Social Media vs Traditional Media: Difference and Comparison

In today’s world, when people are more in favour of talking to each other in messages rather than face to face. It just shows how people have changed, how this modern invention of Social Media has changed how the world is seen.

Traditional Media and Social Media follow the same concept of disposing of information and data, but their ways of fulfilling this purpose are opposite to each other. Each one has its pros and cons, and it depends from person to person on which form they are more comfortable in.

Key Takeaways

1. Social media refers to online platforms that allow users to create and share content. In contrast, traditional media refers to more traditional forms of mass communication, such as television, radio, and print.
2. Social media is more interactive and allows for more personalized content, while traditional media reaches a broader audience.
3. Social and traditional media can be used for marketing and advertising, but they have different strengths and weaknesses.

Social Media vs Traditional Media 

Social media are online platforms where users can interact with each other. People can also share different types of content on social media. Billions of people are using social media for educational, entertainment, marketing and many other purposes. Television and radio are traditional media. The content published on traditional media is irreversible. 

Social Media is a place that can be used not only for news-related topics but for sharing of a person’s life, promotion of brands, and overall, people who want to stay connected indifferent of their place of the area around the world.

Traditional Media mainly consists of four main components: Television, Radio, Newspapers, and Magazines. Before the invention of social media in the 21st century, it was the main thing used to distribute information and data to people.

Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	Social Media	Traditional Media
Another name	Social network, Social platform	Old Media
Reversibility	Easily reversible. The publisher can edit or delete the post.	Almost non-reversible. Once a piece of information is published or on-air, it is hard t rewind.
Main focus	Social Media’s main focus is to unite friends, family, and other people of the world.	Traditional Media’s main focus is to publish news and entertainment.
Communication system	Both the parties, that is, the publisher d the reader, can react.	In Traditional Media, only the only publisher, that is, the editors, is in charge of the information.
Time consumed	Almost instant and quite fast in comparison to Traditional Media.	It takes a longer period amount of time to publish information.
Examples	Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.	Television, Radio, Newspapers, etc.

What is Social Media?

The great thing about social media was how it gave a voice to voiceless people.” This a quote by a famous journalist Jon Ronson and it perfectly describes the use of Social Media and its need in today’s world.

Social Media can be described as a way to express information about various topics.

The concept of “posts” is used in most Social Media like Instagram or Facebook. This is the main way to share information on these Social Media networks. Other sites like YouTube do not have this feature but are around creating and posting videos.

Because of Social Media, not only an individual get informed but can communicate as well.

They can connect to friends, relatives, and families over popular Social Media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many more. This is the biggest advantage that Social Media has over Traditional Media.

What is Traditional Media?

Traditional Media is the oldest form of communication. The main components of it are Newspapers, Magazines, TV, and Radio. Now, it has added more forms to this network of four, including Blogs and digital newspapers that are used to keep people up to date.

Marketers and many big businesses use Traditional Media to advertise their services and products to the general public. These efforts are expensive, especially in comparison to Social Media. But they are quite useful as well.

Social Media has become habitual nowadays, and people are quite active on it.

But still, there are certain places, small villages, and islands, whether they be in a small country or a bigger one, where people do not have access to these Social Media sites. Thus, they are dependent on Traditional Media, especially Television and Newspapers, to reach for information.

Main Differences Between Social Media and Traditional Media 

1. The power to write and publish information on any Traditional Media form is with the editor of that particular Media. In comparison, anybody can share any information on their page on any Social Media outlet.
2. The time needed to produce Social Media information is comparatively much shorter than on Traditional Media. The fastest form of Traditional Media can be newspapers and their own blogs, and it takes at least a day or a few hours to publish. While on Social Media, the data can be shared anytime.
3. Social Media has the option of people performing different tasks on it, for example, liking and sharing images and other personal information, etc. On the other hand, Traditional Media do not have any of these things but only authorized information.
4. People can edit or delete the post(s) sharing their information, image, or video that they have made on their account on Social Media. This is not possible during the process of publishing in Traditional Media. Once a piece of information is placed, it is impossible, and if possible, it is quite hard to change the existing information.
5. Traditional Media is about reaching people out there. In comparison, An account on Social Media needs to have engagement with people. Activities like Reactions and interactions are mostly needed in Social Media.

References

1. https://books.google.co.in/books?id=2iVFDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=social+and+traditional+media&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj71PKtzMfwAhVmqksFHQ8gARY4ChDoATAGegQIChAD#v=onepage&q=social%20and%20traditional%20media&f=false
2. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002716215570549