How does mass media influence people

What is Mass Media: Types, Functions, Examples

Get to know why mass media is important and find out its functions

Mass media refers to media technologies used to disseminate information to a wide audience. The key function of mass media is to communicate various messages through television, movies, advertising, radio, the internet, magazines, and newspapers.

Contents

In this article, we’ll review the importance of mass media, explore the functions, types, and characteristics of mass media, and see several examples.

Why is mass media important?

Your favorite movies on streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video, news on TV and radio, and articles in newspapers and magazines make mass media an integral part of our everyday life. Since it has a vast influence on people all over the world, brands use various platforms to appeal to their leads and customers and pitch their goods.

Companies run an endless marathon to reach success with the help of mass media. Brands use either traditional or digital media t o connect with their target audience and build brand awareness. Entrepreneurs consider various platforms to convey a company’s image and create a good reputation. With mass media, brands can effectively promote their goods and services, reach broader audiences, boost brand engagement, and increase sales volume.

Now that you know about the importance of mass media technologies, let’s proceed to their functions.

Functions of Mass Media

Mass media in written, spoken, or broadcast forms has a significant impact on the masses. Commercials on TV, billboards, and social media platforms allow brands to build brand awareness. Companies search for the most effective ways to convey their message when it comes to branding, including sites, social media channels, blogs, and forums. When they find the right type of mass media channel for their businesses, they can communicate their ideas and conduct branding campaigns.

Mass media informs, educates, and entertains people in a wide variety of ways. Brands can educate users to get the most out of their products. The majority of companies now use social media platforms, create blog posts on their sites, and launch commercials on YouTube to describe their best features, the problems their products can solve, and provide step-by-step guides.

Now that we have cleared that up, it’s time to explore the characteristics.

Characteristics of Mass Media

Over the years, the impact of mass communication has increased drastically because of the improvements made. Hence, it’s crucial to know the main characteristics of mass media, and they are as follows:

It’s essential not only to know these features but also to be aware of mass media types, so let’s jump into the next section.

Types of Mass Media

Books, newspapers, radio, social media platforms, booklets, and streaming services are various forms of mass media. However, we distinguish four main types of mass media.

Now that you know the types, it’s also important to grab some inspiration from several examples.

Examples of Mass Media

Nowadays, when there are many channels, companies can reach customers really fast. Platforms used for different purposes allow firms to appeal to a wide audience and communicate the necessary message. Let’s consider the most popular international news companies people read regularly.

USA Today

It is an American daily middle-market newspaper that is distributed internationally. It delivers the latest local and national news. Besides, USA Today updates people on sports, entertainment, money, and travel. The newspaper has approximately 21 million downloads on mobile devices.

CNN is a multinational news-based pay television channel. People can find the latest breaking news and information on the business world, politics, weather, and more in the US and the world.

To conclude, mass media technologies enable companies to reach the masses and communicate specific messages. However, you should remember to choose the right channels with the largest audience and select suitable forms.

Is Mass Media Good or Bad for You and Your Family?

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Since the internet, and particularly smartphones, became household commodities, mass media’s impact on people and societies has increased exponentially.

As you might expect, there is a swinging pendulum of public opinion which often shifts from decrying the ills of this trend to extolling the many virtues of on demand technology.

Whether you tend toward the former or latter opinion, it’s obvious that mass media and social media are having profound effects upon individuals and society as a whole. Many people are concerned about the implications of these effects, and find themselves asking questions like:

Answering these questions can help you to be smart about how you interact with the constant barrage of media being directed at you and your family.

So let’s think through the implications of mass media together so that we can come to informed conclusions.

How Does Mass Media Affect You?

Many are wondering mass media, and social media in particular, is a good thing or bad thing. Of course, for every type of media, there are a host mixed opinions, some based on research, some not. Neil Postman was asking these same types of questions over the mass adoption of the television.

On the one hand, a positive use of technology and mass media enables people to become informed, collaborate in innovative ways, or stay in touch with friends and family. On the other hand, these same connections can be used for dangerous cyber crime.

Social media can help people to feel connected and happy, to connect with old friends and make new ones. However that same social media can lead to depression or anxiety, when life doesn’t meet the expectations created by perfectly edited profiles.

The internet may be a source of motivational messages, videos, or blog posts that improve your life and increase productivity or healthy living. However, it’s just as possible that these very messages can prevent you from getting out there and living.

