Social Media And Its Effects On Society Essay

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, what do they mutually have in common? They are all social media websites. Social Media has become the number one way to communicate with other people from around the world. It has been beneficial and helpful to many, on the contrary harmful to some. People use social networks to catch up with a childhood friend, endorse their business, or develop news faster. Other people use it to steal identities, cyberbully, and abuse others. It has stated that social media’s are “websites and other online means of communication that are used by large groups of people to share information and to develop social and professional contacts” (“social media.”) With this in mind, how has social media influenced

5.  Pages 443, 445, text, social movements. Write about Facebook, other social networking sites and their impact on society.(good and bad)

Addiction, profit and influence usually are not the first words you would expect to come to mind when thinking about the term “social media,” yet with a little digging you will soon realize it could be the perfect description. Social media can be defined as forms of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages and other content. Most often social media is understood as a positive concept because of the ways it has allowed us to attain cheap and easily accessible knowledge at the end of our fingertips. For example, take the average college student who would rather spend their last $20 at the bar you can conclude that there are superior consequences to abusing too much of a good thing; using social media has its own set of superior consequences.

Social media has gained immense popularity, following increased access to the internet and technology devices including smart phones. Social media is used to denote platforms in which people build and share social connections; thus enhancing information sharing and interaction. Major examples include Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and Instagram. Through social media, people can connect, interact and exchange information such as pictures, videos and other digital media by registering as users in these platforms and updating information affecting their lives on their profiles. When social media applications came into existence, these were mostly used for interacting and sharing with friends, relations and new friends acquired through these platforms. Social media has however been constantly abused, as people turn it into a ground to vent, lie, insult, bully or threaten others. The social networks no longer serve their intended purpose in the society and users have taken advantage of the free space to say whatever they want with no regard to how it affects others. People have used such domains to brandish their selfish acts and gains.

At this very moment, there are thousands of people worldwide who are retweeting posts on Twitter, liking pictures on Instagram or posting a status on Facebook. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are few of the many social media platforms that have become prevalent in our society. Because social media applications and websites allow users with easy access to communication with others around the world, individuals all across the globe are able to socially interact on a daily basis. Erving Goffman, Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead, three of many sociologists who viewed society through the interactionist perspective, would use these daily interactions to make generalizations about society as a whole. The paradigm of symbolic interactionism reaches conclusion about different groups in society, generally by observing everyday social interactions. Accordingly, interactionists would view social media as an aspect of society that consists of constant social interactions that continuously influences and affects individuals and the whole of society.

The evolution of technology in the 20th century brought many innovations. Among them is the social media. Essentially the 21st century revolves around these social media as individuals, corporations, and government agencies use these avenues to communicate and pass messages to their audience. I am an ardent user of social media too. Through the years that I have used social media, the sites have had a myriad effect on me. As expected these effects cut across both sides; some are positive effects while others are negative effects. However, the power of social media cannot be underestimated. With the ever increasing technological awareness among people, there is a possibility that the world will be connected through the social media.

Though the importance and dependence of social media in society this meaning has been developed. The third principle of symbolic interactionism is that “meanings can change or be modified through interaction” (Ferris and Stein, 2014, pg. 32). This principle proves that social media does not have to be a negative influence is the dependence and meaning of it in society changed. If society, particularly younger generations, did not place such a heavy importance on social media it would not have the meaning that it does in our society. If social media did not have the importance in society that it does it would not have the power to negatively affect the mental well-being of so many individuals.

Social media has become prominent parts of life for many young people today. Most people engage with social media without stopping to think what the effects are on our lives, whether positive or negative. Are we as a society becoming more concerned with Facebook "friends" than we are with the people we interact with face-to-face in our daily lives? What will the longterm effects of today 's social media use be? There are many positive aspects, but there are equally as many dangers that come with the use of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google +, Tumblr, Instagram, gaming sites, and blogs. Social media has both negative and positive effects on society, it is up to the user to decide what impact they want to make. In order to make the right choices, we must dig in and research this topic thoroughly.

