Manmaya Chaudhari of Sundarharaincha Municipality ward no. 7 Gothgaon, Morang is now very busy in selling bhakka, a steamed dish made of rice flour dough. She starts selling bhakka at a crossroad from 4:30 am and sells nearly 200 bhakkas by 8:00 am. She charges 20 rupees per plate.
It has been three years since Manmaya started selling bhakka. But her business took off only three months ago. According to Manmaya, three months ago, a group of students who came from Pokhara on an excursion, posted a short video on her bhakka on Facebook, appreciating the taste of the local dish. The video became viral. It received huge positive comments in a short time. People started thronging her eatery. Soon, Manmaya found herself busy as the sale of the dish soared.
A similar incident happened with Balram Karki, a local of Sundarharaincha, who sells tea. A video posted on TikTok about Karki’s art of making tea and its taste of tea spread like a wildfire. This led to increased number of customers to his small tea shop.
Sitaram Koirala and his family leased a piece of land in Itahari, Sunsari and started cultivating commercial flowers. The Koirala family did not have to wait that long for the flowers to bloom and spread happiness. There were enough customers who visited his garden and bought flowers. His floriculture became known to the local people as some his neighbors made a video of his garden and posted on Facebook and Tiktok.
These are just a few examples of how social media influence the promotion of products. Along with the emergence of technology, it has revolutionized the social life of people across the globe. The technological innovations have directly affected human life. Social networks are new means of mass communication. Social media have become handy in sharing news, views, experiences and life style digitally mostly through hand-held devices and computers through internet. Website has become a means of direct communication and information exchange through the internet. It is called a social network because it is a communication channel for sharing community-based contents. It is a collective form of online channels for exchanging information. Facebook, Twitter, Skype are some social networks.
With the expansion and development in mobile technology, the number of users connected to these social networks is increasing day by day. The use of social networks and the interconnection of mobile phones can also be seen in regard with the impact on the economy. According to an Economic Report 2023, mobile technology has contributed $5.2 trillion to the world economy. This is five percent of the world’s total gross domestic product (GDP). It is mentioned in the report that this technology has also contributed about five percent to the GDP of the Asia region. The report further says that by the end of this decade, it will contribute 1 trillion dollars to Asia’s GDP. If mobile technology can be made more effective, Nepal can also gain benefits.
Such social networks, which build society virtually and provide space for sufficient interaction, have had a direct and positive impact on content expansion, information exchange, advertising, and commercialization. Their use has given more benefits to the lower-class businessmen who cannot invest in advertising. Similarly, such networks have also helped in the marketing and trade of local bazaars and goods that have not been widely publicized despite being in operation for a long time. There is no doubt that if the social network can be operated effectively, relative benefits can be achieved. – Bimochan Gautam
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