Impact of Social Networking and Blogging on Internet Usage - Literature review Example

? Blogs and Social Networking of the of the of the Impact of Social Networking and Blogging on InternetUsage This paper overviews the impact of blogging and social networking websites on the daily usage of Internet by individuals. The reviewing of literature available on similar context reveals that the rate of Internet usage daily has increased since the introduction of social networking and blogging. People use blogging and social networking for interacting with others, share ideas and beliefs, sharing news and events, for professional purposes and for academic purposes (Pandey 2011). These are just limited uses of blogging and social networking. The wide spectrum of using these interactivities online entails that blogging and social networking bring people closer and turning the world into a global village where there are no distances (Jacqui 2010). Introduction Social networking has become an integral part of millions of Internet users around the world. When people come back to home from their work places and educational institutes, the first thing most of them prefer to do is to check their personal profiles on social networking websites, such as Facebook, Twitter and many others. They find it a facilitating medium for interacting with hundreds of people within and outside their national borders. Social network or social networking websites actually provides Internet user a virtual interface where they can share their ideas and thoughts. The social networking websites are usually used for studying the social relationships of people. The term social networking describes a person’s or group of persons’ social structure and is determined with the help of their communication and interaction with others (Lusted 2011, Aleman and Wartman 2009). On the other hand, blogs or blogging websites provides a personal space to Internet users where they can lodge their posts, ides, believes and views on certain issues, keeping in view the area of interest. Blogs usually contain write-up of a person, group of personals or organization aiming to discuss a single agenda subject. Scholars and web technologists first utilized blogs in 90s and to post content containing ideas and beliefs of these scholars and technologists. Since then, non-technical users are using blogs as well (Rettberg 2008). Social media and blogs has attracted masses towards utilizing these internet tools to share ideas, market their products and services and help out individuals who are looking for solutions to their problems, let it be professional or academic one. A research conducted by University of Maryland reveals that people across the globe are becoming addicted to using social networking sites and blogs. Social media especially has become a major source of communicating with rest of the world. The academic research conducted on understanding how the social networking sites are reshaping the behavior states that Facebook, world’s most used social networking website, has become a primary source of communication among students. On professional level, social networking and blogging is utilized extensively for providing business solutions and discussing new technologies and innovations. In broader spectrum, Internet usage has increased after the introduction of blogging and social networking websites and the analysis of statistical data shows that it is expected to increase even more. Academic Usage of Internet Societies and individuals living in these societies are of the view that their internet usage has increased since the arrival of infotainment add ons like Facebook, Twitter, Blogger Online, Flickr, and others (Ishak 2010). This is because these individuals can share their precious moments with others, and also, take guidance and suggestions regarding the problems and issues they are facing. Students goes to social networking sites and blogs at least four times a day in order to keep in touch with their friends, to ask their teachers for solutions to the academic problems and to keep everyone in their premises informed about the latest developments and happenings on and off campus (Matthew, Vandenberg and Andie 2011, University of New Hampshire 2010). It is evident from the information retrieved from sources available online, that there are universities and colleges who are giving tutorials regarding professional studies online and through virtual classroom environment. What these universities and colleges do is to create virtual classrooms on Internet and give access to students by asking them to pay a certain amount, which are the tuition fee and the registration fee for enrolling in courses. In addition to these virtual professional studies classroom environment, online libraries are also established. These libraries huge amount of books and informative journals, which provide sufficient amount of knowledge to students who are searching for reliable and authentic information regarding their academic problems. Blogs and social networking websites are also used by colleges and universities to provide students with information regarding the courses and the topics covered under these courses. These universities and colleges also send promotional offers and marketing messages by utilizing social network marketing strategy and blogs. Blogging and Social Networking for Students Blogging and social networking has opened doors of information for the students as the availability of learning content over Internet has facilitated the cheap acquisition of data. Additionally, the presence of blogs and social networking websites create interactivity for students to motivate them to learn things, write their views and read others’ views in open discussions over different subjects and topics. Blogging and social networking also provides unlimited access to students for collaborating and teaching academic lessons to others (Williams and Jacobs 2004, Nagel 2009). Blogging and Social Networking for Instructors Instructors to manage the class decorum and flow activities can utilize Blogging and social networking. An instructor can use blogging and social networking websites for notifying students about requirements in the classroom, notices, homework assignment and issuing lecture handouts. Teachers can also use blogging for providing tips, practice and peer reviews to the students (Glencoe 2006, Nagel 2009). Learning Outcomes Improved By using blogging and social networking as an instructional platform, a teacher can improve all learning outcomes among the students, more specifically the use of Web 2.0 and the technologies underlying within, such as social networking, wikis, RSS feeds and podcasting. Using Blogs and Social Networking It is very easy for a programmer to create blogs and social networking websites over Internet and the instructor, being the creator of the blog will administrate all the activities on the blogging and social networking site. Students will be provided with individual identities and passwords so that can log on to the blogging and social networking site and share their views and write their ideas. Additionally, the instructor will also provide class handouts, instructions and solutions to the academic problems over the blogging and social networking site. For example, University of Leeds has created a blogging side where the lecturers and professors of Physics share their views, ideas and lectures with other teachers, instructors and students on campus. University of Newcastle also uses a blogging platform for its Political Science department, where students and lecturers share information and other academic sources (Times Higher Education 2008). Professional Usage of Internet Business personals use these interactive mediums to communicate with others and to build professional networks with people living within and outside national borders (Toral 2011). Social networking websites and blogs are seen as an unlimited opportunity for spreading the word about the business and the products or services offered by the business. Businesses all around the world use social networking and blogs for managing their business portfolios and promoting the upcoming offerings into the market. The best opportunity lies in the