Social networking has become a part of everyday life. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter are a few examples of social networking. Every day we hear the impact these sites are having on our lives and day-to-day events. Research the effect of social networking, with special focus on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. How have these sites influenced/shaped society? What has been the effect of social networking on areas such as marketing, education and politics?
Submitted to: Abanti Chakrabarti Submitted by: Md Akib Akhter (100890863)
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Effects of Social Networking Social networking has become a part of everyday life. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter are a few examples of social networking. Every day we hear the impact these sites are having on our lives and day-to-day events. Research the effect of social networking, with special focus on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. How have these sites influenced/shaped society? What has been the effect of social networking on areas such as marketing, education and politics? The social networks as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others are all virtual places where people find themselves and share information. Nowadays, social networks are the best tools for communication, though in the first place they were used only for university purposes, where students and colleagues stayed in contact with one another after works or studies. But these websites affect our lives negatively, positively, and a lot more than we think. We all have our different causes for liking social media, but we don't always realize the important effects they are having on our lives (Hill, R., n.d.). Although social networking is extremely useful, it is also dangerous for the society as well. People are bullied over the internet; especially number of kids being cyber bullied increasing every year. According to recent studies, 43% of the kids in the United States have been bullied online in the past few years (Benzmiller, H., 2013). Some studies imply that social networks could have negative impact on people social health. These can cause people to stray from reality and immerse themselves in the virtual world of social community. The next effect that many scientists have warned about is the influence that social networks can have on human health as well as the human brain (Derbyshire, D., 2009).
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Effects of Social Networking Social networking has its positive impacts on our day-to-day life, considering it allows us to connect with friends and family in a matter of seconds. Social networking sites, some more than others, are often used as a kind of self-expression and creativity and allows people to get inspired and define themselves. They use it as a way to set themselves apart from the crowd. The content that users post on social networking sites also is a form of representing themselves. Certain people may always seem to have funny statuses, while another may always post quotes. Social networking has also helped to connect us with people all around the world. It has the potential to really bring us all closer together, and gives us all a more open minded attitude about each other. In business sector, social media has its great effect. Online social networking is the newest weapon to get customers. Twitter and other social networking websites like Facebook have become must-use marketing tools for just about every business (Cash, M., 2009). Marketers can advertise their product so easily and even they can create a survey about what people want and they dont. Its an easy way for building up a good relation between marketers and consumers. E-business is incomplete without social network (Agarwal, H., n.d.). Also there are some direct benefits of social sites in business like, it helps us to advertise the product, know the sales, research the market and most importantly interact with customers. Social media, internet-based tools that promote collaboration and information sharing can be used in academic settings to promote student engagement and facilitate better student learning (White, T., 2008). These tools provide opportunities for individual expression as well as interactions with other users (Arnold & Paulus, 2010) including blogs, wikis, media (audio, photo, video, text), sharing tools, networking platforms and virtual worlds. Some research reported that students who use information technology 4
Effects of Social Networking for academics also have a higher likelihood of contributing and participating in active, academic collaboration with other students. This collaboration indicates that as engagement with technology increases, engagement with academics also increases, promoting a deeper connection between the students, educators, and course content (Mehdinezhad, 2011). Social media tools including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have dramatically changed the way political campaigns are run and how Americans interact with their elected officials. The value is in its immediacy. Politicians and campaign do absolutely nothing without first knowing how their policy statements or moves will play among the electorate, and Twitter and Facebook both allow them to instantaneously gauge how the public is responding to an issue or controversy. Politicians can then adjust their campaigns accordingly, in real time, without the use of high-priced consultants or expensive polling (Morse, T.,n.d.). They have made politicians more accountable and accessible at the same time allowing campaigns to carefully craft and customize their candidates images based on rich sets of analytics in real time and at almost no cost (Morse, T., n.d.). Some ways for politicians should be included like, advertising without cost, direct contact with voters, message customizing, fundraising, survey and feedback as well. In conclusion, as stated before, today social networking sites are the main tools for communicating between nations to worldwide. Networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and so on can have a great impact on human life and influence positively or negatively the social life, health and as well as on marketing and politics. But for some cases, I must say, there needs to be a break from social networking so young people can once again live a real life in the real world. 5
Effects of Social Networking References: Derbyshire, D. (2009, February 22). Social websites harm children's brains: Chilling warning to parents from top neuroscientist. Mail Online. Retrieved March 27, 2014, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1153583/Social-websites- harm-childrens-brains-Chilling-warning-parents-neuroscientist.html Cash, M. (2009, July 22). Social networking = successful marketing. Winnipeg Free Press (MB). p. B6. Hill, R. (n.d.). In Social Networking and Its Effect on Communication. Retrieved Mar. 26, 2014, from http://www.teenink.com/opinion/social_issues_civics/article/539423/Social- Networking-and-Its-Effect-on-Communication/ Mehdinezhad, V. (2011). First year students' engagement at the university. International Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 3(1), 47-66. Benzmiller, H. (2013). THE CYBER-SAMARITANS: EXPLORING CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR THE "INNOCENT" BYSTANDERS OF CYBERBULLYING. North-western University Law Review, 107(2), 927-962. Arnold, N., & Paulus, T. (2010). Using a social networking site for experiential learning: Appropriating, lurking, modeling and community building. Internet and Higher Education, 13, 188-196. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2010.04.002 White, T. (2008, June 13). Social networking changes everything. B&T Magazine. p. 20. 6
Agarwal, H. (n.d.). Benefits of using Social media for Business. ShoutMeLoud Shouters Who Inspire RSS. Retrieved March 27, 2014, from http://www.shoutmeloud.com/benefits-of-using-social-media-for-business.html Morse, T. (n.d.). How Social Media Has Changed Politics. About.com US Politics. Retrieved March 27, 2014, from http://uspolitics.about.com/od/CampaignsElections/tp/How-Social-Media-Has- Changed-Politics.htm