The Impact of Online Communities and Social Networking - Essay Example

THE IMPACT OF ONLINE COMMUNITIES AND SOCIAL NETWORKING STUDENT’S NAME INSTRUCTOR’S NAME COURSE TITLE DATE OF SUBMISSION Abstract In the current world of technology, many firms do operate and interact with the consumers via social networks or online communities. Firms are motivated by the fact that consumers who join online communities will spur economic activities of the firm through joining the famous social dollar. This business report will cover both the positive and negative impacts of social networks across all age groups especially the youth. It will also highlight issues relating to entertainment products which are launched through online communities. The persistence of social dollars with time also affect the range of product sold by firms.Community data and subsequent analysis will reveal the extent of social connections and display of personal pages in relation to business beings. Executive summary Social networks have gained popularity in the last ten years. The reason as to why they have become so popular is because the youths and students both in colleges and universities have access to them and use them to get global access. The social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and Skype have brought laziness for many nowadays. In the public limelight the use of social network has not been fully positively received because of the effects it has created in the growing generation that is so much exposed to technology. Online marketing is done through third parties such as online comunities such a Facebook which has built its own choice of marketing networks. Fading of the real human contact is another negative effect on the social networks. The more time the students spend on these social media sites, the less time they will spend in interacting and socializing with the people in the society like friends and relatives. This absolutely affects the skills we should exercise in communication. For instance a student using the social media will get used to the corrupted social media language, when he gets used to it becomes difficult to write even assignments in class. They will not be able to communicate and socialize effectively in person with other people. Credit card overspending is another negative effect of the social media. The phones the adults use takes a lot of credit in accessing the internet. Because they are on the internet and the social sites they keep on topping up their accounts so that they can be on the social sites all the time. Because of the addiction they have developed in that they can’t do without the social sites it has become so expensive to run the internet devices. 1.0 Introduction The existence and rise of social media has seen marketers strategize on how to reach out to the consumers through this forum. Most of the Americans spend their time social networks, blogs as compared to other online activities. An approximate figure of 23% of he social sites is engaged with business strategies all over the world. It is easier to follow consumers through social networks and sell your products. Firms spend almost 20% of their marketing budgets in social media marketing. Consumer engagements are built through social media marketing and brand building and this is a major component of the social media. According to Forbes insight 2009, majority of the chief marketing officers see online social networks to be very flourishing avenues for business growth as years goes on. Business data reveal that in 2011, the US marketers spent up to $2 billion on social media and there is a projected figure of $5 billion by the year 2016. Online marketing is done through third parties such as online comunities such a Facebook which has built its own choice of marketing networks. Good examples of online communities include Amazon, Kraft foods, Buy.com, IKEA, Disney, Lego and Gamble. Top 1oo global brands host their own network of online communities without the necessity of third parties. Other firms are following the same trend as this s now a top on list technology investment plan for most firms. 2.0 Discussion, findings and report arguments Social networks have gained popularity in the last ten years. The reason as to why they have become so popular is because the youths and students both in colleges and universities have access to them and use them to get global access. The social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and Skype have brought laziness for many nowadays. In the public limelight the use of social network has not been fully positively received because of the effects it has created in the growing generation that is so much exposed to technology. In the society the use of the social network has diverted the time of young people instead of using their time efficiently they spend their better day updating issues that are of less importance to the society. The things they learn from the celebrity profiles have changed up their minds completely and this has affected their images in that they want to dress and talk likes them. On the other hand the education value has been reduced by the social media in that students are now obtaining faster information from the social media. The social networks have taken the reading habit now books have become a rare thing in the minds of many. Social networks post easy information that they obtain easily but not sufficient to enable students to do their studies in a quality way. This affects their learning and research abilities. They have been brainwashed by the social sites. This has greatly affected the performance in the class (Raj 23). Social networks have highly contributed to the multitasking by students while in class. Students who get involved in activities on the social networks sites while carrying out their studies diverts their attention and reduces the concentration to teachers and reduction in their focus of attention. This causes poor scores in their academic performance, and concentration to study well. For instance you find that students are doing their homework and at the same time they are chatting on twitter. Sometimes I blame it on the technological devices that support this application. Students go to class with their mobile phones and this should be controlled in the schools. Fading of the real human contact is another negative effect on the social networks. The more time the students spend on these social media sites, the less time they will spend in interacting and socializing with the people in the society like friends and relatives. This absolutely affects the skills we should exercise in communication. For instance a student using the social media will get used to the corrupted social media language, when he gets used to it becomes difficult to write even assignments in class. They will not be able to communicate and socialize effectively in person with other people. The employers are getting more and more unsatisfied with the communication skills of the fresh graduates who come fro the colleges and universities because they have been greatly influenced by the social sites. Many have been turned down in the employment opportunities because of this reason. The effective communication skills are the way to success in the real world not only in school but real life situations for example at work places. In fact the reduced command over language use age and creative writing skills, students mostly use slanged words and very shortened forms due to the impact the social media has created in them. The social network has also contributed to increased use of drugs among the youths. From the perspective of the way they interact with people on the internet exposes them to the abuse of drugs and engagement in unnecessary sex because of the peer pressure they get from the peers in the internet. Because they see the