Social Networks; for or Against?

When you think of social networking what comes to mind? YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Snapchat. They have similarities in that they make it easy to reach many individuals easily and quickly. Social networking sites and applications have given rise due to the popularity of the internet and the advancement in technology. There are many impacts on society due to social networking. Social networks can have a positive or negative effect on peoples lives. Some examples where networking can have a positive experience in your life would be; to advertise yourself or your company, get different opinions or make a survey, make new friends or connect with old friends, stay in touch with long-distance family and friends. But with the good, comes the bad. For instance, people can hack into your profiles and post as you, posting inappropriate statuses or pictures can leave a lasting impression on employers and life, you lose face-to-face interaction with people, you can encounter cyberbullying and stalkers or visa versa, and if your profiles are not private, people can retrieve private information about you and steal your identity. In essence, since the growth of social media, and the effects it has had on society, which has been viewed as a positive effect, social media has also created a discernment to society by deluding the fact that social media comes with high risks. In this paper, I will discuss the background

Social networking sites (referred to more broadly as social media) are a collection of websites and applications that enable users to swap ideas, post updates and comments, and participate in activities and events while sharing their interests with other users. From general chit-chat to propagating breaking news, scheduling a date to following election results, gentle humor to serious research, social networking sites are used for a variety of reasons by various user communities. Nowadays, nearly every person who has access to a computer and Internet indulges in some kind of social networking on a daily basis. The introduction of social media has changed the entire dynamics of our lifestyles: the ways we live, work, and maintain our friendships. Despite its numerous advantages, social media does yield some negative effects. However, the benefits of social media greatly outweigh its negative effects.

Many people have different opinions about social network sites. Some think that social networking is fun and a great way socialize, however, no one really take the time to realize how bad it could be and/or get. Social network sites can negatively impact lives because it can be the cause of missing important life moments, the reason of students getting bad grades, and be very extremely dangerous for anyone.

Social media allow persons from all over the world to remain contact and communicate with their friends, family, at the same time make new connections. As stated by Amedie, social media sites are known for allowing people to make new connections with people who share similar interests, creating new relationships, and people end up being good friends (4). In fact, people create groups that accommodate subscribers who have similar interests or life goals where they assist each other. Again, there are friends or family members who are a thousand miles away; and through the use of social sites, it is easy to often communicate with them, increasing intimacy at a reduced cost. Furthermore, social networks have encouraged the users to come up with an online persona, which establishes a personal network of friends who connect to an open worldwide community.

There is debate over these social networking sites; do the benefits outweigh the dangers? Some people argue that social networking sites promote increased communication with friends and family, familiarize people with valuable computer skills, and allow contact and interactions with people from around the world. Others argue that these sites expose children to predators, increase vulnerability to computer viruses, lower worker productivity, and promote narcissism and short attention spans. Social networking sites entice people to spend more time online and less time involved in face-to-face interaction. On an average day it is said that American’s waste about 17% of their day on the internet interacting on social media and networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace. The popularity of these sites has more than

Social networking sites are web based and applications that allows users to communicate via-web to share their content or follow with other users. For example the most well known online networking sites are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. When you sign up to these sites it asked you to make a profile, which can be time consuming, but you can alter it for your needs as an enjoyment. Online networking has become a very significant piece of social communications inside our society. For example when you meet another person, one of the principal things you do is include them on your friends or followers list on social media. This is a form of communication. We communicate to people every day through all different forms of interpersonal communication.

Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Instagram, and Flicker was invented to keep us in touch and keep us closer to our family and friends. But according to How Facebook ruins Friendships “we took our friendship online” (Bernstein). First we began communicating more by email than by phone and then switched to instant messaging or texting. By joining social Medias online

* What makes social network sites unique is not that they allow individuals to meet strangers, but rather that they enable users to articulate and make visible their social networks. This can result in connections between individuals that would not otherwise be made, but that is often not the goal, and these meetings are frequently between "latent ties" (Haythornthwaite, 2005) who share some offline connection. On many of the large SNSs, participants are not necessarily "networking" or looking to meet new people; instead, they are primarily communicating with people who are already a part of their extended social network. To emphasize this articulated social network as a critical organizing feature of these sites, we label them "social network sites."

While there are risks in online social networking, there are also many potential benefits. Many people are passionate to participate on ‘social networks’ in order to express their ideas, on social media site such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and MSN (Windows Live Messenger). People think that it is a good idea to have a social networking site, because you can stay in touch with your dear ones. There are many social networking sites that are used for different reasons, where people can communicate with their family and friends or worldwide “Kids can gain confidence from interacting with other people online by sharing updates, photos, videos and messages”. [1) Parent Further]. Family members can stay connected even if they are not living together. In addition, it’s good to encourage positive relationships through various ways including internet.

Social network sites (SNSs) such as such as Friendster, CyWorld, and MySpace allow individuals to present themselves, articulate their social networks, and establish or maintain connections with others (Ellison, 2007). These sites could be used for work related situation, romance, connecting with individuals with shared interest, or creating a connection amongst college students. Facebook enables its users to present themselves in an online profile, accumulate ‘‘friends’’ who can post comments on each other’s pages, and view each other’s profiles (Ellison, 2007). Individuals can write on the wall of friends, send private message, comment on posts, as well as chat via instant messaging. Much of the early research on online communities assumed that individuals using these systems would be connecting with others outside their pre-existing social group or location, liberating them to form communities around shared interests, as opposed to shared geography (Ellison, 2007).

Over the past few years something has taken a toll in most people’s lives, we use it, love it, talk about it, and check it almost every hour of every day: this thing is called social networks. It was only a few years back, in 2003, when MySpace was discovered, and in 2004 when Mark Zuckerberg established Facebook, and soon after in 2006 Twitter followed. These sites became more than just an online destination, but a way of life. Notifications, follower counts, friend requests, photo comments- all what might seem like silly things that teenagers and adults alike await the moment they come home to check. We scroll unconsciously through feeds and pictures of people we barely know, from the inquisitive human nature. At school everyone is

Almost everybody is aware of some impact social networking sites have had on their life. Whether one comes from the generation before the advances in technology, the generation during the technological advances, or the generation born into the world full of technology, it is all the same; technology has impacted their life. The impact, however, may either be positive or negative. With the way today’s social networking sites (SNS) are working, there seems to be more negatives around than the positives. Some of the negatives within SNS include cyber bullying, lack of privacy, and the adverse effects of screen time.

Social networks like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter allow individuals to connect with anyone from coworkers to former classmates. The accessibility of these connections allow for individuals to feel easily connected to a larger community, but they have downsides. From false senses of connection, to data pervasiveness ,social networking is something that effects all groups within our culture to the point where we will have to decide if it is benefical or harful to the indivudal.

Social Networking as defined by [Boyd and Ellison, 2008] is “web based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others”.

The Internet and technology are growing bigger and bigger every day and before we know it technology is going to pass us by. With the invention of the Internet and Social Networks, the possibilities are endless. Social networking sites provide us the opportunity to explore the whole world, make friends, and share moments with the rest of the world through the Internet. Everyday more and more people become part of the different social networking sites available now, like Facebook or Twitter. The use of social networking sites is changing our society and the way people do and see things. Certainly, social networking sites have had great impacts in people’s lives and society.