Language Used On Social Media To Influence Young Adults

Is Social Media a Linguistic Prodigy or a Slippery Scam?

 The COVID-19 pandemic arrived on this planet over a year and a half ago and struck the entire world unsurprisingly.

Imagine being stranded alone in this pandemic — that's been spiraling out of control — without social media at your disposal now that I've jogged your memory about the start of, what is probably, your greatest dread materialized!

Isn't it terrifying?

That's exactly the kind of power social media wields! It's inevitable and everywhere, with an all-encompassing scope.

It has evolved at a breakneck speed since its birth. It's come a long way from being "just another" technology that swept the globe by storm in a flash to a platform that's now keeping the brewing storm at bay.

Apart from its global popularity, its essence has also changed during the course of its two-decade journey.

Humans' natural desire to break down geographical barriers and interact with others of their species is what gave birth to social media. Inevitably, its original goal was to share personal and professional insights from people's lives with their social circle and to foster relationships based on commonalities and differences in beliefs, lifestyles, and experiences, among other things.

However, during the last few years, the platform has shaken up the industry as a whole.

Its current objective significantly favors exploiting brands that are desperate to break through the massive competition and make their presence felt. Communication, which used to be about making connections, is now more about convincing and, as the trend goes, influencing the audience, particularly young adults, who are the most active users of social media.

The question that emerges here is why is social media so focused on influencing its audience?

Even though the answer is quite obvious, I'd like to expand on this before moving on to the topic of how.

Social media is a hotspot for brands. Thousands, if not millions, of brands, produce relatable material regularly in an attempt to increase interaction. As a result, through its modified algorithm and sponsored features, social media caters to business needs and provides a big platform for firms to demonstrate their marketing gimmicks and achieve previously unattainable heights.

As a result, social media provides a powerful platform for brands to inform, connect, and ultimately entice their target audience to buy their products or use their services.

The reach of social media, on the other hand, isn't limited to influencing potential clients' purchasing decisions. There's a lot more to it than that!

The site has been criticized for harboring trolls and propagandists who propagate hate speech or advance their objectives by influencing people's beliefs and ideologies in the guise of free speech.

Those who use social media, on the other hand, do not always need an objective to persuade others.

The notion of following people — the trend-setters — veiled under a facade of relatable, pseudo-sensitive, and inclusive pages and content is at the heart of social media. Millions of views on seemingly insignificant trends demonstrate how the public just jumps on these trends to follow in the footsteps of its social media idols.

Given how simple it has gotten to sweep a naive audience off their feet, I'm not sure what's keeping social media entrepreneurs from abusing their power over their followers!

While it may finally come down to generating brand endorsements and advertising the brands they've created, there are times when they can just influence their audience!

This effect, though, isn't limited to the most insignificant parts of life. It affects people's opinions, perceptions, lifestyles, and, most importantly, language.

Let's get into the heart of social media and this topic, which is language and how it's casually fine-tuned to suit various tones.

Language and social media are inextricably linked. While language is one of the most important weapons used by social media to persuade others, it is also adjusted to suit various persuasion tones.

Although being the most widely spoken language, English does not appear to make the cut as it should.

This has resulted in a widespread phenomenon that today governs colloquial lexicon and verbal communication. Slangs.

These are terms with established definitions that have been given a new meaning in an internet story.

The catch is in the application, which was first confined to only verbal communication. However, it has now spread to written communication as well.

We know these strategies work since even well-known businesses change their tones to include slang and anything else that would fascinate a young adult and make them feel heard.

Slangs in a pitch may appear unprofessional, but they can help marketers personalize their message and connect with the frivolous young adult audience, who enjoys mentally interacting with their interactive and relatable content.

While profitable for brands, it is the polar opposite of a language and what it represents. As modern slangs ruthlessly replace conventional language's richness and emoticons clumsily stand-in for actual emotions, today's interactions barely scrape the surface.

While some may agree that social media and its marketing idioms are destroying the language's genuine attractiveness, marketing isn't all there is!

Fans of legacies of sophisticated works of art that renowned artists have left behind for us to interpret abound on social media. Certain brands are dedicated to capitalizing on the many facets of beauty that a language contains.

Their tone is poetic, and their tale incorporates layered components of storytelling as a means of persuasion — or, if I may continue on the tone, 'bewitching' the audience!

Instead of using slang, they use linguistic imagery and power words to interact with psychology and evoke an emotional response from the reader, who prefers to read between the lines and experience the depth rather than simply scanning the information.

You've probably experienced such a surge of feelings — equivalent to a cold wind brushing softly across the cheek — firsthand, regardless of where you're based (unless, of course, if you're based under a rock).

Their pitches make references to prominent writers' magnum opuses and experiment with the most complicated figures of speech — something that was once only reserved for works of literature.

This introduces the audience to the fascinating subtleties of the English language, which non-avid readers had never encountered before! It also emphasizes the usefulness of original language and wonderful places it in the context of today's world.

After considering all of the relevant factors, I feel that social media and the enormous power it has cannot be considered linearly. Its impact on individuals varies greatly now that it has spread its wings over the globe. However, as a civilization, it has its fair share of benefits and drawbacks.

Regardless matter the power that social media wields, the audience, literally and figuratively, holds the power to choose whether or not to invest in the boon portion of that power.