Netizen boom impacts media and society

Netizen boom impacts media and society
Harishma A S

               

Netizen – as the word suggests, refers to a person (citizen) who has active access to internet. The swift rise in netizen population and there interference in web and social networking sites like facebook, twitter and orkut  play a key role  in the decision making on contemporary issues in society.

Graphics: Harishma A. S.

         It is through facebook and twitter campaigns, the community members in London assembled and cleaned the city, disfigured in riots this August. Anna Hazare, the Indian icon who is conducting a crusade  against corruption got almost 2 lakh  supporters in a day for his ‘fast unto death’ campaign through social networking sites. The huge mob insisted that the Government should take action on a faster pace. Now even celebrities from all fields have membership in these networking sites, as it gives a boost to their promotional activities.

                The blogs, video sharing site ‘youtube’, photo sharing websites like ‘picasa’ and ‘flicker’ get several members every hour, as they are excellent platforms to express opinions and creative talents of the common man. The impacts of ‘file sharing’ sites positively serve the purpose of knowledge dissemination, as well as negatively affect the morality of society through blatant exposition of vulgarity. Despite their negativism these sites have wide acceptance among the public.

      ‘Netizen journalism’ will pose great challenges to conventional journalism and it is believed that ‘netizen movements’ are going to dominate the society near future.