These are just a few examples of the vastly different ways media can impact our daily lives.

Because mass media affects each person differently, you need to look at your own life to make informed decisions.

Where do you fall on the pendulum? How does your use of social media affect your mood, productivity, and sense of well being? If you tend more toward the negative impacts – depression, anxiety, inactivity – it may be time to limit your media consumption.

What Is the Impact of Mass Media on Children?

Television is the best researched area of mass media effect on children. It has the potential to help, and to harm, as is true with most media types.

Many negative effects have been recorded, and kids often spend more time watching television than on any other activity. However, if the television time includes educational programming and parent supervision, the power can be harnessed to help with learning and have positive effects.

With this in mind, parents must think critically about how their children are consuming television. Are they largely involved in what and how often their children are watching, or is it more of a hands-off experience?

This is perhaps even more important to think through now that most «television» consumption consists of Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming platforms.

Making the decision to be diligent about these decisions now will improve children’s interactions with television, and prepare them to interact well with other types of media as they mature.

What is the Impact of Media on Teens?

Media often is described as harmful to teens, and while this is certainly true in some circumstances, it can be best understood as having mixed effects.

The key is to be aware of how mass media and social networking affect the brain so that you can make intentional decisions about how to use it.

Additionally, the content of media stories or social media posts can be useful and meaningful to teens. With platforms like YouTube and Instagram, they have access to people’s stories they might never have heard otherwise. In this way, teens may learn that many others are experiencing similar struggles to their own, giving courage and confidence.

However, there are significant negative effects as well.

Knowing about these potential risks of social and mass media consumption is important for both teens and their parents. In this respect, knowledge really is power, as it will enable both parties to be strategic about the role of media in their lives.

What About Video Games?

Video games are a frequent concern, particularly as technology continues to advance and gaming becomes more and more realistic. Research shows some mixed effects from video game use.

Though the problem solving and dexterity skills employed can lead to higher intelligence or better motor skills, the violent or other disturbing content in games is of high risk to well being. It’s established that seeing violence can desensitize one to its effects.

As with other types of media mentioned, it’s critical that parents exercise caution about what types of games their children play and how often they do so.

Does Mass Media Damage Health?

The proliferation of mass media and electronic devices has had profound effects on health. There are numerous physical problems which may arise from this consumption, particularly if left unchecked.

The effects of smartphones often first show up as eye strain and neck pain, the inevitable result of constant screen-time and often slumped positions while using these devices. Obesity is a risk if much time is spent in sedentary activity.

Some research shows links between mass media consumption and anxiety and depression. There can be a change in happiness, social skills, and peace of mind that is attributed to media and the internet.

It is most important to monitor your happiness and health, and correlate them with your own practices so you can make informed decisions for your or your family’s well being.

How Can You Protect Yourself and Your Family?

There are many recommendations for being wise with media consumption.

Parents must be familiar with current sites and channels, and the types of content that their children come into contact with. Ask questions and browse with your child. Set clear and appropriate ground rules for young ages, which then build a strong foundation for future responsible use.

Make sure to discuss the difference between fantasy and reality with your children. If exposed to gratuitous violence and sexuality, children and teens should know these are fantasy, and not the norm or real life. The dangers of violent and risky behavior should be a topic of conversation.

For almost any age from 1- 99, limiting media to a few hours per day is reasonable and enforceable. Discuss education, values, and the intrusion of media regularly with your family.

Conclusion

There is no definitive answer to whether mass media is «good» or «bad». Research has shown that it can have both positive and negative effects, and often these effects are dependent on how the media is being used and consumed.

The solution isn’t to totally cut yourself off from all mass media or to wholeheartedly embrace every facet of it. Rather, it must be carefully analyzed and evaluated. If you’re a parent, you need to help your children understand both the positives and negatives of things like video games, social media, and streaming television.

Unless you plan on moving to an isolated island with no internet connection, this issue isn’t going away. The best approach is to tackle it head on, rather than hoping things just work themselves out.

Many people are choosing to engage with mass communication head on with master’s degrees in mass communications. It’s with this progress we are able to understand the effects of mass media and other emerging social channels have on society currently and in the foreseeable future.

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Mass Media and Its influence on society

By M. A Mughal.

In the last five decades or so, the media and its influence on the societies, has grown exponentially with the advance of technology. Software to build websites has become a crucial point in today’s world.

