In Tom Chiang Jr's article, Social Media in Society, Chiang discusses the functional role of mass media in society. Chaing is a college professor, teaching an introductory sociology course. Chiang’s claims the functional role of mass media is to teach and enforce norms, values, and beliefs in a society to further social unity. Throughout the article, he expresses how social media is a place for social movements to get their messages across and create action. Chiang continues to back up his claim “social media facilitates social movements,” and expands by saying people collectively come together for online fundraising. This could be as simple as someone is struggling and needs to get back on their feet or be something on a larger scale, such as a lifesaving surgery or unexpected family death. This is an example of how social media empowers its users to help others, followed by the option of reposting or interacting with a post.
But on the flip side, it can be argued social media causes a divide because of different beliefs, values, and norms others follow. As a society, everyone has a basis of the norms or values of the general population, but that doesn’t mean it applies to everyone, or that everyone follows these unspoken societal “rules.” If we examine Karl Marx’s conflict perspective, which would be conflict in social structures and relationships, emphasizing societal changes come from struggles between groups (Kretchmar, 2019). Conflict theory can be applied to social media in the sense of social media “facilitates misinformation,” says Chiang. Which is something we see daily whether it’s about a political group, new health concerns, or canceling a celebrity, people will believe what someone random posts instead of doing their own research. This comes back to conflict theory because it’s creating divisions within our society, through conflicting stories, resulting in ignorance, and can become destructive. Some people take what they see online, and they begin to act in person, such as protesting or arguing with others. While everyone is welcome to their own opinion, from time to time, people lose sight of what’s really important; further insight into fact-based research can implement stronger thinking and studies of their own.
Social media companies can prioritize having factual information. If more post regulations and guidelines required textual evidence to back up what is said on these platforms, there would be less misinformation and would create less societal divides because everyone would be receiving the same information, therefor causing less conflict between others.
