Negative Effects of Social Media in the Society - Research Paper Example

Negative Effects of Social Media in the Society Introduction Social media refer to a collection of internet-based applications established on conceptual and technological foundation of WEB 2.0 to enable the creation and interchange of user-generated content (Dijck 43). The increasing use of internet and technology based devices such as a smartphone; PCs, iPad, etc. have increased online presence and the use of social media. The used of web-based technology has created social virtual community by providing an interactive platform through which individuals and communities create, discuss or share user-generated information (Piskorski 32). Social media have made significant and changes in communication or interactions in the community, among the individuals and organizations. This study examines ways in which social media has influenced the community both negatively and positively. Positive Effects of Social Media on the Society Establishment of Virtual Community Social media differ from traditional media in the terms of usage, quality, accessibility, permanency, etc. (Piskorski 42). In the modern world people from all diversity spend more time on social media sited such as twitter, Google plus, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc. Studies have established an increased usage of social media in terms of time spent on the social media sites as well as increasing number of users (Dijck 57). The increasing use of portable internet enabled devices such as smartphones are the main contributing factors to increasing use of social media. For example, in 2011 the total time spent on social media by US residents amounted to 66 billion minutes depicting a 99% increase in social media usage to 121 billion minutes in 2012 (Jones 1). Therefore, social media have resulted to the establishment virtual community in which people exchange information more often and are to control content of information that they share. Resulted to Development and Expansion of Businesses Social media have increased business development and expansion (Piskorski 24). Most companies have set their presence in the social media to enable the clients to comment about the products. Sometimes companies reward customers by awarding points to customers for commenting on their products or referring new customers (Dijck 83). An example of a company that has used social media to reward customers is McDonalds, which issued $5 and $10 gift cards randomly to 100 clients who checked-in one of their restaurants (Dijck 84). The offer increased check-ins from 2,146 to 2,865. The company received several new blog posts, articles and comments from new clients. The Social media have become one of the most effective means on obtaining customer feedback that has helped organizations to improve their products and services. Furthermore, organizations have been able to expand the market for their products through referrals by their existing customers and potential to reach more customers easily (Piskorski 73). In addition to reaching more customers, businesses can interact with potential suppliers and can even recruit competent workers through social media hence increasing business productivity (Jones 1). Therefore, businesses have grown tremendously due to the increasing interaction with the potential customers and suppliers. Increased Social Interactions Social media have contributed to increased interaction among individuals in the community (Piskorski 199). Unlike the traditional medial that was access to a few individuals and posed limitation to time and place of accessibility, many people are able to access social media from anywhere and anytime through use of portable internet enabled devices (Jue, Mary and Jackie 89). Through interaction people create new friends and can connect with friends and relatives living in distant places. Social interaction is essential for a healthy community because it enables people to share their problems and obtain solutions such get job opportunities, market for products and services, etc. Through social media students get assisted to do their homework by their colleagues, teachers and friends. It is a source of new talents where young people learn from their friends and relatives (Piskorski 114). It has engaged many people into social activities such as politics and fundraising to assist the needy people in the society. Increased source of information Social media are one of the major sources of information in the modern society. Most of the young people prefer social media such as Facebook than any other media. For example, less than ten percent of the young people below 18 years of age read newspaper while majority get news from the social media (Dijck 112). It has contributed to the apprehension of offenders since patriotic citizens share vital information with law enforcing officers thus helping the apprehension of law breakers. Therefore, social media become part of human life as more and more people visit the social media every day for various reasons. It has increased interactions among the people and can end loneliness even when there are no people to speak to face-to-face (Piskorski 197). Creates friendship Social media have become one of the means through which people create new friends. To some people, it is not easy to interact with new friends every day (Piskorski 206). However, through social media people some people have thousands of friends in their profile. Therefore, social media have enabled people to create new friends every time thus improving social lives of the people. Social media can build self-esteem Social media offer opportunity to friends and relatives to give comment about others or respond to comments left by their colleagues on a social site (Piskorski 102). When one gets positive comments, they feel motivated and valued in lives. For example, politicians use social