Opinion on Social Media's Impact on Small Business

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Opinion on Social Media's Impact on Small Business

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Social Media and Its Influence on Small Business

Over the past twenty years, with the creation of the World Wide Web, there has been a global shift into a digital era. The popularity of the Internet, paired with rapidly advancing digital technology has transformed the way in which society functions at every level and introduced the platform of social media.  Big business is adapting to the hugely popular world of social media, but how is small business being affected and influenced by this change?

The Transformation of Business Operations
A major component, if not the staple of society, is business.  The advancement of digital technology prompted businesses to start changing the way in which they operate.  The business world, after the Internet went public in the early 1990s, began to incorporate the World Wide Web into their operations, and soon after started to digitize their entire infrastructure.  The large corporations were able to adapt to this new expensive way of doing business, but the smaller companies were not able to digitize as quickly due to the high expenses.

Popularity of the Internet Today & Impact on Business
After the Internet was opened to the public in the early 90s, more and more people began using it, and it  rapidly gained recognition.  Today, 2.1 billion people are using the Internet, which includes individuals, firms, corporations, and small businesses.  In 2012, it is much more affordable and common for people to access and establish themselves on the Internet.  Businesses of all different sizes may now have an Internet presence, either through paid sites, or free-to-set-up social networking sites.  Where before, large businesses took up the majority of airtime on television, and ads in newspapers, there are now huge outlets for small businesses to get their name recognized through the web.

Social Media: Helping Small Business
Social media and networking has become an essential way to stay connected in today's digital society.  Where before, small businesses were not granted an equal amount of advertising through traditional outlets (television, radio, etc.), small businesses can now branch out and establish themselves onto a multitude of free or low cost social networking sites.  Those small businesses that are willing to adapt to the current trend of social networking can find it rewarding.  By joining into the social media world, these smaller companies are able to stand out in an increasingly noisy marketplace.  This increased exposure can yield improved sales and while simultaneously reducing marketing costs.

Source

Small Business & Social Media

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Different Countries- Different News Organizations, Same Story-Different Details?

Looking at different news organizations across the world, there seems to be a dissimilarity in the way that the news is constructed and presented to the public.  A U.S news organization, for instance, may cover a story about events in the middle east much different than how a middle eastern news organization would.  A large reason for this, is because the audiences of the news organizations are different.  When one reads CNN for example, they have to not only be informed as to the basis of the current event, but also familiarize themselves with the area, the people involved, and other information specific to the middle east that the people living there would already know.  

We can examine the differences in U.S news and foreign news by reading an article about the same event on each organization's website and comparing how the story is developed and displayed to the public.  In both the U.S news organization CNN and the middle eastern Aljazeera,the same event of Syrian protests and violence during a supposed four-day truce (which coincides with the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha) between Syrian government forces and rebels is presented.

Differences between CNN article and Aljazeera Article

One immediate difference that is noticeable between the coverage by CNN and the Aljazeera is that CNN begins the story with a very brief summary of what is to be read in the article in a way that plays on the emotions of the readers.  "Snipers in Damascus.  Soldiers shooting protesters.  Clashes outside a military camp." (CNN)  This short description with blunt sentences gives the reader the intensity of the event.  In the Aljazeera article, the writer goes right into the story, without a dramatic introduction or opinion.  The first sentence dives right into the unbiased details of the event: "Fierce clashes between Syrian government forces and rebels have broken out…" (Aljazeera) Another difference that can be observed is that the CNN supplements the article with youtube videos to which CNN states that they cannot authenticate the footage.  Because the videos cannot be specifically authenticated, it gives the reader a sense of the possibility that the article isn't 100% accurate. [Video to the right is the video linked by the CNN article] The article by Aljazeera does not give any links to videos, nor any links in which they state that they cannot authenticate the information.  Since the readers of CNN are not, in general, well versed in middle eastern traditions, the article educates the reader about the holiday Eid al-Adha.  This information is not important to recite in the Aljazeera version because it is well-known.  The CNN version focuses part of the story on the amount of people who were killed during the protests (at least 30) and in some of the ways that these people were killed.  Contrasting this, the Aljazeera version just includes a quote that says there is "fewer victims than usual".  It seems that the CNN article is trying the make the protests out to look more extreme and violent than the events really are.  

(Picture of Syrian protests used in the Aljazeera article) 

To recap, in general the Aljazeera article is shorter and based almost entirely on facts and quotes.  The CNN article is longer, includes unauthenticated videos and a more U.S interpretation of the events.  Also, it educates the readers about the background for the events. (Picture of Syrian protests used in the Aljazeera article) 

Which is More Trustworthy?

Personally, I trust the CNN version more because CNN seems to be a more liberal news organization that is focused mostly on getting an unbiased account of world events.  The CNN article presents the information in a way as to educate the reader about the background of the events and the fighting while also presenting the specific event.  Although the Aljazeera article mostly just presents facts and quotes of the event, I still trust CNN more because I am familiar with CNN and I feel like I am getting accurate information from the country in which I live.  This is not to discredit Aljazeera however, because the information produced by Aljazeera was informative and factual.  

Missing Information?

The CNN version speficially states that "CNN can't confirm reports of the violence as the Syrian government has severely restricted the access of international journalists" (CNN).  Because of this, the readers of the CNN version are not getting completely factual and statistical information.  Because the CNN article is missing the availability of their own journalists to be reporting on the Syrian protests first-hand, there is a disconnect between the event and the article.  The Aljazeera article has speficic quotes from the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman.  Rahman describes when the violence started (0730 GMT), where it started, and details involving the violence.  The Syrian Observatory gave more information throughout the article on the events of the protests, while CNN did not have equal access to information. 

[CNN article] [Aljazeera article]