A Dynamic Longitudinal Examination Of Social Media Use

Social media is described, by the Merriam-Webster dictionary (2015), as “forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos)”. As few as 10 years ago the term social media was yet to be coined, but within that decade the use of these blogs, websites and sharing platforms has increased exponentially with no plateau in sight. From creating Instagram accounts for household pets, to sharing Halloween themed baking ideas over Pinterest, people today have access to social media outlets for almost everything. Today about 74% of people ages 18-65 use some form of a social networking site (Pew, 2014). Facebook takes the lead in social media usage with about 71% of those adults. LinkedIn and Pinterest are tied for second at 28% of users, 26% use Instagram, and Twitter falls last in the top 5 most used social medias with 23% of users (Pew, 2014). In September of 2013 the Pew Research Center measured that 90% of adults ages 18-29 used these social media outlets on a daily basis, which is an astonishing increase from the 9% that was measured in February 2005 (Pew, 2014). Due to the fact that young adults are increasingly involving themselves in these online platforms, it is very important to understand the long term and psychological effects (such as depression, social anxiety,

According to writer Martin Beck, “Nearly two-thirds of all Americans use social media” (2015). Social media networks are websites that are dedicated to communication, recreation, and sharing with others. Social media is a cultural phenomenon that is worldwide, including websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For instance, Facebook is essentially life displayed on a screen that can be seen by friends, family, and peers. A person can upload pictures, videos, write messages to each other, and reconnect with people. In his article, Beck writes that prior to the creation of Facebook only 7 percent of Americans used social media (2015). Over a ten year span, 27 different surveys, and 62, 000 interviewees, Beck discovered that 90 percent

In their essay, “Students Addicted to Social Media,” the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda shares their findings following a study they conducted on the use of media among students. They asked 200 students from the University of Maryland to give up all forms of media for 24 hours, after which they were asked to self report their experience as well as any significant successes or failures. Their findings show a surprising amount of students who

The social media is one of the most common ways of communication and pretty much of knowing anything and everything around the world these days, and it is growing very rapidly. It changes and affects each person in a different way, or ways. Some may argue that social media has a bad influence on children and young adults, and that it negatively effects their brains, character, or personalities, while most people see that the social media has a more positive effect on them than a negative one. Moreover, social media has helped many people around the world to connect, or re-connect, with each other, easily. Social media is basically the new way of keeping in touch with everything and everyone, and of even strengthening bonds between each

This essay considers how empowered media audiences are nowadays concentrating specifically on social media, in particular Facebook, taking into account whether media controls its audience or whether the audience in fact controls the media. Some people may argue that because we still buy into the services of social media and use them regularly this somewhat justifies media 's control over an audience but if individuals have a choose of what they tap into, this surely provides them with the upper hand. In my essay I will be demonstrating how the uses and gratifications theory can be applied to further explain how the consumers use and seek out specific media in order to satisfy their needs. In the first section of my essay I will be introducing the uses and gratifications theory and the key elements that make up such a theory. Secondly, I will be putting this theory in play with social media networking and how the audience interacts with this. Lastly, I will be looking at the critics

The purpose of this study was to examine social media use among college students and

In the world I live in today, I can reconnect with a long-lost friend, share photos and video, and also start relationships online without really knowing who is on the other side. I can’t go a day without having to use some sort of social media and also the more dependent I am on the media to fulfill my needs, the more useful the media becomes to me personally. For example, in social situations, I know myself, friends or anyone may feel more confident and knowledgeable when they have certain facts and stories from media to add to conversations. By seeking out media, a person fulfils a need to be informed.

Social Media has evolved greatly in the last few years and is the dominant way people interact online. There are those who cannot start their day without checking their personal messages on social sites. Psychologists have studied the evidence that social media is what people want because they have the drive to use their mobile devices frequently, to continue or create

Often times social media can be regarded as a device that deteriorates the value and importance of human communication. Most adults assume that millennials are using social media as a way to avoid face to face conversations and as a waste of time. However, multiple researchers have studied the importance of social media and its impact on people. It has been found that social media can be used as a creative outlet, way to socialize, learning tool, political outlet, and way to connect with others.

In an article by Nazir S. Hawi, and Maya Samaha titled, “The Relations Among Social Media Addiction, Self- Esteem, and Life Satisfaction in University Students,” explains what self-esteem is, and some of the addictive behaviors that can occur to those who use media. The article shares some numbers to show a perspective on how many people actually use social media

Social media has affected and transitioned the world’s culture for better and for worse. People embrace new social media as a good thing like, communication and meeting new people, a source of entertainment, job opportunities, and many more. But for others, it can totally turn it around and make it into a bad thing for them. Social media is an outbreak on the internet which lets people communicate and for you to explore new boundaries just on your computers or cellphones. It changes the lives of people more and more everyday with new updates and an interesting way to find out information.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram; all of them ring a bell, do not they? It’s curious how social media platforms have become part of our lives without even noticing them. It doesn’t matter if you are old school or not, at some point in your life, you might have found yourself twitting about this trending topic on the news, or posting an argument on Facebook. It’s a fact that, over the last years, social media platforms have attached themselves to our daily basic routines, some of them growing in popularity and some others completely vanishing.

Over the past decade, the presence of social networking sites (SNS) have become increasingly widespread: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr to name a few of the biggest contenders. Endless studies prove that SNS have a prominent place in modern society, especially among University/college students as evident in the literature 's focus on the age group, take for example Spraggins (2009) study where a majority of the sample attested to using SNS at least once a day for a period of 10 to 15 minutes. Without a doubt, its popularity and accessibility have impacted our lives one way or another. In specific, this paper will be looking at the effects of social media usage on users mental well-being in terms of self-perception of self-worth. Whilst numerous studies have already been conducted regarding this topic, its important to continue examining its effects as nothing is constant, ie. changes in type of usage, content popularity, ways of access, etc. Moreover, despite a plethora of studies, different results continue to be yield different, and at times contradicting findings (Murphy, 2012). For the purpose of this paper, social networking sites refer to websites that allows users to create virtual profiles available for public viewing that reveal personal information such as name, age and gender as well as facilitate communication and networking. Users are also able to submit and post a wide-range of

It is no news that social media has changed and shaped the way the 21st century man acts and thinks. Social media plays a major role in the everyday life of a typical human, on a daily basis in more ways than one. Social media has rid today’s man of the basic essentials that are needed to function as an integral part of a community. It’s hard to even imagine that just ten years ago that people were not so engrossed and interested in the internet, let alone social networking or social media website. The beginning of the millennium which was just like fifteen to sixteen years ago and people were actually still more connected to each other physically, people visited each other more, and they were still interested in the beautiful art of

When asked; what does social media mean to you? What is the first think that comes to mind? A tool to help keep in contact with friends and family? A way to keep up on the latest news and updates? Or even just a form of entertainment. As time progressed through the years we’ve seen countless forms of social media. One’s ranging from Facebook, twitter, tumbler and even snapchat.