What is the Difference Between Mass Media and Social Media

The main difference between mass media and social media is that in mass media, the general public is the audience, whereas, in social media, the public can be both the audience and content creators.

Mass media refers to media technologies that reach a mass audience while social media refer to computer-based technology that enables users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.

Key Areas Covered

1. What is Mass Media
– Definition, Features, Uses
2. What is Social Media
– Definition, Features, Uses
3. What is the Difference Between Mass Media and Social Media
– Comparison of Key Differences

Key Terms

Mass Media, Social Medi

What is Mass Media

Mass media refers to media technologies that reach a mass audience. It is the way of communication to reach the vast majority of the general public. They relay information regarding social issues, political issues, entertainment, and other current issues to the general public. Mass media typically involve platforms like radio, television, newspapers, and magazines. We can mainly divide mass media into print media and broadcast media. Print media includes newspapers and magazines while broadcast media includes radio, television, films, etc. At present, we also consider the internet and digital media as a part of mass media. But in this article, we will only look at broadcast media and print media since we are discussing mass media vs social media.

Mass media, specifically, traditional media offers only one-way communication; the audience receive messages through the media, but the media do not get direct feedback. When you use print media and broadcast media for promoting your products and services, sales methods include print advertisements, direct mail advertisements, television advertisements, radio advertisements, banner advertisements, door to door sales, billboards, etc. For many years, various companies have used these methods, with very effective results. Even today, marketing methods like television advertisements and print advertisements result in very successful sales. Although the use of traditional media for marketing has begun to see a slight decline with the arrival of digital media companies still spend billions of dollars on promoting their products through traditional media.

Social media refer to computer-based technology that enables users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. Many people use social media to keep in contact with friends and family, and some use it to communicate and interact with different communities. When we usually hear the word social media, we only think of social platforms like Facebook and Twitter. However, social media includes various categories like media sharing networks (Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube etc.) discussion forums (Quora, Reddit), bookmarking and content curation networks like Flipboard and Pinterest, as well as blogging and publishing networks like Tumblr and WordPress. These platforms give us the opportunity to share our thoughts, opinions, photos, and videos in real-time.

Social media is also used by businesses as a way to market and promote their products. This is called social media marketing. Social media marketing helps businesses to build awareness of their brand, increase sales and help with website traffic. When using social media for marketing products, marketers have the ability to know the thoughts and opinions of the audience and receive their feedback instantly. Moreover, there are many tools to measure the effectiveness of social media marketing campaigns.

Definition

Examples

Mass media mainly involves print media (newspapers and magazines) and broadcast media (television and radio) while social media platforms include different types of platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Wikipedia, and Pinterest.

Role

In mass media, the public is the audience, while in social media, the public can be both content creators and the audience.

Nature of Communication

While mass media offers one-way communication, social media offers two-way communication. This is because the audience has an opportunity to voice their opinions on social media.

Reach

Mass media still has a higher reach than social media as it is able to penetrate remote areas of the world. But this situation may change in the near future as the internet and social media gain more momentum.

Reference:

1. “Mass Media.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Apr. 2021, Available here.
2. “10 Types of Social Media and How Each Can Benefit Your Business.” Hootsuite Social Media Management, 1 Nov. 2019, Available here.