Summary
Social media platforms exist in online and offline forms comprising people and businesses. Because they share interests, objectives, and beliefs, the users become more receptive to people’s content. Social media gained power once the internet entered users’ lives, leading to the development of popular social networks like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok (Sun et al., 2019). The prevalence of the internet world and its impact on people’s lives are enormous, particularly in light of how prevalent digital transformation and marketing are now growing. More than 3.8 billion people are connected to the virtual world worldwide (Sun et al., 2019). With the dynamics of ongoing improvements to these platforms and the introduction of new ones, this number continues to increase steadily (Greenhow et al., 2020). Since so many people use social networks extensively for communication and expression, businesses and users are expected to be well aware of them. This work will discuss several ways social media and their affordances promote community building.
How Social Media Platforms Promote Community Building
Social media platforms encourage community building in several ways. While average users mostly utilize social media to maintain relationships with friends and family, other local businessmen use it from a strategic angle. Since digital transformation has become a reality, being on these platforms is essentially required (Rathnayake and Winter, 2018). This is so that businesspeople can sell their goods on the platforms while social media users are the consumers. It is evident that social networks like Facebook and WhatsApp have found success. It is difficult to imagine community social interactions without social media platforms, which demonstrates the power of these platforms that have taken over the world. Having a page on social media platforms is a way to be visible, engage with the public, and establish a relationship with them (Greenhow et al., 2020). Being active on websites such as Facebook and Instagram, among others, has several advantages.
Expose the Brand in a Segmented Way
Every day, millions of individuals use social networks, which gives businesses that have their brands exposed on these platforms much visibility. Being seen is more significant than simply showing up, but nothing compares to being seen by the right people. Since each brand has a distinct target market, connecting with them on social media is possible. Companies regularly segment their audiences in their communications (Sun et al., 2019). This is helped by the tone of voice, locations, and other elements; all of these elements can be used in social media. Through solutions that let them target the users, businessmen may also provide advertisements on these networks.
Create a Strong Position in the Market
Brands need to showcase their goods and services, ideals, and principles to their potential customers. People expect businesses to interact with their markets and customers a certain way, and positioning reveals much about that. Numerous strategies exist to position the company’s presence on social media (Rathnayake and Winter, 2018). A corporation that does a good job of positioning itself is strong. This aids in giving brands a clear sense of identity, which carries over into their interactions with the general public. Positioning contributes to identification since it gives the customer the impression that the firm is public rather than a sole proprietorship.
Maintain the Relationship with the Public easily
Companies should prioritize building relationships. Being close to the public is not only important in selling and receiving good pricing but also in the formation of business-consumer relationships. Due to the variety of postings and content available on social media platforms, they assist in maintaining this relationship in a natural and everyday manner (Kreiss, Lawrence, and McGregor, 2018). Besides, the consumer may access all of the posts on their timeline every day. Social media platforms enable everyone in the community to publish content regularly, engage with the public through posts, use social media as a service channel, and produce information to provide value to the general public.
Create Content Capable of Engaging and Generating Interactions
It is essential to produce content on social media. The interactions generated by these publications—interactions that the brand must support—lead to audience engagement, one of the major benefits of the social network (Kreiss, Lawrence, and McGregor, 2018). Any business would benefit from having a sizable following, but if those followers do not engage, that metric is not as crucial. Content that can garner comments likes, and shares is the kind that has a significant influence on the user. People who communicate on social media and are potential clients can be attracted in this way.
How Social Media Affordances Promote Community Building
On the other hand, social media affordances are the environmental properties that permit social activities. Social media affordances cannot be separated from social media platforms. They complement each other in promoting community building. Building the community in this sense includes promoting interaction via social welfare, which includes health, education, and cohesion in the community.
Community Health Improvement
Information and communication technology have altered how health and disease processes are thought of, how patients and doctors interact, how patients cope with their diseases, how people control their diseases, and how patients interact with other patients and the healthcare system. Online patient communities are “the new era of patient empowerment and a patient-centered health system” (Xue and Churchill, 2019, p. 1232), and they help to advance higher health literacy. The process of empowerment can help to re-define the typical social interactions between the many players in the health system, allowing for a review of roles and their significance as well as for more citizenship in health, with increased social and political participation of the ill (Xue and Churchill, 2019). This issue fits into a larger conversation about how the Internet might improve civic engagement, participation, interactive communication, information availability, and democracy. Given that poor adherence to therapy is one of the major treatment gaps for chronic patients, it is crucial to comprehend in this case how much participation of people with chronic diseases in virtual environments might positively influence adherence.
