Media Sosialita: A Book That Helps You Navigate Today's Social Media
Jakarta. The internet and social media affect every aspect of our lives and transform them into something new, previously unimaginable.
Before, we would find it difficult to keep in touch with former schoolmates living in different cities. But now, we can easily keep track of friends and family members scattered around the world.
The internet and social media also make it easier for retailers to promote and sell their products to a much wider market and at lower costs.
But that there are negative sides too.
Libel can now spread not only among circles of friends, but also across the whole city or country.
People also buy more and follow social media trends to keep up with the Joneses.
Model and TV presenter Nadia Mulya and freelance writer Joy Roesma recently released a book titled "Media Sosialita" ("Socialites' Media") that discusses the phenomenon.
"It's a concise yet insightful book that includes much information and many different perspectives from social media users," Nadia said during the book launch at Senayan City, Jakarta, on April 19.
The book is the fourth co-authored by Nadia and Joy, who also wrote "Kocok! The Untold Stories of Arisan Ladies and Socialites" (2013), "Moms and the City" (2014) and "Foodie and the City" (2015).
"It took over one year to write this one, much longer than our previous books. We did an extensive research on social media and interviewed a lot of experts in order to present a book that is resourceful and informative," Joy said.
Joy, who graduated in communications from Emerson College in Boston, worked as an editor for a renowned women's magazine in Indonesia for seven years, before she decided to become a freelancer in 2009.
The paperback, 372-paged book is divided into eight chapters. Each contains illustrations by renowned illustrator Muhammad "eMTe" Taufik.
The first chapter, titled 'The Unstoppable Social Media," speaks about the evolution of the internet and social media from the late 1990s until now.
This chapter also features interviews with digital marketing experts Nukman Luthfie and Abang Edwin Syarif Agustin.
The second chapter, titled "The Social of Social Media," reveals six different types of social media users and their eccentricities.
"We can easily recognize our friends and ourselves in this chapter," Nadia said laughing.
The third chapter is perhaps the juiciest one. Titled "Swipe Right," it reveals love stories and scandals triggered by social media.
"We had to be really careful while writing this chapter, as it includes real stories of real people," the model and TV presenter said.
The fourth chapter will be very useful for parents. Titled "Parenting Kids Jaman Now" ("Parenting Today's Kids"), it reveals real struggles of today's parents in controlling the use internet by their children.
"It's a dilemma," Nadia, the mother of three, said.
"We, of course, want our kids to be digital-savvy. But at the same time, we don't want them to get the negative influences of social media."
Tips from psychologist Roslina Verauli included in the book may help you to raise your kids safely in the digital era.
Another interesting chapter, the fifth one, is titled "So You Want to Be the Next Selebgram."
"So many young people these days aspire to be the celebgrams, which is seen as a perfect gateway to leading a relaxed, luxurious lifestyle," Nadia said.
This chapter reveals exorbitant endorsement fees of some of the most famous celebgrams in Indonesia, including Nagita Slavina, Olla Ramlan and Ayu Ting Ting.
It also features interviews with fashion blogger Ayla Dimitri and late Oka Mahendra Putra, ex-boyfriend of controversial youtuber Awkarin and founder of talent management company Takis Entertainment.
Chapter seven is very important. Titled "The Twisted Side of Social Media," it discusses hoax news and hate speech.
"This chapter was written during [Jakarta's] gubernatorial election [in 2017]. During that time, hate speech and hoaxes really thrived on social media. This situation could repeat itself now that we are approaching the 2019 presidential election," Nadia said.
This chapter also shares tips on how to report and fight hoax or hate speech, and prevent your accounts from getting hacked.
The book ends with "E-Commerce."
"In this chapter, we've formulated for you several useful strategies to set up a sustainable online shop," Joy said.
According to the authors, the target readers are women between 25 and 45 years old.
"We really hope our readers will become clever and classy users of social media that will have a positive impact on their societies," Joy said.
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