The benefits of social media

Connecting with others

It wasn't all that long ago that the idea of real-time video communication was considered futuristic! But today's social media platforms allow you to do just that – to connect instantly with friends, family, and like-minded people from all around the world.

Most social media platforms allow you to sign up, message and make video calls free of charge. All you need is a broadband home internet connection, or a 4G/5G mobile device and internet data plan.

Video calls and messaging

While video calls and messaging are significant drawcards, social media platforms also allow you to share content such as videos, photos, and news articles with friends and like-minded people.

This content can be shared for free on these platforms, with the only costs to you being your internet connection and a small amount of your data allowance.

Posting while on holiday

The next best thing to bringing your friends and family on holidays with you, is being able to share your photos with them.

You can instantly share photos via most social media platforms and your friends, family, and other people you connect with, can comment and Like photos to show their appreciation.

eSafety Tip

Be wary of posting while you're away from home. Posting to public forums broadcasts that you are on holidays and that your house may be vacant.

You can use post settings on social media, which ensure that only friends, family, and people you have chosen to trust, will be able to see any photo you’ve posted while on holiday.

Accessing real-time news and information

The days of waiting for the evening news to come on TV to find out what's happening in the world are over. Social networks are awash with news and current affairs posts.

All reputable news outlets have accounts across all of the major social media platforms. Often, breaking news stories are posted on social media before they appear in newspapers, thanks to how quickly a news network can create a social media post.

Sharing content

Many news sites, review pages and other content providers allow you to share their content via your own social media accounts. This could be handy if, for instance, you are attending The Perth Garden Festival and are keen to get some of your friends interested.

To share the link to the event page, you can either click on the Share link they provide, or copy the website address and post it from your social media account.

Congratulations

You have completed The benefits of social media activity.

You should now be able to identify some of the benefits that social media can bring to your life.

The next activity, An overview of social media platforms, will outline the function of some of the most widely used social media platforms.