Enhancing Communication
Social media affordances have a positive impact, especially in interacting socially, politically, and economically. Social media use makes it simple to contact friends and family in ways that face-to-face interaction is difficult due to distance. People can easily and swiftly send the necessary information and retrieve it if they desire (Kreiss, Lawrence and McGregor, 2018). Furthermore, social media opportunities allow users to reconnect with many friends and family members who haven’t seen each other in a while. Social media can be used for document sharing, data interchange, and photo sharing. Advertising various goods and services through social media is another possible use for it (Kreiss, Lawrence, and McGregor, 2018). Hence, social networks facilitate social relationships between individuals, groups, or organizations with similar values or interests. This idea was enlarged with the advent of social media and the internet. Social networks used to refer to a group of people who were tied to one another before they came to represent everything known today.
Community Behavior Change
The use of social media affordances also brings behavioral changes to society. Individuals rarely interact with their surroundings, for instance, while in line at service counters (Moreno and Uhls, 2019). Many people in the nearby premises, including our officemates, are occupied with their smartphones while in line, leaving unfinished or even abandoned work. The most worrying effect social media has on young children’s conduct is that it makes them apathetic and unconcerned with their surroundings. When children act in such a way, it is getting harder for parents to interact with them, let alone expect them to assist with homework. Children who spend practically all their time on social media are difficult to manage and lazy at studying because they spend so much time tinkering with information, whether at home, school, or on the go (Moreno and Uhls, 2019). Children prefer social media to their parents to express their ideas, and the worst part is that practically all of their issues—including private ones—are disclosed there, even though no one needs to know. Children are unaware that what they say becomes public knowledge and that it is challenging to retract. Since children are the world’s future leaders, this issue cannot be overlooked; a solution is required.
How Twitter Provides a Conducive Environment for the Formation of a Digital Community
Free Creation of Accounts
One of the features that Twitter possess is the free creation of accounts which allows people of all ages to own a Twitter profile. When it is the first time that one visits the Twitter website, one will often encounter the sign-up button. Once they click the button, they are directed to a different page that requires them to input their personal details, including their email, date of birth and mobile number. The whole process occurs at a free cost which is one of the properties that Twitter applies to have a holistic community. Twitter acknowledges that the global population consists of disparities based on socioeconomic factors, meaning there are people who can afford to pay account opening fees and those who cannot if the charges are present. Therefore, Twitter provides a forum where all individuals, despite their economic backgrounds can interact without facing extra charges. As a result of free account creation, people from both developing and first-world countries have had an opportunity to share their views without any restrictions based on payments (Parks, 2010). Generally, free account creation enables the formation of a digital community that constitutes people of all economic settings.
Unrestricted Message Format
The typing box of Twitter allows one to send messages in all formats without any restrictions. Typically, social media platforms have a specific type of format that needs to be applied when one is sending a message or sharing a post. These formats can range from alphanumerical- to links-only messages. However, Twitter offers the liberty of including any format such as links, numerical and even letters in one’s post. Additionally, the message format allows up to 140 characters to be typed and posted at a go as opposed to other social media platforms that only allow up to 100 (Jones, 2014). The freedom in message format has allowed businesses to include links to their websites and messages that aim to deliver the theme they anticipate their target customers to decipher (Jones, 2014). Additionally, this liberty has allowed community groups that have common interests, such as the protection of women’s rights, the LGBTQ community and others, to attach links to their organizations for people to understand the group’s relevance. Generally, unrestricted message format has allowed businesses to advertise themselves and people to send messages in various methods, such as through links.
Prompt Notifications
One of the most outstanding features when using Twitter is the prompt notification that people get. When a person posts a comment, a photo or anything in their public profile, their followers get a message about the post almost immediately. For instance, when Elon Musk texted about his new ownership of Twitter, about 100 million of his followers received the tweet on their devices. The speed with which a tweet is sent to a follower’s mobile phone has allowed businesses and campaigns to succeed, as individuals can get notified about new products or events that have been proposed by such organizations (Highfield, Harrington, and Bruns, 2013). For example, the Getty Museum and Hawke Media campaign, which aimed at raising awareness of the virtual theater presentation, is one of the most successful movements on Twitter (Highfield, Harrington, and Bruns, 2013). Along with the success of social campaigns, businesses have identified the quick tweet that followers get once a person sends a post. Therefore, firms have taken the initiative to boost their sales, especially for new products by posting features and descriptions of the service or goods on Twitter.