fact that businesses become more acknowledged about the target markets. It entails that businesses are more aware of the market conditions and potential opportunities that will provide them unlimited financial benefits by targeting the market according to the products and services, specifically. It is evident, that many of the businesses, who were practicing their operational activities on the traditional business model, are now turning into a virtual business where the business dealings are conducted by utilizing blogs and social networking websites. In this way, they are exposed to attracting more and more customers, as the traffic on Internet, especially on social networking websites and blogs is increasing day by day. Internet penetration into remote areas and those sectors where it was not used properly has also opened new doors for businesses to target new markets and expand their business’s scope. In business management, the use of social networking sites and blogs is proven to be providing numerous solutions for business issues and problems. Businesses have immediate access to customers and their personal information through their personal profiles on blogging and social networking websites. Social networking and blogging also helps organizations to bring improvements in their communication channels. A company owned blogging site or social networking profile would help individuals from top to bottom to interact with each other and post reports, announcements and memos. Complete organizational information can also be provided to the customers with the help of blogs and social networking which improves the access to the valuable data that helps customers and investors to understand the organization and its business practices in detail. Social networking and blogs also provides fair chances to the organization to handle schedule of meetings with clients, employees and customers, registration of the customers, handle communications related to the customers’ required merchandise, handle billing and collections, and for publishing management’s report on overall performance of the company. General Trends in Internet Usage The rapid growth of Internet and the facility to build connections with people living far across has created ease for people living in different societies to come together and register themselves at a platform where they can form organizations and informal groups. Instead of going to clubs, forums, societies and institutions for building up relationship with different people belonging to different cultural background, people now prefer to use social networking and blogs for sharing ideas, making new friends, expanding businesses, interacting with relatives, friends and professionals all around the world. This is how the pace at which Internet is used is increasing day by day. Social media networking and blogs has also increased the internet usage because people are now relaying more on finding friends and their soul mates over these platforms. According to a research, people find it easier to communicate with others, especially the opposite sex. They have their personal profiles, which contain pictures of the profile holder, demographic information, interests and hobbies of the individual. In this manner, it becomes easier for other individuals to understand the psychic and background of the person, whose profile they are viewing. The Statistical Bureau, who keeps a check on activities performed by target population over internet, has reported that more than 27%of marriages all around the world are now resulting from the interaction of people on social networking websites and blogs. Another 13% of the users, who logged in to social networking websites and blogs are either dating their online friends or they are committed to get engaged with their internet friend in future. The major reason behind this increasing trend is that people find social networking and blogging as a cheaper way to communicate with the loved ones, even if they are sitting at a distant location. Facts and Figures According to the Kessler (2011) that every Internet user in the world uses social networking websites for 23% of their time. The top five social networking websites, i.e. Facebook, Blogger, Tumbler, twitter and LinkedIn have millions of users by the end of 2011 which is expected increase to billions in number by the end of 2015. The usage of applications and online content has increased by 20% in 2010. Another research on the Internet usage since the introduction of social networking sites and blogs shows that one in every nine individual on Earth is using a social networking portal or blogs to share their ideas. On average, the total users on all social networking websites and blogs spend 650 billion minutes on posting and sharing their ideas on these online applications. More than 275 million internet users all around the world register themselves on social networking and blogging websites, whereas more than 50 billion pieces of informative contents are shared on different social networking and blogging websites. Additionally, more than 20 million applications are downloaded every day by using social networking websites and blogs, whereas more than 500 million unique users visit social networking websites and blogs (Bullas 2011). In the recent times, since t he introduction of social networking websites in 2007, Internet penetration has increased among different individuals belonging to different age brackets. The most prominent bracket is contains people belonging to the ages of 18 to 29 years and 86% of these individuals use internet due to their affiliation with social networking websites and blogs (Bullas 2011). Conclusion It is evident from the extensive review of literature that the internet usage and utilization of world wide web (www) for fetching information and important data has accelerated since t he arrival of social networking and blogging era and it is expected to increase in the future because more and more people are now shifting their focus to online medium of business. List of References Aleman, A.M. and Wartman, K.L., 2009. Online social networking on campus: understanding what matters in student culture. Florence: taylor and Francis. Bullas, J., 2011. 20 Stunning Social Media Statistics Plus Infographic. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 26 January 2012]. Glencoe, 2006. Using Blogs to Integrate Technology in the Classroom. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 26 January 2012]. Ishak, M., 2010. The Impact of Social Networking. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 25 January 2012]. Jacqui, C., 2010. Grades Don't Drop for College Facebook Friends. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 25 January 2012]. Kessler, S., 2011. Americans Spend 23% of Internet Time on Social Networks [STUDY]. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 26 January 2012]. Lusted, M.A., 2011. Social Networking: Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter. NY: ABDO. Matthew, S.J., Vandenberg, A. and Andie, B., 2011. GETTING SOCIAL: THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING USAGE ON GRADES AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS. Research Report. Las Vegas: St. Norbert College. Nagel, D., 2009. District Administrators See Advantages of Web 2.0 in School. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 26 January 2012]. Pandey, K., 2011. How has Technology Changed Our Lives. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 25 January 2012]. Rettberg, J.W., 2008. Blogging. NY: Polity. Times Higher Education, 2008. UK scholars are slowly but surely heading into the blogosphere. Zoe Corbyn reports. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 26 January 2012]. Toral, J., 2011. Impact of blogs and social networking sites to business. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 25 January 2012]. University of New Hampshire, 2010. Students grades not affected by social networking. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 26 January 2012]. Williams, J.B. and Jacobs, J.S., 2004. Exploring the use of blogs as learning spaces in the higher education sector. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 20(2), pp.232-47. Read More