Social media and major challenges
Statistics show that today , around 4.1 billion people globally use social media platforms with different applications and platforms in multiple languages , more than half of the world's population .
The use of social media to communicate social and behavioural change is a natural and necessary next step in addressing major challenges , including the crisis caused by the covid - 19 outbreak . Such means have obvious potential .
But can these social media campaigns for these issues resonate amid the clamour of many other messages ? And if it can , how is our online life translated into real behaviors ? How can we measure the effectiveness and real impact of social media campaigns ?
We have been discussing , designing and reflecting on these issues for some time now. During discussions on the use of entertainment to achieve the SDGs and the use of social media to change norms and behaviors on a large scale , we brought together researchers , social media , educational entertainment industry leaders , policy makers from different sectors , donors and partners involved in the implementation and design of these campaigns .
These discussions aim to chart a path leading to increased use of social media for large-scale change towards the achievement of development goals .
What have we learned so far ? Among the basic lessons :
That social media education and entertainment can reduce the obstacles and barriers that stand in the way of individual action . For example , recent research shows that an indirect and limited social media campaign produced by the Indian Population Foundation and broadcast via Facebook Messenger has been influential in encouraging online information-seeking behaviors and reshaping social media users ' attitudes toward gender equality .
Provide social media targeting capabilities that allow the identification of potential beneficiaries or the public at a more granular level. This allows for the design of media campaigns taking into account the richness in the diversity of individual characteristics of users , thereby giving them strength and effectiveness . For example , the World Bank has partnered with a company Quilt . AI India to launch campaign to encourage parents to participate in child nutrition by building on the diversity of parents ' specifications as determined by online behaviors
Social media is inherently dependent on specific human communities .
This increases confidence in messages that come from messenger apps where they are part of the community , and helps to spread the mechanisms better and more widely , that is , people respond more to messages that are re-transmitted through relatives and friends . For example , users of an online platform designed to allow Turkish and Greek Cypriots to discuss and solve societal problems between them , reported a higher level of trust on the other side than non-users of the platform , who are motivated by identity and empathy generated through frequent interaction .
Social media campaigns can encourage the download and sustainable use of development applications , complementing actual interventions . For example , as part of a wider social awareness campaign supported by a World Bank Education Project , we are currently testing the effectiveness of an e-library and Games app designed for low literacy populations in northern Nigeria . Individual guidance from the machine trainer , which costs nothing and does not require social interaction , can be complementary to development interventions that require direct face-to-face interaction , for example vocational training .
Social media provides a unique opportunity to carry out Assessment Research in an interactive way that can guide the design of media campaigns for social and behavioural change as well as broader policies in a short period of time . It allows us not only to simultaneously test several campaigns targeting different subgroups in many locations at low cost , but also to adapt these campaigns and distribution strategies in order to improve their effectiveness .
The use of social media holds much promise , and much can be learned from it for Development Goals .
We have finally begun to apply these lessons to information about the coronavirus pandemic , as well as access to and use of the vaccine . In partnership with behavioral sciences and impact assessment , as well as with researchers , professionals , and social media experts , we can maximize the effectiveness and inclusiveness of these initiatives and better anticipate their impact .
Much remains to be done to reach people on the ground , and we need more ambitious public-private partnerships to target the entire infrastructure , particularly in low-income environments .
This task rests with all of us , from the World Bank to donors , to private sector partners , national governments and actors . The call to expand innovations and challenges in development investments to address today & apos ; s and tomorrow & apos ; s crises is a tremendous stimulus .