These are the logos of the top 20 social media nowadays. Can I do a quick survey? How
many of you has a Facebook account? Please put up your hand. Twitter? Linkedin Instagram? Google+?
Well, obviously we are all users of social media. Have you ever thought of how much time you have been spending on them every day. Let me warn you, you might not aware of
your increasing dependence towards these addictive social media, and how they in turn, influence your daily lives.
According
to www.wearesocial.org, Malaysians spend an average of 5 hours online daily and 3 out of these 5 hours are spent on social media.
As in 2014, 64.7% of Malaysians use the internet. Social media is responsible for one-third of the web traffic in the country.
Facebook, being the most popular social medium is the most visited site in Malaysia. Up
till date, there are 12.7 millions of Facebook users in Malaysia, which makes it No.18 in the world ranking. This also means that 48.73% of the Malaysian populations are on Facebook.
Let me ask you another question. Do you know that Facebook allows you to control
your facebook activity with privacy settings? It allows you to determine what personal information of yours to be shared to the public, or to a certain group of friends. It allows you to choose what kind of information you would like or not to see in your Newsfeed. How many of you really spend some time to manage the privacy settings?
Recently I read about a survey result published by LIRNEasia, a think tank organisation.
It says that Millions of Facebook users do not think that they are using the internet. They confuse Facebook with the internet. They thought the internet didn't exist and Facebook is viewed independently of it. This might sounds ridiculous but the phenomenon is quite alarming in developing countries like Indonesia and Thailand. As we can see, despite the relatively high internet and social media penetration in Malaysia, we still have a long way to go when it comes to internet awareness, not to mention the social responsibility in the cyberspace.
http://www.lowyat.net/2015/02/millions-of-facebook-users-dont-think-theyre-using-the-internet/
Fellow toastmasters and guests,
Have you heard of the saying: “One man tells an idle story and it becomes fact in the
mouths of ten thousand”?
This cannot be more true in the context of social media. Do you remember our last GE in 2013? Many says that it was a ‘Social media election’ after all. Social media were exploited to spread the facts and lies. It was exploited to the extent that you don’t even know which is true of false, or who to believe.
Another example will be the sad tragedy of MH370, which remains a mystery until today. When the tragedy struck us last year, it became the talk of the town in no time, thanks
to social media. I’m sure you came across the posts about the aircraft was found in somewhere, which in fact were all baseless allegations from unreliable source.
Fellow toastmasters and guests,
Never underestimate the power of words. The pen is mightier than the sword. If you are going to say something online, thenbe comfortable saying the same in person, to someone’s face.
So, always remember that you are what you share, comment, like in the social media. You are what you post!
Thank you.