First there was the telegraph and the post offices, then the radio, the newspaper, magazines, television and now the internet and the new media including palmtops, cell phones etc. There are positive and negative influences of mass media, which we must understand as a responsible person of a society.

Before discussing the influence of mass media on society it is imperative to explain the three basic functions of mass media; they are providing news/information, entertainment and education. The first and foremost function of the media in a society is to provide news and information to the masses, that is why the present era is some time termed as the information age as well.

People need news/information for various reasons, on one hand it can be used to socialize and on the other to make decisions and formulate opinions. Entertainment would be the other function of the mass media where it is mostly used by the masses to amuse them in present day hectic environment. Educating the masses about their rights, moral, social and religious obligations is another important function of mass media, which needs no emphasis.

In present era of globalization, majority of people in the society depends on information and communication to remain connected with the world and do our daily activities like work, entertainment, health care, education, socialization, travelling and anything else that we have to do.

A common urban person usually wakes up in the morning checks the tv news or newspaper, goes to work, makes a few phone calls, eats with their family or peers when possible and makes his decisions based on the information that he has either from their co workers, Tv news, friends, family, financial reports, etc. we need to be conscious of the reality that most of our decisions, beliefs and values are based on what we know for a fact, our assumptions and our own experience. In our work we usually know what we have to do, based on our experience and studies, however on our routine life and house hold chores we mostly rely on the mass media to get the current news and facts about what is important and what we should be aware of.

We have put our trust on the media as an authority to give us news, entertainment and education. However, the influence of mass media on our kids, teenagers and society is so big that we should know how it really works. The media makes billions of dollars with the advertising they sell and that we are exposed to, every single moment. We buy what we are told to buy by the media. After seeing thousands of advertising’s we make our buying decisions based on what we saw on tv, newspapers or magazines. These are the effects of mass media especially in teenagers, they buy what they see on tv, what their favorite celebrity advertise and what is acceptable by society based on the fashion that the media has imposed on them.

There are some positive and negative influences in young people of our society due to these ad campaigns in the media. Here is a positive influence example, if there is a quiz show on education that is getting a lot of attention by the media and gains popularity among your friends and society, you will more likely want to actively participate and watch these quiz shows. These activities are good for the society and will promote literary activities in the youth. However a negative influence in teenagers is the use of guns and ammunition by celebrity movie stars, the constant exposure of which would seduce the teen to replicate the same behavior in the real life.

When we watch tv or a action movie we usually see many images of violence and people hurting others. The problem with this is that it can become traumatic especially in our children as they see it more and more. Our kids that are starting to grow and are shaping their personality values and beliefs can become aggressive or they can lose a sense of distinction between reality and fiction. Another problem is that real war is used as a form of entertainment by the media, we should make our kids and teen aware that war is not a form of entertainment and that there is no win or lose like in video games, in real war everyone lose.

Teens, youngsters are in a stage of life where they want to be accepted by their peers, they want to be loved and be successful. The media creates the ideal image of beautiful men and women with all the ingredients of a successful person, you can see it in movies and tv. It’s a subliminal way to persuade the masses that if you want to be successful and look like them then you have to buy that particular brand or product. Another negative influence in teenagers, especially in the USA, that has grown over the last years is obesity. There are millions of adolescents fighting obesity, but at the same time they are exposed to thousands of advertisements of junk food, while the ideal image of a successful person is told to be thin and wealthy.

The media has a huge impact on society in shaping the public opinion of the masses. They can form or modify the public opinion in different ways depending of what is the objective. For example, Pakistani media influenced the public opinion against the Taliban in Swat by repeated telecast of a video clip showing whipping of a woman by a Taliban.

Before that the public opinion over the military action against the Taliban in Swat was divided, but repeated telecast of this short video clip changed the public opinion over night in the favor of the government to take action. Other ways to influence are with polls and trends, especially in political campaigns. The candidates that can pay for more tv and media exposure have more influence on public opinion and thus can receive more votes.

How Does the Mass Media Influence People?

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For much of modern American history, the mass media consisted of print newspapers and magazines, three TV networks and local radio stations. Today, the media includes a rapidly growing number of digital platforms. Younger consumers rely so little on traditional media for their information that rappers, singers, sports figures, bloggers and social media influencers provide countless people with their news and information.

