The Role of Online Social Networks - Essay Example

Critically discuss the role played by online social networks. How do this/these media technology/iesaffects peoples daily life? E.g social relations,social identity,, etc. Table of Contents Critically discuss the role played by online social networks. 1 How do this/these media technology/iesaffects peoples daily life? 1 E.g social relations, social identity,, etc. 1 Table of Contents 2 Introduction The 21st century has given man numerous gifts. Life, as we know it, changed completely and permanently with the birth of a new kind of communication medium known as social media networking. It was less than a decade ago that this complex yet popular medium started with the launch of Myspace, as a new and integrated social network. Since then, social media networking has taken over our lives with an incredible pace. The notion of modern communication roots back to the invention of the telegraph and television, yet the extreme impact which this modern medium has on our lives is implausible and unmatched.The urge to stay connected with the friends, family and even unknown world is unquenchable and voracious. The list of the social networking sites goes on and on, with major sites like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and Orkut,, etc. This raises many questions like why, what and how these sites are becoming a central part of our life and why we are becoming more and more involved in this craze of being updated and keep updating? Emergence of Social Media Social networking’ has become a vague term which requires some explicit explanation or even a new implicit definition. These social networks are mainly based on Web 2.0. According to O’Reilly (2007: 17-37), Web 2.0 stands for websites which are created to: (i) Rely heavily on utilization of large groups which are not manipulated by providers of content (ii) Gather and merge substance from other sources (iii) Strongly bring together users and substance/content It should be noted that social interfaces and networking have brought new meaning to the societal acceptance of the internet through its method of changing its usage to put together progressively more flawless connections for unmatched shared presence and networks both online and offline. This means the internet’s function has totally and permanently changed in comparison to ‘its original function as a haven for largely anonymous or pseudonymous identities forming sui generis social networks’ (Ess 2011) Modern Medium of Communication The communication mediums of the past have failed to provide such vast access to constant communication: we can connect globally with whoever we want. This has further truncated the concept of the global village to small machines with the help of internet. Now every mobile, lap top/computer and what not, comes with the facility of the internet to gain global access to information and communication. Most importantly, social networks have brought the people closer. In the past a person abroad was a person lost forever. Now we can talk to them, see them and be connected with them in many ways. Every generation and era communicate in its own style; this has evolved from smoke signals to letters to telegraphs to telephones to now a new medium ...internet. Yet somehow the strong desire to keep in touch has been always there and always drove people to find means to communicate in one way or another. It is extraordinary that we are socially ‘networked’ and human history is evident that we have equipped ourselves of many consecutive systems and mechanisms for facilitating and maintaining these networks. The social networking is somehow very important in every walk of life in current times. These have started to shape socio-economic culture across globe. One is always at amusement at the challenge of rapidly changing and urgent nature of social networking. Now people are able to maintain a socially active bond via sitting alone in front of a computer. These bonds may berigorously familial, social, official, educational, economical or even emotional and romantic, etc. Evolution of Social Networking Sites Social networking has also transitioned from its original state. Although in the past it had a single meaning, now Social networking has itself evolved in many types of sites: General Social Networking: Orkut, Friendster, Bebo, LinkedIn, Habbo, MySpace and Facebook are many of the initial websites to exploit the new standards merely for the promotion and use of social networking. Media Sharing Networks: Recently there has been a massive increase in the sites which are dedicated to sharing of entertainment media (music, movies, dramas) like YouTube, Flickr, Hulu, etc. Micro-blogging: Tumblr, Twitter, etc. Location-based Networks: Google Latitude and Foursquare are initial networks started to provide network services pertaining to location of an entity. Interest-sharing: Pinterest and digital libraries. Anonymity and Social Media Social networking sites provide anonymity. As everyone is present online from an unknown place regardless of location on the whole globe, no one is convincingly present. Presence via social networking sites are regarded as diminished: we can block unwanted presence and can leave at any given time, no burdensome or unwelcome persons can bother us; as many screenings and blocking options are present. Unfortunately, this has lead to dual problems as well. First, we are usually missing meeting people we would have met in parks, gatherings, parties or playground by actually being present there. This can lead to isolation and lack of confidence in self. People mental state is transformed into something