Excellent Post Features
Twitter has impeccable post features that allow a post to reach a wide community. Firstly, Twitter has the re-tweet function on one’s post which allows a person to repost a message that they encounter on their home page. The retweet function promotes the attainability of greater impressions compared to the original posts. This impression then allows more opportunities for Twitter users can see and even follow a person’s profile. Secondly, Twitter allows one to mark a post as their favorite, which virtually bookmarks and saves the tweet for later reference. The favorite feature allows people to recheck the posts later at any time, which saves time and energy, especially when a person wants to refer to an advertisement (Wood and Baughman, 2012). The favorite function has allowed people to save tweets that expound on common themes such as racism and sexual harassment at the workplace and even allows people to understand different perspectives of others based on the same topic. Lastly, Twitter offers the mention feature where one can tag a person by using the symbol ‘@’ in their posts to attract the attention of the aforementioned person (Wood and Baughman, 2012). Generally, Twitter’s excellent features promote seamless interaction across different groups.
Free Use of Twitter ID in Other Websites and Applications
Twitter allows the application of one’s ID in various sites that do not correlate with the company. Today, most authors, including those who write research papers, blogs and even articles, use their Twitter ID below their names to allow easy accessibility in case of queries. The Twitter ID offers one of the swiftest ways that a person can be reached via Twitter (Saputra, Siddiq, and Huda, 2020). Bloggers, such as those who write posts about social problems on websites like Wattpad, can easily be accessed through their Twitter ID. These bloggers use the embed tweet option that lets them incorporate their Twitter ID into their posts. As a result, the Twitter ID has allowed communities to build a bond as they can easily contact people who share the same interests as them (Saputra, Siddiq, and Huda, 2020). For example, an LGBTQ community person residing in the US can contact another member of the same society living in the UK by clicking their Twitter ID on a website or app. Additionally, the Twitter ID promotes the formation of new friendships as not only those individuals that ne share a common interest click the ID but also people from other different communities.
Twitter’s Straightforward Use
Twitter is categorized as one of the simplest social media platforms that people of all ages can use. Once a person logs into their account, they can access the trending news in their region without having to search or go to a specific profile for the information. Additionally, this social media platform has a strong algorithm that collects and stores information from tweets surrounding one region, which is a feature that promotes showcasing relevant tweets to an individual. While most people may confine themselves to the Twitter application on their smartphones, the platform has established a powerful browser that cannot reach even those using it on tablets and smartphones (Hampton and Wellman, 2018). The simplicity has allowed even the elderly to continue accessing important information without requiring them to be tech-savvy or needing them to take classes before using the app or website (Hampton and Wellman, 2018). Generally, the simplicity of the tutor allows interaction of people across all ages and nations in a common field.
Case Study: How Twitter’s Fandom Groups Offer a Conducive Environment for Digital Community
TeamExo Fandom Group
Twitter’s fandom groups provide a ground where fans can interact to uphold their popular starts. One of the famous groups to have won the Soompi awards due to large fanbase on Twitter is the TeamExo fandom group. TeamExo entails a Chinese-South Korean band of boys located in Seole and who have cherished in the world of entertainment. According to Soompi Awards, the team received the greatest number of votes, ranking it first alongside other popular personalities (Hampton and Wellman, 2018). The vast number of votes acquired by TeamExo correlates with how fandom can facilitate formation of a digital community (Hampton and Wellman, 2018). The TeamExo fandom allows the fans to comment, vote and sometimes criticize the performance of the boys, which translates to interaction among individuals.
TeamNCT Fandom Group
The second-ranking fandom group among the popular selections is the TeamNCT club. Twitter recognized this fanbase for having an increase of 5000% in tweets since 2018 and it was awarded the Rising Fandom Achievement of the Year (Hampton and Wellman, 2018). The recognition afforded by Twitter followed after the funs of the NCT group voted and retweeted, making the retweets assume a runners-up position against TeamExo. TeamNCT fandom group has facilitated the interaction of fans who support KPop artists and songs (Hampton and Wellman, 2018). Additionally, this group has yielded new relationships on Twitter as many people have become friends due similarities in their popular South Korean KPop stars.
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