negative things other celebrities and social site friends do they get influenced hence end up doing the same unethical things other people do. Their effect that arises from this is the increased uncontrolled births due to the unprotected sex hence affecting the lives of many youths in the country. The negative side which has been condemned by many is that the social network has created a platform for sharing dirty messages, nude pictures and arrogant conversations which are abusive in nature. Psychologically the young mind gets affected and they grow up with the mind of negative thought that the internet is all about the social networks. They should be guided such that the young growing generation is aware that the internet and social sites can be of positive use in our daily lives. Social media sites can make it make it more difficult for us to differentiate between the meaningful relationships we foster in the real world, and the numerous casual relationships formed through social media. Through the interactions in the social sites imaginary relationships are formed. For example you find someone in love with somebody in another country and they have never meat at all. On the other hand someone engages in friendship with someone he has never met before some of the friends we find on the social sites are not good, some may meet you on the first day and harm you since you have never known the person before. Therefore, we have to be very careful of the friends we form on the social sites. By focusing so much of our time and psychic energy on these less meaningful relationships, our most important relationships are being weakened with the imposters on the social media and sites. The act of cyber bullying is another negative effect of these sites. The immediacy contained in the social sites is available to predators as well as friends. Kids especially are subjected to the practice of cyber-bullying in which people who have evil minds end up subjecting the young to kidnapping and bullying or even pretending as people their victim's trust; attack the young ones in front of their friends and peers. The consequences of this of these online attacks can permanently interfere with the mental status of someone and this may be very costly to the family and the community around. In several well-publicized real life cases, victims have even been brutally taken to suicide. The lack of knowledge about someone afforded online can bring out dark shortcomings that might otherwise be suppressed. Cyber-bullying has spread widely among the young generation who has been mainly the victims of cyber bullying. Social networks have contributed to decreased productivity. While many businesses use social networking sites to find and communicate with customers, the sites can also cause devastating interruption to employees. Many businesses are more concerned with the contents of the social sites in what their friends are posting rather than perform the duties they have been assigned in the office. The study conducted by the African technology body shows that damage to productivity caused by social networks is very high in fact it is believed that a country may end up very poor if the population continued to engage themselves in social networks rather than engage themselves to the development of the country. The Chicago school Research team reported that Facebook alone consumes more than 1.2% office productivity while Slick researchers claimed that British companies lost 2.4 billion a year to the social network effects. New technology products have become available that allow social networks to be blocked but this is not the total solution to the problem because its use is still at will. Reduced privacy in the public domain is increasing through the social media. Social networking sites encourage people to be so much open on their life’s even end up exposing their secrets to the social networks. Because intimate details of our lives can be published very simply. The users are so much exposed to bypass the filters they might normally employ considering that they are so much open about their private life. What's more, the things they post remain available for everybody to see. While at one moment one may think that a photo of friends doing some unethical things at a party may seem harmless, the image may appear less attractive in the mind of the employer doing a background check. This is not good as it creates a very dirty and indecent, while most sites allow their users to control who sees the things they've posted, such limitations are often forgotten, can be difficult to control or don't work as well as advertised. The other effect that many scientists have warned about is the influence that social networks have on the normal human health. From research it has been found that the more time people spend on the social sites affects the normal functioning of the brain. Oxford University neuroscientists’ discovered that repeated use of the social sites rewires the brain. When the brain has been rewired it may permanently cause the mental problem. Credit card overspending is another negative effect of the social media. The phones the adults use takes a lot of credit in accessing the internet. Because they are on the internet and the social sites they keep on topping up their accounts so that they can be on the social sites all the time. Because of the addiction they have developed in that they can’t do without the social sites it has become so expensive to run the internet devices. The money that has been budgeted to other essential thin and like food gets diverted to the credits used in browsing. This is a negative aspect of the social site. 3.0 Conclusion In conclusion, as stated before, today social networks are the main tools of communications. Networks like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace and so on can have a great impact on human life. The social sites may be of positive reasons, but truly the negative reasons are more and diverse compared to the positive effects. Therefore, I advise the parents and the society as a whole to take care of the young ones who are getting affected by the social sites and provide guidance required in bringing them up morally. However, if we remain defiant and keep engaging in the social sites we are going to regret about the consequences. Individuals join shared networks to share their experiences about specific brands,consumption patternsa and products.The objective of setting up the social networks is to raise the level of customer engagement.This will will inturn create consumer loyalty to the advantage of participating firms. REFERENCES ABRAHAM, A. (2012). Computational social networks mining and visualization. London, Springer. EARNSHAW, R. A. (2001). Frontiers of human-centered computing, online communities and virtual environments. London [u.a.], Springer. FURHT, B. (2010). Handbook of social network technologies and applications. New York, Springer. GIBSON, A., COURTNEY, N., WARD, A. S., WILCOX, D., & HOLTHAM, C. (2009). Social by social: a practical guide to using new technologies to deliver social impact. UK, OpenMute. HOWARD, T. W. (2010). Design to thrive creating social networks and online communities that last. Burlington, MA, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. OZOK, A. ANT, & ZAPHIRIS, PANAYIOTIS. (2011). Online Communities and Social Computing 4th International Conference, Ocsc 2011, Held As Part of Hci International 2011, Orlando, Fl, USA, July 9-14, 2011, Proceedings. Springer-Verlag New York Inc. PHILLIPS, D., & YOUNG, P. (2009). Online public relations a practical guide to developing an online strategy in the world of social media. London, Kogan Page. ROMM-LIVERMORE, C., & SETZEKORN, K. (2009). Social networking communities and e- dating services: concepts and implications. Hershey, Information Science Reference. Read More