Mangaluru, Jan 28: Former director of Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi and College of Integrated Studies Director at University of Hyderabad Prof B P Sanjay said that social media such as Facebook was fast-moving into the realm of mass media although its connotation was more for fun and entertainment.
Delivering the keynote address at the inaugural function of two-day national seminar on ‘Media in the Contemporary World’ organised by Department of Mass Communication and Journalism at Mangalore University here recently, he said that although usage of social media and penetration levels had certain positive dimensions, there were concerns regarding privacy, stalking and using new media platforms for blackmailing. Despite laws that prohibit children under 13 years from joining social networking sites, a survey by ASSOCHAM reveals that nearly 73 percent of children in tier-I and tier-II cities in the age group of eight to 13 years use Facebook and other social networking sites which can lead to negative outcomes such as cyber-bullying and online sexual abuse of children, he said, adding that the question of media in contemporary society also had several layers of concern.
He said that the levels of intolerance had also increased with use of certain provisions of Information Technology Act when arrests were made. The Supreme Court recently observed that Section 66A of the IT Act, which empowers police to make arrests over social media posts, apparently lacked guidelines on when such power can be exercised and that somebody’s “annoyance” was enough in certain cases for invoking the law, he informed.
On social media as a medium for advertising, Prof Sanjay said that advertisers were slowly realising its potential as it offered a low budget option. The potential of new media to be tracked and analysed gives it an advantage with regard to monitoring the reach and impact. With an increase in internet penetration in India, the country already has the world’s third largest numbers of internet users after the US and China. With the reach of the internet expected to cross 150 million people, the proportion of internet users using or having Facebook accounts is reported to be about 75 per cent in the country, he told the students.
Vice Chancellor of Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication, Bhopal Prof Brij Kishore Kuthiala inaugurated the seminar, while Vice Chancellor of Mangalore University Prof K Byrappa presided over the inaugural function. Coastaldigest.com was the media partner of the seminar.
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