that requires them to communicate while hidden behind a wall. The sense of security that give the confidence to utter whatever is felt like; also takes away the ability to face the real situations; may they be good or bad,Meeting people and socializing leads to mental and social satisfaction. Secondly this immobile addiction to the web communication deprives us of socially appropriate characteristics, and we miss on the development of skills to judge real life situations which require intelligent eyes and ears, etc. the lack of personal communication diminishes the person’s likability to learn from actual experiences. It also instills the misconception among the users that experience is being gained through such communications. The morals learned through interpersonal communication has been diminished by these networks. Friendship and Social Networking Platform A new concept of global friendship has emerged linking to these sites. As discussed above social networking sites assist in relationship building. Facebook initiated as a connection for university students now has become a connection for people across globe. Twitter has become a useful source of communication between public figures and an ordinary man, actors, players, etc.MySpace was once recognized as one of the most renowned methods that musicians utilized to promote their work and themselves, and to connect with their followers.. But all this has been done by using a hyped phenomenon ‘friend’ a common terminology used by most networking sites. This novel yet expanding concept of global friendship has been regarded with major criticism. At first, it was the development of the concept ‘friend’, which invoked such a high response of intellectual interest and concerns. In the past, the main concern was that all these socializing websites will provide ‘virtual’ friendship and lack of ‘real world face to face interaction’, and another concern about the fact that these friendships will never replace ‘the real thing’ or have been condemned to the equivalent of ‘face to face’ connections’(Cocking & Matthews 2000). Many scholars like Briggle (2008:75) opposed that notion and commented that online friendships could be more sincere than offline ones, as physical distance provides secure, honest, deliberate and thoughtful exchanges in communication. ‘It was originally perceived that social networking sites will engage strangers in virtual friendship but it is amazing to note that the majority of users of these sites are using them to mainly better and enhance relationships with the people they are closest to, away from the online world, like close familial relations, class fellows and co-workers’ (Ellison, Steinfeld and Lampe 2007; Ito et. al. 2009; Smith 2011). So, these sites both develop new bonds and enhance the old ones, all at the same time. Masses/Public and Social Networking Services It has been questioned many times that if these sites have enough impact to manipulate masses or public (Ess 1996 and 2005b; Dahlberg 2001; Bohman 2008). The feedback could be positive to some extent; like the revolutions that took place in 2011 in the North of Africa countries of Egypt and Tunisia. Facebook and Twitter were off the record involved in this. (Marturano 2011; Frick and Oberprantacher 2011). Facebook and Twitter and their sister sites are facilitating, sharing and exposing their user to a very diverse range of information: articles on serious topics, funny clips, scientific studies, daily horoscopes, birthday reminders and wishes, corporate statements, celebrity endorsed products, personal commentaries, event sharing, music videos, silly status updates, etc. and in between all this many serious political or other campaigns are managed. Although it is within the liberty of the user to decide what the person should access and devote his or her attention to, it is almost impossible to shield oneself from diverse private and public opinions and concerns of the fellow users. Social networking sites are criticized for “false sense of activity and accomplishment” (Bar-Tura, 2010, 239). ‘Like’ or ‘dislike’ or comments on your post and useless feedback to your updates may give you a false sense of achievement. It is important to note that these kinds of likes or dislikes are not enough tools to judge your achievement or failure. As, these sites are capable of producing a false sense of achievement. They are also producing a false senseof failure and leads to depression.Smith (n.d.) in his article has revealed that excessive use of social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter is causing depression and frustration in youths. This sometimes comes in the form of relationship break ups, spite, isolation/rejection and as a Similarly, Dreyfus (2004:78)  categorically states that “anyone using the Net who was led to risk his or her real identity in the real world would have to act against the grain of what attracted him or her to the Net in the first place”.  