missing loved ones in Nepal (Morrison, para. 1). Another online platform that was activated was the Humanitarian Open Street Map which allowed people to map out the places that needed aid (“Nepal 2015” para. 1).

These 3 platforms are only a fraction of the help from the Media that Nepal received. As Agrawal writes in his article, “when news needs attention and causes need supporters, using social media outlets is the best way to reach a mass amount of readers” (Agrawal para. 13). He also writes then even the simple hashtags that trend on social media help users easily locate the stories that need attention (Agrawal para. 12).

Researching this story gave me a lot hope about the potential of the media to do good. We must realize the huge power that is sitting in our hands and we all have the choice to use it for better than worse.

Works Cited

Agrawal, AJ. “It's Not All Bad: The Social Good Of Social Media.” Forbes, 18 Mar. 2016, http://www.forbes.com/sites/ajagrawal/2016/03/18/its-not-all-bad-the-social-good-of-social-media/#3e952b0f523c. Accessed 10 Oct. 2016.

Berenson, Tessa. “Facebook Raised More Than $10 Million in 2 Days For Nepal.” Time, 30 Apr. 2015, http://time.com/3842365/facebook-money-nepal-earthquake/. Accessed 10 Oct. 2016

Morrison, Aaron. “Nepal Earthquake 2015: Google 'Person Finder' Building Database Of Loved Ones, After 7.8-Magnitude Quake.”, International Business Times, 25 Apr. 2015, http://www.ibtimes.com/nepal-earthquake-2015-google-person-finder-building-database-loved-ones-after-78-1896798. Accessed 10 Oct. 2016.

“Nepal 2015 Earthquake Response.” Humanitarian Open Street Map Team, n.d., https://hotosm.org/projects/nepal_2015_earthquake_response. Accessed 10 Oct. 2016.

Zuckerberg, Mark. “This morning we activated Safety Check…” Facebook, 25 Apr. 2015, https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10102050030813611. Accessed 10 Oct. 2016.