KUWAIT: Recently, a well-known coffeehouse in Kuwait launched a new menu item for summer, creating a social media advertising campaign about it, specifically on TikTok, one of the most popular platforms in Kuwait.

This advertising campaign succeeded to the point that the coffeeshop set aside the item's ingredients to cover demand for a month, but they ran out in only four days at all of their branches, a manager told Kuwait Times. This proves the power of social media in affecting people's behaviours, including purchasing decisions, changing their daily routine or lifestyle, or even getting a new perspective of their lives.

Kuwait Times asked people about their point of view of the power of social media on their lives, and what are the things social media made them change, for better or worse.

Lubna Hayek, 35, said she used to read books whenever she had the time, but after a while, she noticed herself spending more time taking pictures of what she was reading and creating videos about her books to show off. "I realised that when I was searching for book reviews on Instagram, the platform's algorithm subconsciously urged me to focus on creating videos and taking pictures like other users," she said.

She believes the algorithm started to show twisted results, stressing she stopped once she realised this.

Abdullah Mousa, 24, said the social media effect depends on people's self-control and not the opposite, pointing out that despite the power of social media platforms on people's decisions, people have to be aware of not only its effect on them, but also on directing people's minds toward issues and causes that they don't accept, such as choosing one's identity that is popular now, especially amongst the new generation. He added social media has helped people improve their lives and pushed them to adopt new lifestyles due to what they see on other people's accounts.

Meanwhile, respondents told Kuwait Times how social media helped them take decisions they never took before, as the diversity of global experiences that exists on social media played an important role.

Zainab Saeedi, 43, who suffered from obesity almost her entire life, said she had tried several traditional means that people in her area use to lose weight. After social media started to play an essential role in people's lives, she started to follow foreign accounts that spoke about losing weight, where she learned new techniques and finally succeeded in losing almost 30 kilos.

A recent report by a business incubator said the impact of social media platforms is evident through the fact that more than 59% of the world's population uses social media. This means social media is changing lives and transforming how people interact with their family, friends, community and businesses. The report also showed there are approximately 4.74 billion active social media users globally, with about 59.3% of the world's population using at least one social media platform. Also, the influencer marketing sector is expected to grow to US$17.4bil in 2023.

 - TNS