Social Media And Its Impact 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

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.

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.

Some of our biggest role models in America revolve around our sports leaders. People who have put in many hours of training hard and overcoming seemingly unsurpassable obstacles. People like Lebron James, Usain Bolt, Peyton Manning, etc. Maybe we want to feel the fame, own the money, or meet other amazing people, but we all want to feel the accomplishment in some way or another. Team activities seem to be a major concept our civilization immerses itself in. We are willing to pay hundreds of dollars year after year to go out and cheer on our role-models and follow players’ social media accounts like it is theology we are reading. In ways it is consuming our thinking however, today teams teach many valuable life skills that children lack.

In a few years our generation will be looking back on our youth saying “Social media is one of the biggest leaps made in our culture”. Social media has advanced the way communication is achieved through the way society shares knowledge. We are able to talk to anyone anytime just through a simple text or a Facebook message. We are able to communicate through technology in fast, simple ways knowing what everyone is up too through their never-ending tweets and posts. Though all the things may be true there is a bigger issue at hand, and this is causing great travesty. Social media is destroying communication and intamicy on a face-to-face level.

What kind of world could possibly exist without some form of a Facebook, a Twitter, or an Instagram? Perhaps, it would be a world so unjust; people would actually have to call all of their five hundred and twenty-nine best friends by phone. So that they may share with them, the stale bread with one slice of turkey meat sandwich, they bought during lunch! Social media websites like, Facebook or Twitter are portals to information and communication. It has provided new and exciting opportunities for people all around the world to be able to connect with each other more easily than ever before. It has also helped businesses to flourish, and provides just about every answer to a sought out question. The internet superhighway so to speak, has created an excessive need. And as a result, it has become such a craze, that the sophisticated computers used to access the internet, now play a major role in everyone’s life; including children. Many gaming systems, cellular phones, and other electronics readily made available to children all have the potential to easily access the internet. Ever thought about what effects might such a craze have on children? For instance, could the excess of internet use with social media in particular, pose any implications onto children? The excessive partaking in social media amongst children- inhibits their productivity, interferes with the development of their social skills, and desensitizes their outlooks.

When you look at today’s society, you will see a world full of a quickly booming wonder: technology. With technology there is the option to be involved in what a lot of people know as social media. With the invention of web-sites such as Facebook, which is only about ten years old (Westwood), people all over the globe can connect with one another. This technology is exploding into more and more possibilities for the avid networking junkie. You can now send instant messages to all of your friends and family. Want to start a new small business or a band, perhaps? Advertise it on the popular favorites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or Myspace. This new era is causing quite the stir. Social media is a good way to be creative and have more opportunities to sprout businesses and learn multi-tasking; this, in turn, has changed the human psyche in astounding ways, with human beings becoming addicted to social media, all the while their brains are being re-wired for the generation of technology.

On average, 140 million Tweets are sent per day, which is up from the average of 50 million Tweets sent per day the year before (National Archives). On Instagram, the most followed user, other than the account of Instagram itself, is actress and artist Selena Gomez with over 103 million followers (National Archives). Recent studies show that the average Millennial spends 18 hours a day consuming media in general (National Archives). Suffice to say, the modern world is a highly-connected world involving endless likes, followers, hashtags, and Facebook Live videos. Among the top users are those of today’s generation, or Generation Me. Social Media has become a constant part of everyday life, and as the Millennial Generation begins to approach adulthood and starts becoming more involved in the workforce, the way the world operates will change drastically with the use of new technology and forms of communication. Already, the world of politics has changed into a more social media-friendly status. The increased involvement of millennials in politics and the resulting tactics by politicians has led to the increased use of social media for political purposes due to the increasing use of social media in the millennial generation.

Social media has changed a lot in the past ten years. Along with social media, the amount of data that is generated from social media has increased massively. “At present, there are over 288 million active monthly users of Twitter who post more than 500 million tweets per day, as well as 1.35 billion monthly active users on Facebook and 187 million active monthly users on LinkedIn”. (Nguyen and Jung, 2016:137). The usage of social media currently shows that so much data is generated every day. Finding ways to utilise this data is a key issue that business have. Many big business have Facebook pages and Twitter accounts so it is crucial for business to gain a competitive edge by taking advantage of online data. Social media data can come in other forms as well. The most mainstream categories of social media include wikis, blogs, microblogs, informal organizations, video and photograph sharing and online groups (Chen et al., 2015). Facebook and Twitter are the two most popular forms but there are other forms of social media that can produce information. Making key utilisation of social media is at the top of many firms’ plans (Lam et al., 2016). To unlock the beneficial insights of social media many tool and techniques can be used. This literature review will look at sentiment analysis and web mining techniques. The focus will also look at how useful analysing data online can be to businesses.

Nowadays people are depending on social media for their daily activities. No matter what the event is social media somehow becomes the topic of discussion. Social media for many businesses can be a great tool, but it’s very important to put some restrictions and procedures in place and be very consistent with enforcement. Most employers and employees are probably not covered by a General Liability policy. The laws that are governing social media continue to change rapidly. Employers must speak with their attorney’s to completely understand the social media liability issues facing their business. The liability facing employers is very important and everyone in the business needs to understand what the governing acts consist of and have clear social media policies in placed in order.

Social Media since its genesis in the late 1990’s, has served as a tool used by millions of people (and growing exponentially) for many purposes inclusive but not limited to, promoting people, events, places , foods and ideas as well as aiding in communication. However, many may agree that with the advent of Social Media, came many other issues which have essentially resulted in far more harm to the world than good. On the other hand, others have also posited and praised Social Media as being the most convenient communication medium developed, allowing for the free flow of information across boundaries, in real-time. Some popular Social Media platforms used today are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat, to name a few. It has been argued that these websites, having become the mainstream form of communication amongst especially ‘millennials’ are on the verge of replacing traditional personal interactions for the next generation. The writer has engaged the Social Media websites mentioned in various forms and has found it critical to assess the impact that Social Media has had on her, own lifestyle. Thus leading her to ask herself, “Have they changed how I interact in the world?” –She found she could not refute that, it has. Social Media affects a person’s life in many ways including general communication, romantic relationships and can influence narcissistic personalities.

A normal school day for me will start around 6:00 in the morning. As soon as I open my eyes my phone is in my hand sending pictures to my my streaks on Snapchat. A relatively new feature which is exactly the way it sounds, everyday you send someone a picture your streak gets higher by one day. After I’m done with that I check my Instagram and my text messages. By the time I am done with all that it 's already 6:20 am and I only have 30 minutes to get ready.

Social media is an internet based platform where people are involved in social activities and networking. This means it is an integral part of their everyday lives. Social media has drastically changed their lives replacing their newspapers, event pamphlets and even old fashion texting. However, even if it is beneficial, social media has its negative sides for which it should be used limitedly. CNN has reported that teens in United States spent about 9 hours a day using social media. The excess use of social media can affect people of all ages, especially the youth and young adults who are mostly college students. Thus, due to the adverse effects resulting from overuse of social media, it should not be used more than two to three hours a day as it makes people addicted, it affects their academic performance and negatively influences their mental health.