Social Media in Nepal: Pros and Cons

Information technology has been developing rapidly in the twenty first century. With the development of information technology (IT), the global use of internet, email and World Wide Web have increased. More than 18 % of Nepali people using internet is a good sign for Nepal in sectors of IT, be it less in comparison with other countries. Many sites are available over the net of different types. Social networking sites are the major stakeholders in internet nowadays. For some mass of people in Nepal, internet means social networking sites only. Among all the social networks, Facebook and twitter are in the top rank due to their increased use.

Many people tend to understand social media as social networking sites but the reality is that social networking sites is a big branch or area of social media. Social media is of different types.
i. Social news, like Digg and Reddit where one can vote, rank and comment the writings/articles.
ii. Social Bookmarking like Del.icio.us and Diggo where bookmarks can be tagged, searched and shared.
iii. Social networking, like Facebook and Linkedin where one can make friends, comment on their status, profile and photo. Moreover groups can be created.
iv. Photo/Video/Audio sharing, like YouTube and flickr where one can share audio and video files and even comment them.
v. Wikis like Wikipedia or wikispace where new wiki can be made or the available wiki/writings can be added or edited.

Social media can be interpreted in both ways supporting with the grain and against the grain. It depends on how it is used or for what purpose it is used. Media means expression of freedom. Social media is broader media as it conveys the information to the large number of people. We have a timid act of believing that whatever we posted or shared became global and spread worldwide.
Social media has developed drastically and influenced Nepali culture within a few years as not only popular medias like facebook and twitter are being used by nepalis but also Linkedin and Digg are being used by them. Social media can be both strong and weak medium of expression. If it possesses everyone’s collaboration, it becomes a powerful tool but if there lacks collaboration of generalities then it turns to be volatile. Therefore social media cannot stand of its own, everybody’s help and collaboration is essential. Its foundation is thus collected collaboration.

General media moves on its own taking a straight single path and its sources are also no adequate but in case of social media, many people’s participation is together at a time where sources and voices are many. In social media, there are two ways, one who speaks/tells and second who responds to it. In a way, social media is a website that makes interaction among its users.
The oldest social networking site in the world is sixdegrees.com which was launched in 1997 and later closed in 2000 A.D. According to Nilsen’s report ‘Global Faces and Networked Places’ social networks and blogging comes in fourth place, higher than personal email among all the internet activities.

Among all the online users throughout the globe, more than 67 % users use sites of social network and spend more than 10 % of internet hours in using it. Blog, Wikipedia and YouTube, all social medias are storage house of knowledge. Their use and importance in today’s world is incomparable.
There are many pros of social network, like making new relations, reconnect with past friends and relatives, increase conversations and to strengthen relation. It lets its users to get access to messages, photos, games, invitations and many other facilities all in free for those who have just internet access. It connects people of similar interests, helps to generate new thoughts and minimizes social grieves and sorrows.

To list some cons of social media, it lets to spend a lot of time online and less time in social gatherings, makes involve in
internet activities that do not benefit. Moreover, juvenile users can fall in the sexual world. Some may be fired at workplace or ruin social recognition due to comments and photos that are too private and not society- friendly. In Februarys 2009, Myspace had around 90 thousand registered users in it who were found to be sexual offenders. Facebook, but did not want to reveal its facts regarding that. It is still difficult to find those offenders and it’s also difficult to deprive them from creating new accounts. Social networking sites also bring cyber bullying. According to a research conducted in 2009, 17.5 percent students of lower secondary level have been victim of cyber bullying.

All sites of social networks may not be good and useful so we have to choose the best ones. There is a school of thought who argue that social media is necessary and is a part of our modern culture. Whereas another school of thought claim that social media is filled with perils and risks. The way of it being used can merely distinguish whether it is good or worse.

Ken Subedi