Digitalization & society

Daili achraf ala eddine 200530054

Social media has revolutionized relations between people and new economic and social horizons for all people without discrimination, and no one was in his account that it will change our social relationship, affect the economy, shape our societies, and become part of the work of e-government. How can we not expect that, and the number of smartphones is increasing every day to reach an estimated 6.4 billion devices, which is equivalent to about 80 percent of the world's population, and the number of social media users is estimated at 4.5 billion, of whom 2.9 billion belong to Facebook alone, And two billion shares of WhatsApp, and half a billion users of Snapchat. As is well known, social media are applications or websites that are used to communicate between people through a computer or smartphone over the Internet, including Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Quora, Snapchat, and others.

People's desires and tastes vary, some of them chose to engage in social communication and keep pace with the times, and some of them chose a quiet life

away from preoccupation and wasting time following the endless stream of messages! As for those who choose to enter this field, they are divided into two types. The first aims to communicate for entertainment, to learn about new news, to communicate with people, and to express some opinions and feelings, While few people succeeded in investing the means of communication to get rich and earn, a small group was able to achieve great wealth through commercial advertisements for restaurants, shops, and products of all kinds, especially those related to the needs and beautification of women.

There is no doubt that the means of communication have had positive and negative economic impacts on the individual, institutions, the economy, and even society as a whole. For the individual, it has made life more welcome and easier by communicating with others and expressing an opinion, in addition to increasing productivity and expanding the possibility of doing business, trading, buying,

and selling with great ease, as well as advertising for a fee. But these positives are not without negatives, such as wasting time, engaging in illegal

relationships, bullying, and violating the privacy of others.

As for the field of business, despite the lack of accurate statistics, social media has led to the emergence of new professions associated with it, and many commercial and educational institutions have managed to rationalize spending and raise the quality of services provided by communicating with beneficiaries and customers quickly and easily without significant costs. And then generate more revenue as a result of stimulating demand and creating attractive offers. In addition, social media has had a profound impact on hiring using professional social networks such as LinkedIn. Many hiring managers make hiring decisions based on information on social media, and a large percentage of business owners use these sites to search for job candidates.

There are also products whose existence is linked to the presence of social media, and among the free gifts to some institutions, shops, and restaurants, they get free advertising through social media users, especially Snapchat, who boast about visiting some restaurants, markets, and the like.

On the other hand, social media has contributed to supporting economic growth in times of crisis, especially the current Corona pandemic, by facilitating continuing communication and concluding contracts, as well as doing business of all kinds and trade exchange between institutions inside and outside the country.

Moreover, it has a significant impact on societies, as many social, ethical, environmental, and political problems and challenges have become more visible to people, which hastens the need to find solutions to them.

Finally, given the increasing importance of social media and its role in our lives, information - as it is said - is a strength, especially since the life of the publication on these means is longer than the publications on the traditional media.

It is necessary to strengthen its presence within the educational curricula to clarify its pros and cons and maximize the use it and invest it in the right interest of the human being, especially with the exposure of some students to bullying, abuse, extortion, and spreading rumors through these means. It is also appropriate for the Ministry of

Human Resources to organize courses for the unemployed to urge them to take advantage of these means in employment or launch small projects through them in line with future technological developments.