Social Media And Its Impact On Our Lives

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are commonly used among the younger generations, but can the excessive use of these apps cause mayhem? According to a new study conducted by the Family Technology Education Non-Profit Group, teenagers are spending nearly 9 hours a day on social media. The excessive use of social media is a bad influence on adolescents because of the negative impacts it has. Social media can cause direct impacts to the mental health, safety, and lives of its users. Teenagers need to ensure that they are being cautious and responsible while using different social media networks.

Social media has become a major part of communication today. It has changed the way people find each other, share interest and ideas, not to mention how it has changed how companies advertise and communicate with their customers. Based on this year alone, social media has impacted politics in a major way. The goal was to reach the young generation by engaging in social media platforms by simply posting, commenting and video sharing [10]. Social networking sites has mobilized potential voters all over the world.

While many people put off and ignore the issue of social media and its downfalls, others say that people should think about how our lives are being affected by this advancement in technology, including, lack of human contact and precious time being lost due to consumption with social media. Social media is currently a highly controversial topic in which numerous people have mixed feelings. Society has typically viewed new advancements in technology as beneficial and a sign of success within their country. But, has it solely caused successful outcomes, or are there downfalls to these advancements?

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 has essentially altered the way that people interact live their lives. This includes how people interact with others, shop, represent themself, and even find jobs. The social media company, Pinterest, which officially launched in March 2010, has made a major impact in digital and social media landscape. It has “grown to become the third largest social networking tool (Vasudha 2)…” Pinterest allows individuals or businesses to “pin” images to a board reflecting their interests. This simple platform fueled Pinterest exponential growth to 20 million users by April 2012. The strengths that fueled Pinterest to such large growth include its ability to connect businesses and consumers. Businesses can view what consumers are

At the dawn of the millennium, a new social issue began to surface. As the internet rapidly gained international popularity, new branches of it were created. Currently, Social media dominates the internet world. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines social media 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)” (www.merriam-webster.com). The sudden rise of social media’s popularity sparked countless debates on how it affects our society. According to statistics, one out of four people in the world today use some type of social media, whether it be instagram, facebook, twitter, or more (Whiteman). Numerous studies were released on how social media is impacting the lives of people worldwide. The overwhelming evidence proves that social media, overall, affects people in a negative way.

Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat - all these are called social media and they have a critical impact on the way young people think and interact on a day to day basis. “Virtual Communities” (Lee, 2015) is about the virtual world and how it affects the physical world and the influence it has on the lives of people on a daily basis. “Enhancing Your Body Image” (Donatelle, 2015) is about the influences that media or outside sources have on the way people view their bodies and how people feel about themselves. The main similarity between the two concepts is the influences that virtual communities have on the way people see themselves in the physical world. Enhancing one’s body image and the affects virtual communities have on the physical world are connected in many ways; furthermore, the influences that media has over people and how that can lead into bullying, and how all of it affects the future of an individual.

Social media is defined as websites and applications (app) that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. (Google) Instagram, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, Snapchat are just a few of the thousands of social media sites that are used all over the world. Social media are computer mediated technologies that uses Web 2.0 internet based applications that allow the creating and sharing of ideas, thoughts, information, and forms of expression. On these sites, users create personalized profiles for the app or website that are maintained by the organization that connects their social networks to other users within the same organization who usually have similar interests.

I have constantly thought about intimacy amongst couples as a private and a special thing between them, and considered it as a cherished moment to be experienced concerning the two without the interruptions of others. Yet, nowadays, every notion of privacy is becoming blurred with the use of technology, and peoples’ interpretations of what is private and what is public has evolved over time with these new technological developments. The smartphone plays a significant role in changing peoples’ views on their privacy, and having these devices in hand at all times, with unlimited access to the internet, alongside countless applications and free social media platforms available to share their content has made it even easier to forget about the concept of privacy.

When most individuals hear the term social media they instantly think of Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and other social networks we use today. Social media didn’t start with computers; however, social media dates back as early as 1792 with the telegraph explain Hendricks (2013). Social media started to spike in the early 1950’s when the phone became popular. Between the 50’s and the 90’s, many social media ideas were brought to life but eventually died; Border states most of these focused around a “Bulletin Board System”.

According to Dewing,” the term social media refers to a wide range of internet based and mobile services that allow people to exchange information, participate in online communities, and create content.” Examples of social media include blogs, which is an online journal and social media networks, which allows people to create a profile, upload pictures and videos, and communicate with people that are their online friends. Dewing goes on to state that “the first social media site created was in 1997, which was called SixDegees.com (2012)”. In the late 2000s the use of social media increased and was globally accepted. Facebook, a social media network gained one billion users in 2012 and Twitter gained five million and seventeen users. Many people believe that the increasing amount of people on social media is due to the affordability of computers and cellular phone devices; therefore, people have the necessary tools to create online accounts on social media websites.

Mullin, Hardy, & Sutton stated (2014) “social media are platforms that enable users to interact digitally with friends, fans, athletes, celebrities, media, and brands in real time (p. 348). In just a few short years, social media have become the centerpiece at the table of intercollegiate athletic (Elfman, 2013). Social media is being used for several components such as recruiting; fans engagement, and fundraising, Twitter, and YouTube are increasing the bonding process to the virtual realm in most athletic department. Causing most athletic departments and the sporting industry to hire folks just for promoting their brand through social media. Social media has become a game-changer across the board for the sporting industry. Using social media and the numerous platforms forms several fans as well as followers. For example, the NBA was the first major league that used Facebook and Twitter. And now they have over 27.5 million fans and followers (Facebook.com, 2013). Therefore, if social media has an impact on gathering millions of followers can it generate revenue?

Social media websites allow users to be able to freely communicate their thoughts, likes and dislikes, advice, photos, and more to those who follow them or whom they follow on websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Users are then able to communicate back and forth with one another on an instant basis. This communication tool has quickly revolutionized the realm of advertising and marketing by making the communication a two-way street. Advertisers are now able to interact with their target audience by posting digital ads through their news feeds on websites like Facebook and even suggesting companies that are similar to the ones that the user has previously liked. With this interactive communication tool at hand, it is highly recommended that advertisers advertise their product/brand through social media.

Social media has grown at phenomenal rates over the past decade, with its rise being easily visible in several fields such as publishing, business, and activism, among others. The rise of its use in the field of politics is well known by those who are on and off social media, as a result of increasing number of politicians using this global platform to their maximum advantage.

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.