In addition, friends, family members and coworkers sharing, re-tweeting, liking and forwarding mass-media content is another big source of news and information for consumers. Knowing how the mass media influences consumers in their buying decisions will help you choose the right media to promote your products and services.

It Provides Authority/Expertise

Consumers are more likely to try a new type of diet, vehicle (e.g., electric), supplement or widget if they get their information from an authority, rather than reading a manufacturer’s ad. This led to the rise of advertorials, which consisted of print display ads being laid out to look like magazine or newspaper articles.

Today, native advertising and sponsored content can provide a more newslike promotion of your product or service. Using the third-person voice (“they”) instead of second-person (“you”) makes your copy sound more authoritative than personal. You can quote experts to give information, increasing your stature as an expert in your space.

It Can Create Relationships

You can use the mass media to create a personal relationships with potential buyers. If you sell a food product, for example, instead of simply trying to promote your items, create a blog that provides posts on healthy lifestyles, entertaining and health. Use the second-person voice to create a more personal tone.

If you can hire a celebrity or expert spokesperson customers can relate to, you can increase brand preference and loyalty. Pitch newsworthy stories about topics related to your product (but not about your product) to mass-media outlets to see if they will cover the topic, which benefits you. You can offer to provide your expertise or someone from your company to comment on the topic. After the story runs, share it on your social media posts.

It Can Educate

Take advantage of the fact that consumers want news and look to the mass media for information. Find news articles, blog posts, tweets, videos and other content created by news and information outlets that support your promise of a benefit. Add links to these pieces of content on your website, re-tweet them and share them on your social media outlets. This is known as curating content – providing information to your target audience using others’ work.

For example, if you sell omega-3 tablets, you would share articles that discuss research showing that eating foods with this nutrient can decrease inflammation. You can write a one- or two-sentence description of the content that makes your readers want to read on. Use a catchy headline.

It Can Start Trends

Some influencers are more affordable than others. While celebs like Kim Kardashian can get ​$500,000​ for a single post, other influencers will promote your product for about ​$10​ for every 1,000 followers they have, according to Petal. While you might not be able to start trends, talk to your entire staff (even those not in sales and marketing) to keep up to date on new trends you can ride along with to promote your business.

Steve Milano is a journalist and business executive/consultant. He has helped dozens of for-profit companies and nonprofits with their marketing and operations. Steve has written more than 8,000 articles during his career, focusing on small business, careers, personal finance and health and fitness. Steve also turned his tennis hobby into a career, coaching, writing, running nonprofits and conducting workshops around the globe.

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How Mass Media Influence Our Society

RJ Training And Podcasting Workshop Season 9

The mass media have become an inseparable part of society and the lives of citizens and that’s why it is necessary to understand the mass media influence on people. From economy to entertainment and from politics to beauty, everything is now influenced by mass media.

What is Mass Media Influence?

As per the media psychology, the effect of mass media on the actions, manner, and contemplations of individuals and audiences is called mass media influence. This influence can be negative or positive.

The negative effects of mass media on society can lead people towards poverty, crime, nudity, violence, bad mental and physical health disorders and others as such severe outcomes. For example, mob hitting innocents by getting carried away from the rumors spread on the internet has been common. These unauthorized news headlines are the biggest example of the negative impact of mass media on society. Furthermore, the cases of children killing innocents by acquiring weapons are considered as one of the major negative effects of mass media on the children as they usually get carried away by provoking news stories, action movies, and games.

Does it mean the Mass Media only Influence Audiences Negatively?

No, there are also situations where positivity is the result of mass media influence. For example, the people helping each other in the situations of natural disasters encourage humanity and empathy in children and adults, so more volunteers come forward to help the needy ones. Also, the quiz-based games, educational news broadcast and similar programs emphasize the positive effects of mass media which increase literacy in the audiences. Also, one of the positive impacts of mass media on society is their right to information. Today’s generation is much more educated and aware of their rights and that helps them gain various personal and professional benefits.

People usually come across different pieces of information via direct or indirect sources, but in any case, the mass media influence is clearly visible in society. From educated to illiterate people are part of this wave and that’s why the responsibilities of the media people and controlling authorities increase. They have to be more careful about the timing and approach of conveying news. The positive or negative effects of mass media can be really crucial in some cases. This is one of the major reasons citizens face situations of news broadcast and internet service ban during some sensitive situations in the city or state.

Being a responsible citizen, make sure you cross verify any news coming across you before spreading that to others as it can create a serious impact on society.