He also adds that commiting oneself unconditionally and accepting possibility of danger are part and parcel of online social networks. Privacy Issues and Social Networking Services Urgent and complex issues have been raised with this massive use of social networking sites. These include restriction of information (Elgesem 1996), controlling right to use or get information (Tavani 2007) and wholeness of context (Nissenbaum 2004),, etc. These privacy related issues have been heightened by the non existentprivacy practices of the many networking sites. Some common practices that might generate a high level of concern are ( Shannon, 2012) ): “the potential availability of users data to third parties for commercial, surveillance or data mining purposes; the capacity of facial-recognition software to automatically identify persons in uploaded photos; the ability of third-party applications to collect and publish user data without their permission or awareness; the frequent use by SNS of automatic ‘opt-in’ privacy controls; the use of ‘cookies’ to track online user activities after they have left a SNS; the potential use of location-based social networking for stalking or other illicit monitoring of users physical movements; the sharing of user information or patterns of activity with government entities; and, last but not least, the potential of SNS to encourage users to adopt voluntary but imprudent, ill-informed or unethical information sharing practices, either with respect to sharing their own personal data or sharing data related to other persons and entities”. A lot of disapproval has been directed towards ‘Facebook’ for its privacy policies. (Spinello 2011). Privacy policy changes again and again without prior knowledge of its individual users. Lanier (2010) portrays this point quite skeptically, saying: “The only hope for social networking sites from a business point of view is for a magic formula to appear in which some method of violating privacy and dignity becomes acceptable”. So, the excessive use of these sites makes us vulnerable to many types of privacy breaches. To mention the breaches which are less destructive are: being watched, private pictures become public, successes are shared and our losses are mentioned. Further, many cyber crimes are reported by hacking into systems or bank accounts, etc. Social Networking Services and Cyber Crimes No benefit comes without a price. Similarly social networking systems have especially been criticized for initiators of many crimes: cyber bullying, cyber stalking, copyright violation, illegal surveillance, child exploitation, intellectual property,as well as identity theft. Many are bemused by the extent of private information shared on social networking sites on a daily basis. It is risky to ‘over sharing’information but if kept a keen eye of care, the benefits of these social sites are far more than the drawback and disadvantages. Everyday people, especially teenagers, are getting cyber bullied. With such an easy access to the basic information about an individual, identity theft and exploitation of a person has become a common occurrence. The primary negative impact of this is on females, who are exploited and abuses through blackmailing. Although security facilities are provided, which allow the users to limit the information that is available for public-viewing, these can be easily bypassed. Numerous cases have been observed about stolen and misused identities, in which the person commits any act desired, while some other person has to face the consequences. In the current world of wars and problems, identity is the primary aspect that is needed to be protected. With each passing day, new crimes and issues are emerging relating to social networks. The advantages are many but outweigh the risks only if due diligence is observed. Social Networking Sites: Youth This is an exciting time for youth to take an interest in easily accessible media. Newer technology at unprecedented pace is now available to youth. It gets exciting every now and then with new medium is available. With this constant development and change, it is a constant source of amazement and interest of the youth.   Due increase in the ease of access to utilization and establishment of new media, the same measure of challenges that come with it have emerged.StToday the use of technology plays a central but different role in shaping the lives of our youth.   Ito et al. (2009:2) state that: “. . . Although today’s questions about “kids these days” have a familiar ring to them, the contemporary version is somewhat unusual in how strongly it equates generational identity with technology identity”. A personal profile is created when anyone joins a site like Facebook or Orkut. We happily share personal information like our names, where we are in our relationships, what we do professionally, our ethnic background, personal pictures, videos, the religion to which we belong, our ethnic background and our interests,make new friends or converse with former acquaintances. Approximately 91% of youth tends to use these networks for communication and sharing with already knownfriends (Lenhart & Madden, 2007). Use of these sites gives confidence and greater exposure of information, social contacts and the broader community to our youth. Ahn (2010), in her study concluded that “regular users of facebook and Myspace who are high school students report substantially larger levels of social capital than the non users. “ A statement which establishes the point that it provides an understanding of such cultures and items to the youth which they normally do not have access to. None the less, excessive use of media sites by teenagers may lead to isolation, lower interest in school or family life, depression and lack of judgment, etc. A conference paper byKarpinski (2009) created an upheaval that college Facebook users are more likely to get lower GPAs thanother students. The time which is most important for the development of educational grounds and knowledge is wasted on useless net surfing and status updating by youth. Unfortunately, youth today is so engrossed in wasting time on these sites that they are somehow unable to draw the line between its advantages or disadvantages. Subrahmanyam and Greenfield (2008:124) comment that “the youth today have a hard time finding the line that demarcates the