Social media is a controversy topic in today’s society. Some people think that social media destroys human interaction and real life human relationships. While others think that social media is a bless to humanity. Social media makes human interaction much more convenient and much faster than real life human interaction, it makes globalization a reality, it gives a chance for introverted people to express themselves, and it also benefit develop international relationships whether its business or social.

Social media has become a huge factor now in everyone’s life. Social media has made an impact in society in both negative and positive ways. A lot of teen and even adults have developed depression because of social media. Social media has set the standards very high for everyone to fit in because people are judged. Not even that but people have started to live in such a bubble because they are so envious of someone else’s life or want their life to be like someone else’s. It makes people so concerned of what they look like, how they speak, even express themselves feel bad if they do not meet the standards of how people accept on another. There has been research done to support this claim. It can be said that people that use social media encounter a decontrol of emotions and it increases the chances of getting depression. The people that are constantly on social media are more likely to have more serious causes of depression. If people stop using social media it will lower depression.

When Social media first began to be popular, it looked much different than what we think of when we think of social media today. There was MySpace and Facebook, and if you did not have one or the other, you needed to take a look at your life and your choices. MySpace and Facebook became a way to fit in. It began to change the way we think about friendships and communication. Everyone had MySpace because you had to be a part of a registered institution to be on Facebook, and when that day came, it was glorious. Now 829 million people use Facebook on the daily (Latka, 2014). While that seems like a lot, today we now have more options to choose from when it comes to sharing our lives with the world, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Yik Yak,

To quote Jim Morrison, “Whoever controls the media, controls the mind” this quote continues to reign true in the 21st century through mass media being pushed and pumped into society whether through television, advertisements, marketing or social media. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and SnapChat are all popular social media outlets utilized by individuals from many different backgrounds and age groups. These social media outlets are not subjective to gender, race, or class but they still affect those that utilize them. Much of the media today shapes how many people, specifically women, are expected to live and be perceived. In much of these social media outlets one can log in and view on the “popular page” images of women, both famous and normal, who are deemed by members of society to be the ideal. These ideal beauty images subjugate many if not all individuals who view them in some way shape or form. While some of the effects can be positive it is the negative effects that are detrimental.

There is a significant change in the way consumers interacted with brand from the traditional marketing arena to the modern times when social media has become a trend and a profitable mode of marketing as it allows consumers to directly engage with brands at their own will which means that that there are high chances of getting genuine customers through engagement. Social Media presents varied and a great number of tools that can not only allow users to engage but also enable brand track the result of their marketing efforts.

The ideas of Social Media and Social Networking can sometimes overlap or be grouped together by researchers due to the similarities between the two. However, Social Media is still a media which is primarily used to transmit or share information with a broad audience, while social networking is an act of engagement as people with common interests associate together and build relationships through community (Edosomwan, 2011). Social Media can be viewed as a medium to get a conversation to reach a larger audience by utilizing a concept called long tail. Long tail means conversations that can be conveyed in different forums (2011). Social Media does not have the limitations of traditional forms or communication such as meetings, phone calls, or emails. Use of Social Media websites has increased the channels of communication and its effectiveness in the organization (2011). In today’s technology driven society, Social Media has become somewhat of a necessity. Traditional forms of communication or advertisement, while still in use, have gradually become more effective due to the fact that the target audience has become increasingly my technology driven. Early studies that looked at the characteristics of social media users found that the majority of user tended to be highly educated, affluent, young, white men (Coleman, 2013). Such has not been the case in many years. As the internet and technology became increasingly available and more cost efficient to the general

Change is a topic that everyone worries about. One of the biggest changes that our society has seen since the turn of the century has been the advancements in technology. It has brought us to a time where we can access any form of news from almost anywhere through smartphones and tablets. The access our society has to technology has impacted present day teens more than any other age group, causing an addiction to the resources available. Major social media corporations that have become available since the start of the twenty-first century have become the main cause of this addiction. Sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are some of the most popular programs that have lured teens to a virtual life. In a recent study done on teens’ internet usage, it was shown that ninety four percent of teens have Facebook accounts, and the numbers continue to grow for Instagram and Twitter (Kaiser).