Based on your reading and viewing of these resources, try to summarise in 400 words what you know and think about the influence of technology on society in general and specifically on organisations. What are some of the main points organisations have to consider that they may not have had to consider in the past? This is a good basis on which to begin to record your reflections on your learning for this subject in your online learning journal blog at Thinkspace.
As early as 2006, in the good days of Bebo, the impacts of social media had effects on society. And by society, I mean my fourteen-year-old self’s version of society because to him, there wasn’t much else to the world outside being popular and making friends. If you don’t remember Bebo, it was a completely different beast to Facebook or Twitter. Based purely on views and hierarchies, friendships could be made or broken with the click of a button. I remember one story about a disagreement between friends. The reason: she placed me further than him on her Bebo profile. Naturally, he wasn’t too happy about this, and they had your typical angst-filled teenage argument over MSN – the good old days.
Now you’re probably wondering why am I bringing up this archaic platform? How can a school ground cyber scuffle have implications on the real world? Well, it’s simple. What occurs on social media can have ramifications on society. The things we view online can impact how we view the world (Akram & Kumar, 2017, p. 347). Tiny things like putting another person above someone else can affect their day, year and life. Extrapolate this to millions of people, and then you have the potential to impact society or organisations.
So how does this tie in with organisations? Last year, Adam Rapaport from popular food magazine and Youtube channel Bon Appétit (Severson, 2020) resigned. The reason: a photo of him in a Halloween costume portraying a cultural stereotype made the rounds on the internet. The whole ordeal erupted in a gigantic PR mess for Condé Nast, Bon Appétit’s parent company and placed a cultural microscope on the magazine and channel. This resulted in many popular personalities speaking out against racism and many BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) employees resigning (Zhang, 2020).
In my humble opinion, the lesson to be learnt here is the internet well and truly is forever. Something that may not have had ramifications on society in the early 2000s can have in 2020. The landscape of cultural sensitivity can change, as is people’s perception of what is right and wrong. Social media can give a voice to the voiceless and also an avenue to ruin your life. Like my friend’s argument about Bebo, what you post or how you to choose to behave can effect those around you. Even if you are the editor of chief for a large corporation, the online society doesn’t discriminate.
References
Akram, W., & Kumar, R. (2017). A Study on Positive and Negative Effects of Social Media on Society. International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering, 5(10, 348-354. https://doi: 10.26438/ijcse/v5i10.351354
Severson, K. (2020, September 8). Bon Appétit Editor Adam Rapoport Resigns. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/08/dining/bon-appetit-adam-rapoport.html
Zhang, J. G. (2020, August 12). Multiple Bon Appétit Stars Resign From Appearing in Test Kitchen Videos [Updated]. Eater. https://www.eater.com/2020/8/6/21357341/priya-krishna-rick-martinez-sohla-el-waylly-resign-bon-appetit-test-kitchen-videos
Wow, the good ol’ days! I remember Bebo, but I never used it. I was on AOL a lot, then progressed to MSN messenger, Tagged, and finally MySpace.