“ماهیتابه های سرخ شده”

Fried fish fillets
Amir Razaqi

Every social relationship between humans forms a social knot, and these social knots create social networks. Social networks can be seen as a social structure that is formed by individual or organizational knots and connected by one or more specific types of dependencies. Examples of these specific types of relationships include friendships, financial connections, family relationships, etc. In fact, in our social networks, we encounter individuals or organizations and the type of relationship and connection between them.

Social networks have existed since the beginning of human creation, but we witnessed the virtual form of it with the expansion of the internet in the early 21st century. Virtual social networks, like real social networks, are formed from human society and relationships between them, and are categorized into various types such as private, public, recreational, specialized, etc.

Individuals who form social networks have personal attitudes, opinions, and beliefs. Public opinion is formed by the collective attitudes, opinions, and beliefs of individuals who are engaged in social interaction and communication. In other words, as long as members of a society do not have social relationships with each other, even if their opinions and attitudes are similar, there can be no existence for public opinion. Therefore, public opinion can be seen as the result of social interaction and communication between society and the transmission of opinions, beliefs, and so on through writing, seeing, or face-to-face interaction.

Social networks have given a new form and role to the field and space of social interactions and interpersonal actions, and have become a suitable platform for the formation of public thoughts.

Today, in Iran, we are witnessing a remarkable increase in educated women and men. The explosion of information and widespread access to news and information in the 21st century has prevented society’s access to traditional and government media from being limited. With the rise in knowledge and easy access to news and information, society has undergone changes within itself and its perspective on many issues is changing. Social networks (both real and virtual) play a crucial role in this change and have led to organization, social influence, and the emergence and spread of public opinion. The rapid flow of information on social networks has posed a serious challenge to the control of governments and authorities over news, information, and social relationships. On social networks, news, images, and videos are shared without censorship and at a rapid pace, making these media networks superior to traditional and government media.

In a place where governments and authorities impose restrictions on society or a certain class or group within society, social networks quickly become a space for expanding social relationships outside of government control and surveillance, and for people’s protests. This has led to a change in the absolute control and governance of governments and authorities over citizens, and in some cases, weakening it.

Social networks can have positive or negative roles and impacts in every society and public opinion. In their positive aspect, social networks can lead to organization, expansion, and development of social participation, rapid dissemination of news and information, strengthening of collective wisdom, free expression of ideas, and familiarity with the thoughts and tastes of others. They can also contribute to the formation of public opinion and its alignment towards confirming or rejecting social phenomena or issues that have caused problems and challenges for the society, affecting all those who share common interests and concerns. However, the negative aspect of social networks is that they can serve as a platform for spreading rumors and false news, and individuals and groups can inject and highlight messages and news in the society and virtual space in a way that influences public opinion towards their own interests and goals, without considering the public interest. In fact, this manipulation of public opinion does not serve the common interests and is aimed at deceiving the public.

What is certain is that social networks play a significant role in today’s societies and have a great impact on shaping public opinion.