Social
media is becoming increasingly important in the everyday lives of people. Be it
for a 60-year-old man or a teenager, social media is almost inescapable in
today’s day and age, where everything from cat videos to news is consumed online.

June 30 is celebrated as World Social
Media day annually to highlight the importance of social media in our lives. While
social media can be a powerful tool for change, it also comes with its shares of controversies – companies accused of spying on users, its impact on
mental health, the spread of fake news and propaganda – bringing these platforms
under increasing scrutiny from governments around the world.

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History
of Social Media Day:

Social Media Day was first celebrated in on
June 30, 2010 by Mashable to shed light on its impact and role in global
communications. Sixdegrees, the first social media platform, was founded by Andrew
Weinreich and was launched in 1997.

The website allowed people to list their friends
and families and share bulletin boards, school affiliations and profiles. Over
the years, various other websites like Friendster, MySpace, Orkut, Facebook came
up for people to connect with others online. In today’s world, Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat are some of the most popular social media sites
globally.

Significance
of Social Media Day:

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Social Media Day is aimed to help people understand
social media’s growing importance in today’s world and raise awareness about how
it can be used for both good and bad. This can in turn help people benefit from
social media platforms in a responsible way.

Some of the ways people can benefit from social
media are:

– People can interactively communicate
with others from any part of the planet.

– It can be used to promote
brands and connect with customers.

– It can help open new career
opportunities.