Misguided social media!

PAKISTAN SINCE the last couple of years has started letting in the developments taking place in the field of world of information technology and telecom sector. The world, earlier made accessible at the PCs some years back, was then in the reach at laptops while on the go and now mans dream of having the whole world in his hands has come true in the shape of fully equipped mobile phone especially having Internet service and one staying connected with those living even on the other side of the globe. Now the emergence of social media especially in Pakistan has gravely changed the parameters of spread of information and the mechanism as well to grasp the public opinion on certain issues. Though the social media allows everybody to give his/her input on the issues that emerge on daily basis, yet it has quietly cost heavily the authenticity of information. The print media, which, before the emergence of social media, had the privilege to disseminate information before covering the verification stage, has now got negatively impacted. There is not any iota of doubt that the success of any system depends mainly on the fact that how much the people have vision and awareness to get effectively adjusted with it. However, regrettably this has not happened in the case of social media in Pakistan. Certain groups, while operating from behind the curtain, have a central role to play in giving a certain direction to the public opinion. This trend, of course, stimulates the grave concern about the society that might be misled on most of the issues as majority of the members of the social media, who hardly verify the information being given to them, start commenting on the issues in question, thus exposing themselves to the forces involved. This negative situation gives birth to the notion that information technology is not a bad development. In fact it is the usage of ITCs that really matters. According to an international report, in Pakistan, having about 118 million population, the number of cell phone users have crossed the figure of 118 million, while the positive usage of cell phone is witnessed normally in business and literate circles segments of the society. Like education is must before opting for democracy in a society, certain level of public awareness is a must too before joining the social media. The relevant authorities must have been drafted some codes of conduct before letting the social media creep into the country. At the same time, it can deliver a lot, if the government comes up with the constitution of an effective committee in consultation with all the stakeholders to monitor the information being released through social media.