The Importance Of Social Conformity

Over the past 10-20 years, social media has become a very popular source of communication worldwide. Due to its wide range of consumers, its ability to communicate information to our community has become an easy task. Social media comes in different forms such as blogs, video apps, tweeting, and picture apps. Due to everyone receiving the same information from their source of media it is likely that many people are influenced by the information. Some people may take the information seen and either agree, oppose, or at times even allow this information to change them. Once someone allows themselves to change in order to relate to the information they have receive for the sake of others, this becomes a social norm (Gavrilets, Richerson). The

Social media has created a comfortable space for individuals to feel more confident about themselves because the media contains individuals who are willing to support them. “Dissenters, on the other hand, are denounced so they clam up for fear of being ostracized (Tobak)” therefore they do not speak and this leads to what is called the “spiral of silence” (Hiebert and Tobak). The spiral of silence is when individuals chooses to remain silent when they feel their idea is opposing a majority group (Hiebert). Individuals usually have a hard time sharing their opinion when they know it is not perceived as a popular opinion by others; therefore, they avoid revoking ideas that the majority is supporting on the media (Tobak). The more that nonconformists are punished for sharing their unpopular ideas, the more likely that the spiral of silence is to increase. Unfortunately, those who are afraid to speak out are forced to conform because conformities reward the act of support to the popular idea (Gavrilets, Richerson). As users are drawn to conform to popular ideas, they risk the act of new ideas being introduced to the media environment