Introduction
Social broadcasting is a hotly debated subject since it can be argued that it is both an advantage and a curse for this generation. Most individuals believe that digital mass media has devastated and destroyed every moment of the physical human association at a surprising speed and that it has distorted how people see human relations in the contemporary period. Digital networks have caused the most significant shift in communication history, ushering in an entirely new age. A societal media site is any platform that allows people to interact and socialize locally and worldwide. Operators of interacting social sites may embrace negotiations, exchange information, and produce web data. Social media platforms include Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Social media helps to advance societal development while also supporting numerous businesses. It provides means for reaching out to prospects and clients, such as social media advertising. People may quickly obtain information and news through social media. Social networking is an excellent method for increasing public awareness of any social issue. Employers might contact prospective workers. It may quickly help many people grow socially and interact with the rest of the world. Many individuals use social media to make their opinions heard by those in positions of power. It can also assist someone in meeting people with similar interests.
The most severe disadvantage of social media is that it is very addicting to practically every person who uses it. It has transformed people’s perceptions of reality to the point that, while celebrating its worldwide connectedness, people fail to connect with those around them and become emotionally aloof. This fixation with being hooked to one’s device displays all day causes many health difficulties and is the main reason for stress, sadness, anxiety, and sleeplessness. In the novel ‘My Sister, the Serial Killer’ various social media platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram have been used to convey positive and negative messages.
This is the narrative of two sisters, Korede and Ayoola, centered in Lagos, Nigeria. While Korede is the family’s unattractive duckling, Ayoola is the lovely swan cherished by their mother. Korede is a caregiver in a local clinic and has a crush on Tade, the gorgeous doctor. Ayoola is a supermodel and the personification of self-indulgence (Braithwaite). She is a social media obsessive and devotes much effort to Instagram and Snapchat. Although Korede suffers from hallucinations due to disposing of the remains, Ayoola lives carefree. The sisters share the dreadful secret, yet it only affects Korede. Tade notices Ayoola when she meets Korede in the clinic and immediately falls in love with her.
Social media as a Hobby
With social connectivity, people may create and share content with others via technological means. A vast array of websites and software are under the sway of the social mainstream press. The existence of people has grown in importance in a brief period. For many individuals, it has turned into a regular old day. In the book My Sister, the Serial Killer, socioeconomic media helps users communicate and stay in contact with one another (Geyer, 245). You may share papers, videos, and comments with only one press. This is seen when Ayoola photographs pictures of herself and her mum to upload to her Instagram profile.
Social technology can easily transmit data and information across country boundaries. If anybody is moved to the city’s subsequent colony, it’s returned to the olden days. Scrolling through news feeds during downtime has become a new pastime in contemporary culture. People now look for their cellular devices first thing in the day after getting up shortly to read their news feeds. The number of likes and comments someone has received on a tweet or status. Nowadays, individuals like to relax on a couch while reading material on online media.
Innovative media is crucial in addressing the diversified demands of the entire population, small and big enterprises, numerous study firms, commercial sectors, and public agencies in a period where information and information are weapons for socioeconomic, political, and cultural interchange. Print press like magazines, newspapers, books, and other publishings, as well as digital media like radio, TV, and social media pages, seek to awaken civilization in the twenty-first century.
Following technical activism, social network activism has already come to be associated with the current generation. In India nowadays, two out of every three people spend time on virtual sharing websites like Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Linked. In the novel, Ayatollah uses her phone to access her social media account. She is a great addict to social media and spends most of her free time on social media. In this context, social media usage is depicted as a hobby that is enjoyed by many.
Social media as a News Outlet
Modern media have altered how people communicate and acquire knowledge. It has emerged as the fastest and easiest method to stay up to date on world happenings. For reporters, contemporary media go beyond only consuming external material and encompass news creation. The investigative process requires reaching a large audience, obtaining data, engaging individuals, and disseminating important news more swiftly than before. When the information of Femi’s abduction spreads widely across all social internet sites, Braithwaite attempts to supplement how internet media serves as a media organization in the book. The story about Femi quickly reached many people because of social media.
Social Media as a Crime Cover
Indeed, digital networks have assisted certain law enforcement agencies. The authorities and the public now have unprecedented contact with one another because of social media. Using LinkedIn and Instagram, institutions and the neighborhood may communicate about events and operations in real-time. This has shown to be advantageous regularly, at the local level, and in times of need. Additionally, social media has grown into an essential tool for judicial inquiries. For illustration, posting CCTV footage of Jessica Meagher’s last activities on social media and YouTube helped to identify her killer.
After killing Femi, Ayoola goes to her Instagram page to post about the disappearance of Femi as a way to hide from being suspected. Nowadays, digital media plays such a significant part in everybody’s life that government officials frequently use social networks as the initial point of contact for their investigations. Consider this. It seems logical for police authorities to try to identify some party-goers if they learn that there was a murder there, for instance. They can then check the online web profiles of those people to see whether they have published any films or images, and if they have, they can attempt to find everybody in them to utilize as prospective evidence (Joyce, 7). People need caution while posting anything online since any images or videos they upload might become Exhibits.
Ayoola had shared a photo of herself and Femi hugging along with a caption identifying her as the final individual to have seen Femi healthy and pleading with everyone to come forth if anybody had any information that may be of assistance. Just like she had then, she was in Korede’s chamber when she published this, but she did not let her sister know that she was doing so. Since he was formerly her lover, she claims that staying silent will make her appear callous.
Social Media for Doing Research
Korede regarded Gboyega’s photo on Facebook as she looked for additional information about him. She discovered that Gboyega appeared more youthful and active in his photos. She looks through his photos till she is confident that she understands the character of Gboyega. She learns that the guy has a well-dressed fiancée and three towering lads, the initial two currently enrolled in schools in London and the youngest of whom is still enrolled in a Nigerian high school. On Banana Island, one of the most expensive estates in Nigeria, they live in a townhouse. He worked for an oil and gas firm, and most images are from trips to Dubai, Paris, and the United States. They are an average upper-middle-class African household in every way.
Conclusion
In conclusion, whether social media is a curse or a blessing is debatable. The profits of being linked to individuals and remaining up to date have confidently made people’s lives faster, more contented, and more appropriate. The problems with collaborative networks may be put aside, and individuals can go forward with the development it has conveyed to people’s everyday lives. In the novel ‘My Sister, the Serial Killer’ social media plays a significant role in the plot. It has been portrayed as having both positive and negative impacts. Ayoola is a socialite who uses Snapchat and Instagram to post herself. This utilizes a lot of time. She could have used it for other productive things. Ayoola also uses social media to pretend that she is innocent. For instance, she uses social media to hide evidence that she was involved in the murder of Femi.
Works Cited
Braithwaite, Oyinkan. My Sister, the Serial Killer. Thorndike Press, 2020. Web.
Geyer, Andrea. “The One Who Is. Thoughts Called Forth by Agnes Denes’s Pascal’s Perfect Probability Pyramid the People Paradox—the Predicament.” I Stand in My Place With My Own Day Here, 2019, pp. 243–246. Web.
Joyce, Peter. “Police Reform: From Police Authorities to Police and Crime Commissioners.” Safer Communities, vol. 10, no. 4, 2018, pp. 5–13. Web.