Sunday, December 22, 2024 | Jumada al-akhirah 20, 1446 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Social media posts not enough to convey information

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Many believe that this is an era of social media. This statement can be both right and wrong. Some organisations believe that it is enough to write posts about issues and activities on their social media accounts. They think that just by doing so their messages about what they have done and what they do reach all.


They are wrong if they think that they have become big and famous like BBC and CNN by just having a social media account and millions of people on the planet earth are follow them round the clock. If they do so, they actually harm objective of their social media posts. Eventually, they disappear from even the local scene. The truth is that there are many who do not follow social media at all. Many in the society even do not have any social media accounts.


This means that such organisations or companies should disseminate their message through all audio and video channels without neglecting any means of communication. People have different approaches, tastes and views. Therefore, it is a must that the means to reach out to them are also diverse.


If these organisations just depend on social media to disseminate their message, they actually limit their reach just to a particular segment of society. Many actually do not have time to follow social media. Big projects target shareholders and investors realising that they cannot treat themselves as ice creams, juices or fast food. When using social media it is important to learn where to reach out. With this lack of understanding of media-related issues and the behaviour of the targeted area, many major companies and projects fail to send their messages to the right segment of the society.


The media is a means to disseminate information and how to explain things to different people. When the message reaches to some people, there is a question if they could understand the message and what it actually meant. If they really understood the message, were they influenced by it? These are questions which are always in the minds of those who are in the profession either they are in public or private media organisations.


However, everybody believes that the media message should be inclusive. It should not ignore any group of a society.


In the media it is taught that the message should reach its target in no time. Reducing huge projects and their formidable achievements to 140 character tweets, a few photos, poor number of followers, three or four times re-tweeting and 10 likes is nothing but injustice with them. A national level project does not deserve this. It should get better treatment in all its standards. This is possible only with the correct use of media platform and understanding of the pattern of its influence.


We hope that this sort of thinking would be changed. There would be correction in the method of dealing with the media as well as the product about which the information is disseminated through it. People are different with each other in many things.


All media messages have different objectives. Whatever message is disseminated; it should use all media platforms. Any limited use of such means does not help national products. A strong media message using all means and platforms can help reach to the goal in short span and achieve the objective.


 


ali.matani2@gmail.com


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