Social media has become one of the most powerful tools in our society. From influencers to corporations, everyone uses social media to spread their message. How can this powerful tool affect the real world? Well, Philip Michael sat down with Sinan Aral, author of “The Hype Machine,” to discuss how social media creates change and how you can be one step ahead of the machine. A little fun fact: Aral made points in his book that forecasted the GameStop situation way before anyone else saw it coming! Isn’t that crazy?
How an expert reacted to the GameStop situation
For those who may not know what happened, many people on Reddit and other social platforms were trying to stick it to the big Wall Street guys and say, “We are going to take over the stock market,” and a lot of them saw a massive gain. This situation revealed instability and vulnerability in our economy.
“It is a show of the power of the crowd through social media to move real-world outcomes in very dramatic ways,” Aral said. Social media’s power and how these “bro investors” handled the stock market situation made people realize how online communication can destabilize the real world.
Another time when social media influenced the real world
Before the Capitol riots, Aral predicted in September that if the election outcome was disputed, it could lead to violence in the real world. Social media makes it easy to collaborate and make violent plans. Also, it has become a hub with a lot of misinformation. Fake news travels much faster than the truth. This type of event will continue to happen if we can’t see the difference between disillusionment and reality.
