Technology

What is Mass media? How does it differ from social media?

What is mass media? Mass media is a term describing communication outlets such as radio, television, press, and the internet. Among these, the internet is a crucial platform for mass media to disseminate information, shape public opinion, and influence social norms.

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19 January, 2024

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Mass media is an important part of marketing. So what exactly is mass media? What are the benefits and functions of mass media? Is it related to social media? Read on to find out.

What is Mass Media?

Mass media is the activity of transmitting information to potential customers through various media channels.

Mass media addresses the concerns of target consumers. It is a one-way communication in which media companies operate based on specific goals such as service, commerce, or politics,…

Some popular mass media channels include:

Newspapers, magazines.
Movies.
Television.
Radio.
Advertising.
Internet.
Various types of discs and audio,…

What is Mass Communication?

Mass communication is the field that teaches students how to convey information through films, images, videos, and press to various audiences through media channels.

The field of mass communication has many areas today, with the most popular being journalism, broadcasting, television, and the internet. Students majoring in mass communication have the opportunity to access various media, participate in communication courses, and gain practical experience.

In addition, they are equipped with knowledge and skills to analyze and evaluate information from programs, events, practice planning skills, develop mass communication strategies, organize events, create mass communication products,…

Functions of Mass Media

After understanding what mass media is, you should know the main functions of this information transmission activity.

Information Function

Mass media functions to receive the latest information, news, and events in social life and disseminate them to the public.

In addition, mass media also reflect and provide information on various aspects of life, both domestic and international, politics, parties, and laws. People respond to the information or send requests to the relevant authorities through mass media channels.

Direction Function

Mass media has the ability to guide public opinion. This function conveys knowledge to people and helps them evaluate and organize information to make the most appropriate decisions.

The process of mass media communication will shape society’s awareness of certain issues and events. Moreover, mass media also helps form public opinion quickly and effectively.

Social Organization and Management Function

Another feature of mass media is social organization and management. This is an important function as it decides the progress or limitations of the media system, ensuring the reasonable and positive development of the whole society.

Mass media is an intermediary tool that allows people to participate in discussions on social, legal, and governmental issues in the simplest and most objective way.

Monitoring and Criticism Function

Monitoring and criticism are also important functions of mass media. This is reflected in monitoring, criticizing the activities of state agencies, as well as detecting, warning violations of regulations.

In addition, mass media also functions to connect forces and criticize limitations in politics and society.

Differences Between Mass Media and Social Media

Definition of Social Media

Alongside mass media, do you know what social media is? Social media is part of the social network. It is where people can communicate with each other, exchange ideas, information, images, emotions,…

Thanks to the strong interaction ability of social media, it has become an effective choice for online marketing. The popular social media channels used today are Facebook, Zalo, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter,…

Similarities

Mass media and social media are two different concepts. However, there are still some similarities:

Mass media and social media are both means of delivering information to the public.
Both types of media have the ability to influence and shape public opinion in a powerful way.
Both have the ability to access a large number of users and spread information quickly.
Both types of media are used to promote and market products, services, and ideas.

Differences

Scale:

Social media is an online platform that allows people to create and share content.
Mass media is traditional media mainly operated and controlled by large companies that often have national or global influence.

Interactivity:

Social media allows users to interact with each other through discussion, commenting, and sharing of content, opinions, personal images, and emotions. This increases the level of interaction for brands and contributes to the strong development of online marketing.
On the other hand, mass media often does not allow direct interaction between listeners and information sharers. Therefore, updating the latest trends and actively and modernly conveying information is not as common as social media.

Appearance frequency:

Mass media has a fixed broadcasting schedule.
Social media is flexible and allows users to create and share content anytime.

Reliability:

Mass media requires a meticulous review process to ensure the complete reliability and accuracy of information.
Social media reflects personal opinions, is often not reviewed, and may contain misleading or inaccurate information.

Target audience:

Mass media tends to target a larger audience.
Social media allows community groups to create and share information with people who have similar interests and opinions.

Forms of Media:

Mass media has traditional forms of media such as press, television, radio.
Social media includes online platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube,…

Interaction process:

Mass media is a one-way source of information.
Social media creates a two-way interaction between the sender and the recipient. The recipients can interact and respond to the transmitted information.

Personalization:

Mass media has low personalization and targets specific groups of people.
Social media has higher personalization because it distributes information based on gender, age, preferences,…

Relationship Between Mass Media and Social Media

Although mass media and social media have many differences, creating a successful campaign requires appropriate combination. This helps create harmony and balance between published information sources. Furthermore, with the future development of media, mass media needs to improve and create more multidimensional interactions.

Social media provides information, content at a personal level. Meanwhile, mass media provides the latest information, large-scale and high-quality programs.