Professor Philpot

ENGL 201

13 November 2015

Growing Popularity of Social Media

Social Media has become the biggest and fastest way to connect with people all over the

world and has become a global phenomenon which in turn has made the growth in popularity

very fast paced. For many people social media has provided a platform to create, circulate and

share information, and in other situations merge already existing connection amongst people.

The great power and impact in which social media has developed society today can not be

overlooked. It has become apart of society that seems to be driven by information and

communication. Social media has made it possible to have access to information almost

immediately and has been very helpful when it comes to expanding our sources and different

types of content we choose to display. The question still remains: is this growth of social media

popularity good or bad? Although there are many different effects that this growth in social

media has caused, the main negative effects included: the balance between online-offline

communication, decreases productivity, and privacy.

A main issue still at hand is what is causing the sudden surge of growing popularity of

social media? The answer is us if we did not care for the trends going on these companies

coming up with different ways of communication and socializing would cease to exist. It seems

that the world as a whole is constantly wanting the “new trends” that social media creators feed

of that when it comes to coming up with the new it thing to have. For example, in 2003 Myspace
was created, Facebook came right after in 2004, Twitter in 2006, and Instagram in 2010. This

cycle will continue to grow as long as society is continued to be driven by the need of constantly

communicating and interacting. Just like two examples listed previously the growth of social

media outlets will rise at such a rapid speed that sooner or later they will become old and the new

version of each will soon dominate to social media world.

Rapid growth in popularity amongst social media has had a negative effect on the balance

between online-offline communication. Social media has made is difficult for people to find the

right balance between online versus offline. This is because times are changing and people are

now preferring to use social networking sites and not take anything away from them because

they are innovative ways in which technology continues to evolve but, it is becoming more

popular to have conversation online than offline. It seems that there are two types of people; one

who complement their offline social life with their online one, and the rest who pretty much

replace their offline social life with the online one...since most of us would say that social

interaction should not only consist of what is being said, but also how it is being said(Poh). In

order for balance to happen society need to become those who complement their offline life with

their online life for example, a popular thing to do is to send emoticons but people have come to

use them so often that now there is not much real emotion being put into them anymore and as

Poh mentions in order for these interactions to be taken seriously people need to take into

consideration how they say thing though social media but also what they are saying is just at

important.

Another issue that is presented because of the disregards to online-offline communication

is the allurance of socializing online. Which means that there is slightly no commitment to
online-made relationships. Since social media has made it possible to virtually start a

conversation with anyone people can start and end a conversation whenever they please thus the

expectation to keep a conversation going or keep in contact with that other person can cease to

exist. Social media gives people the power to be who they want to be. This can used as a

weapon for people who do not like to settle for the cosmetic social interaction to satisfy their

social needs. When people settle into a zone that is social communication it is easy for people to

fall into a trap when it is convenient to just keep in touch with each other online. Poh’s answer

to fix the balance between the online and offline world is to designate specific time when people

go online is one idea. The other is to keep offline communication so that they stay strop when

bringing them into online communication.

Social media also affects human productivity thus decreasing the work done in regards to

unemployment. According to the survey, 39% of employers dig into candidates on social sites,

while 43% said they had found something that made them deep-six a candidate—such as posting

inappropriate photos or information, or bad-mouthing a former boss(Weber). No matter how

many people visit social media website while on the job which decreases their productivity of

work, some were caught in situations that put their job at risk and it is something that can be

prevented if companies choose to monitor their employees social media use. On the flip side this

bring up the issue or privacy. When companies were to track their employees they would be

invading their privacy which brings up an ethical issue, but there are ways around it. Riva

Richmond states several reasons why monitoring employees is a good idea which are: it can help

protect companies for theft or other harm, help affirm compliance with regulations, secure

evidence for lawsuits, and ensure a workplace environment free of harassment. This proves that
the monitoring of employees can be a benefit for companies if they were to follow the following

suggestions to make sure that privacy is not an issue. The first tip is that employers set written

policies. Set rules for acceptable use of email, instant messaging, social networks, blogging and

Web surfing, as well as for downloading software and apps. Also, consider establishing an

electronic code of conduct for employees to sign(Richmond). The next tip is to inform the

workforce. Explain the risks to the business from improper use of digital assets, the company's

digital policy, the limits on employee privacy in the workplace and the fact that monitoring will

occur(Richmond). The last tip is that use technology tools, there are many technological ways in

which employers can monitor the social media use and does not take much work. To reduce the

potential for office friction, the collection of sensitive personal information and the amount of

time you spend on the task, consider using technology that can alert you to potential problems, so

you can focus on what matters and pry less. You may also want to filter or block some Web

content, such as porn and hate sites that could create a hostile work environment and spiral into a

dangerous problem (Richmond).

The final issue that social media has effected is privacy. The growing popularity of

social media has made it so that more and more people are giving their personal information

away thus raising privacy concerns. For example, there are many instance where people shop

online they put in their credit card information without second guessing whether it is safe. The

privacy issues at play with the advent of social media websites include social profiling, cyber

stalking, third party disclosure of personal information, location disclosure, and cyber bullying

and trolling (Cramer). It is said that most people when deciding who they talk to or what they

make public are taking into consideration the effects of their actions or taking into account the
fact that someone behind the screen can be out to harm them. Also a way to really make sure or

possible reduce the chance of any type of virtual harm is by fixing the privacy settings that most

sites offer. A good example that the author states is the situation that took place to the late Robin

​ elda received sarcastic and taunting messages from anonymous

Williams daughter, Zelda. ​ Z

Twitter users, who sent her gruesome and photo-shopped photos of the dead actor (Cramer).

After the occurrence Zelda choose to deactivate her account because of the horrific thing that

people started to say to her about her dead father and also because of the harassment she faced.

This is a situation that could have been prevented if the proper action who have taken place.

Regarding this situation Twitter went to say that they would make sure that the people involved

would be banned as well as take the proper steps to make sure that abuse would not be tolerated

on their site. These things that happened to Zelda Williams have every single day on social

media whether people notice them or not and one way to fix that is to make sure that people

maintain up to date privacy settings and also be aware of their surrounding on their social medias

so if something similar where to occur they would know how to stop it in its tracks.

Social media is a powerful tool that has changed the way people communicate and will

continue to change as more and more social networking sites are created. This great power and

impact can not be overseen and has really become a part of society and how we will our day to

day life. Although it has made many positive effects on society, it has also made many negative

like taking away our privacy in ways it is sometimes hard to notice. Also by decreasing the

productiving level of employees and deciding whether employers should take action into

monitoring their use since it brings up problem of privacy. Finally, but having a negative on the

fact on the balance between online-offline communications and whether or not people spend
doing more of one that the other. The ways in which people can defeat these negative effects

and turn them into positive effect where society is both safe and comfortable when using social

media is to take to proper actions to make sure that everyone online is on the same page and no

one will gets hurt, but also by making people aware of the certain things that can happen due to

social media and people take into account their own actions and what they do on the internet.

Work Cited

Cramer, Bob. "The Alarming Privacy Concerns Regarding Social Media." Business and News

RSS. 6 Oct. 2014. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.

Poh, Michael. "Social Lives Online versus Offline: Finding the Right Balance." Hongkiatcom.

Web. 4 Nov. 2015.

Richmond, Riva. "3 Tips for Legally and Ethically Monitoring Employees Online."

Entrepreneur. 31 May 2012. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.

Weber, John. "Should Companies Monitor Their Employees' Social Media?" The Wall Street

Journal. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.