Social media is the largest department in Opus Communication catering clients from all platforms around the world. Opus has kept several businesses and campaigns alive through social media services. We have served the clients from Food industry to Fashion, Housing, Institution, Entertainment, Brands to Corporate industries. You name it and we have done it.
Social Media is not limited to only these mentioned classifications now.Access to and utilization of social media has increased tremendously in the past decade, and its influence in our daily lives has also affected politics in our nation. The Internet and social media are fingered in almost all major events of the world.
People in both democracies and authoritarian regimes spend growing proportions of their lives on social media. YouTube receives four billion views a day, Twitter has 140 million users while its Chinese equivalent, SinaWeibo, has 368 million users and Facebook has 600 million users.
These platforms reshape the context in which growing numbers of people decide whether or not to participate politically and change the cost-benefit equation of participation. They were mostly developed for social use, but they all have the potential to host a wide range of political activities, such as receiving and sharing news, information and views; expressing opinions; discussing issues; coordinating activities; and matching individuals across political, geographical and economic boundaries.
Pakistan social media space is abuzz and we have seen its role in the protest march labeled as ‘Azadi March’ led by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).There were mixed reactions but an obvious tilt was in favour of the march.
This phenomenon is not restricted to any specific region but has been present in every other political movement, such as the Arab Spring, the Occupy movement and the protests in Turkey. This evolution and immersion of technology into the political process is not by design but rather, a side effect of the tools available to individuals combined with their political interest.
In addition to general social media sites, there are now a huge range of Internet-based platforms dedicated to political activity, which may be regarded as social media in that they allow users to generate content through some kind of participatory act. Civic activism groups such as Avaaz and MoveOn operate sites where users can contribute a range of micro-donations of political resources quickly and easily, such as joining an email campaign or online protest, signing a petition or contributing money. Also worthy of note are the growing number of electronic petition sites operated by both governments and non-governmental organizations.
Using social media to understand political participation in social media as well as being a major sphere of political participation, social media provide a new way to research and understand it. Every participatory act, however small, carried out in social media leaves a digital imprint.
Social media extend the range of participatory acts open to citizens. The result can be unpredictable leaderless mobilizations involving massive numbers of small donations of time and effort. We have entered a new era of politics.