media to reach their supporters and keep in touch all the time. This has become a convenient method of staying connected to the relevant people which otherwise would not be possible. It helps them to gain confidence and self-esteem thus encouraging them to pursue their goals (Dijck 112). Negative Effects of Social Media on the Society Time wastage and reduced productivity Despite many advantages of social media, there is the negative side of social media to the users especially the young people. Social media have resulted to wastage of time that could have been used for doing something constructive (Jue, Mary and Jackie 107). For example, many students have been lured into social media and spend a lot of time on social media such as Facebook and twitter chatting with their friends instead of doing their homework. This may contribute to loss of productivity of the workers or students failure in their school activities. For example, in America the studies have established that on average Americans spend a minimum of 17 minutes on Facebook alone every day (Jones 1). Also, social media have propagated the spread of crimes in the society as young people get exposure to dangerous criminal gangs, exposure to drugs and substance of abuse, prostitution, etc. Development of undesired traits Studies indicate that overdependence on social media can result to antisocial behavior, aggressiveness and narcissistic in the absence of face-to-face interactions (Dijck 152). Furthermore, attractive advertisement in the social media affects the buying habits of the people. Depending on whom one interacts with many users of social media gets exposed to various anti-social behavior which affects their ordinary lives. Compromised Quality of Information There is a serious concern about the authenticity and reliability of the social media content. Unlike the traditional media such as television, newspaper, magazines and so on where the content go through editorial process to ensure quality and reliability, the social media is full of scrap information obtained from unreliable sources (Piskorski 211). The social has created confusion between the truth and facts since it is no longer clear which information can be relied on or which one is false. Breakdown of social structures There is an issue of social media friends who are virtual friends yet many users of social media spend more time and increase dependence on them compared to real friends (Piskorski 122). Many people trust social media friends yet they do not know them or they know little about them and seem to ignore the real friends and close to them physically. The problem has manifested itself in the breakdown of the social structure. For example, young people have established different virtual groups that suit their interests and have ignored physical relationships (Jue, Mary and Jackie 134). Even some of the friend in social media uses pseudo names in order to hide their real identity so that they can continue deceiving others on the social media without anyone realizing. Breach of user privacy Finally, social media have compromised the privacy issue of the users. As more people join the virtual community through social media, they expose themselves to cybercrimes since there not protection of personal information (Jones 1). This has resulted to increased cases of frauds and other forms of abuse. Therefore, social media have compromised the security of users of social media because of lack of regulations to protect the users of social media. Can cause damage to personal reputation The use of social media sites enables users to create personal page and post any information they want. However, sometimes this has been used to the detriment of the users whereby individuals post pictures that can damage the reputations of others (Jones 1). For example, some people use social media to post an image of their workmates in a negative way such as Photoshop involving innocent people in criminal activities and so on. However, since most countries have not developed laws to regulate the use of internet, there is little that can be done to control the behavior of individuals in the social media (Piskorski 197). Furthermore, some people use anonymous names such that no one can suspect those whose are tarnishing their images. Conclusion The use of social media is both advantageous and detrimental to the community. It has improved social interaction that has improved business activities, offer solutions to various challenges, improved relationship with friends and relatives and is a source of information. It enables people to create new friends and keep in contact with them. Having positive relationship with friends in the social media giving positive comments can help one to build self-esteem and motivation to pursue their goals. Politicians have benefitted from social media because they can get in touch with their supporters all the time cost effectively. However, social media is also responsible for spread of vices such as prostitution, cybercrimes, loss of user privacy, can result to antisocial behavior, compromise the authenticity of information, can damage personal image and can result to loss of workers’ productivity. Social media can be very beneficial to the community if use responsibly or otherwise it can be a source of social evils. Works Cited Dijck, Jose, V. “The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media.” (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013): 1-228. Jones, Haley, “Social Medias Affect on Human Interaction.” (HASTAC, 2013). Available at Jue, Arthur, L., Mary, Ellen, K. and Jackie, Alcalde, M., “Social media at work: how networking tools propel organizational performance (1st ed.).” (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2010): 1-250. Piskorski, Mikolaj, J. “A Social Strategy: How We Profit from Social Media.” (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014): 1-275. Read More