Social media and the age of criticism

In the last decade or so, social media has gradually undertaken a more and more prominent role in our stratosphere. It brings with it many positives; among which include a mobilization of information for the main-stream and a concise and simple way to appeal to a generation with sharply declining attention span. However many would also argue that the pitfalls are far more worrying. The phenomenon of fake news would never have been possible without the existence of social media. It’s also fair to say that freedom of speech has gained a brand new paradigm under social media. Because on social media everyone has an opinion. Whether that opinion holds any weight hardly matters, it could be written by a politician, a celebrity or simply a teenager with too much time on his hands. If that opinion gets enough retweets, likes or shares – our modern-day instruments of endorsement – then that opinion reaches the masses.

What’s particularly alarming though is the power these opinions have come to possess through social media. American president Donald Trump has continually used Twitter as his mouth-piece. Through it he has communicated everything from his foreign policy to his domestic policy objectives and for many Americans it remains the prime method of communicating with their President.

Coke Studio has gone down-hill this season

Criticism has also grown more wide-spread than ever through social media. Companies ensure to respond to the customer complaints as promptly as possible because they are fully aware of the possibly irreparable damage that negative word-of-mouth could bring to their business.  Most recently, Coke Studio’s rendition of Ko Ko Korina, a song that is considered by many as a classic received wide-spread hate and criticism on social media, most of which was directed towards singers Momina Mustehsan and Ahad Raza Mir. And while the criticism itself is understandable the magnitude of it felt excessive.

Social media also has this terrible habit of turning things into a circus. As certain things or trends start gaining more attention, well-known people start joining in the conversation which itself gives seemingly irrelevant things an unprecedented level of traction that they often do not even deserve.  Pakistan’s Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari for instance brought even more traction to this whole Coke Studio issue; first through her scathing criticism of the new song and then subsequently through the war of words or rather the war of tweets that erupted between her and Momina Mustensen.

All this ofcourse is neither to criticize Shireen Mazari nor Momina Mustehsen but rather the platform that enables them to act like children. People are obviously free to share their opinions, as hateful as they may be and will continue doing so. But is it not even a little bit scary to think that a single message written in 280 characters or less possesses the ability to destroy a career and a livelihood that took years to cultivate?

Written by: Rafia Shakir