virtual from the non virtual world . . . For them, ICT is vital for their social life and the virtual and non virtual worlds are all psychologically related. In this regard, the online world is a field for developmental issues from the offline world”. A recent research revealed that teenagers are increasingly using codes for the activities on those sites to hide the reality of their activities from parents, siblings and sometimes even regular friends. These codes provide the opportunity to do whatever they want without any fear of social judgment and embarrassment in front of people. Sex has emerged as one of the biggest hurdles facing the youth in regards to new media. The youth being the highest users of these sites are at a high risk of exposure to unhealthy sexual practices and attitudes is highly probable. This therefore poses as a big challenge for the youth since most of them depend on the media for direction. In relationships that exist on the social networks, misuse of social media creates tribulations that actually never existed in the past. Childish misunderstandings, inappropriate photos and discussions that emerge from social media, cyber space bullying and all sorts of things that happen online can create societal issues for the youth. They can result isolation and might lead to psychological issues as well as emotional distress that might take a lifetime of therapies and efforts to recover from. Media use and accessibility create real problems, and the youth needs supervision from trusted adults. The internet may come with its challenges but it should be noted that it also offers many options and openings for the youth to get more information, expand their expertise and put forward ideas for a larger audience. Therefore it is the burden of the adults to provide freedom to their children, on these networks according to their intellectual and maturity level. The access should be a step by step procedure, rather than providing an unlimited and unrestricted pass to do as they please. E-learning, anovel concept of online learning has emerged. Youth, always been more open to new techniques and social networking, are taking maximum advantage of these sites. Now learning process has become easy and everyone can have access to different kind of learning experiences. More importantly, the youth gain further from the internet than adults since they are more open to emerging media, using it to gather information, for reference and gaining access to resource materials that are important in their learning process. In addition to this, these networks have also provided the youth with a platform to state their opinions, and gain a degree of independence. Numerous youngsters are earning their own resources and gaining appreciation for their talents. They have created a platform for themselves, through these networks, in order to promote their talents. This provides them a sense of confidence in their ability. But, this is a double edged sword, as if the work is not appreciated or is ridiculed, the confidence of the individual shatters. This destruction of the confidence can be more dangerous as compared to the boost provided by appreciation. Students and Social Media Social networking for students and youth can be either beneficial or disastrous on the account of its positive or negative aspects. We mustacknowledge some very positive impact the use of social media has on students: Firstly, in the age of digital information, knowledge is not now some individual property. It has achieved a massive social status. Know students are able to access information and make the best of it using networking. Social media platforms are regularly used in by students for group studies and it allows them to prepare them for real life work experiences.It is now easier than ever to know or find out something about almost anything in the world through connected media. Additionally, students now have access to information about the latest findings research and scientific discoveries.It is not easy and needs a lot of skill to be endlessly connected globally. This polishes the modern skills like information evaluation and media communication. So, through the use of social media platforms, every student can have the chance to express their views, share different approaches, or make constructive arguments. This can also spark greater and fruitful conversation in the classroom. As every coin has two faces, similarly, the current topic has two dimensions for youth and students. Firstly, no doubt, social networking is a distraction for students. It is not only a distraction from studies but on a greater level distraction from gaining offline intellectual recreation, like reading books. Many students face the fear of being considered backward or socially unaccepted; if they are not constantly making their presence know via different sites or networks. For this, many students are willing to take bigger risks like a failure in academics or familial relationships, loss of privacy and offline social life; rather than avoiding constant activity on these networks. Facebook, Twitter, text messages, and other social media tools provide on brief, quick, meaningless interactions without much fear of the consequences. This leads to emotional hijacking and selfishness, with no courage to develop deep social engagement, academic or studies. Teachers can use this vast medium to their advantage and make their students learn in many effective ways. They can encourage their students to learn and make positive use of the information available online. Students can save a lot of money by reading e-books. Teachers can make themselves available on these sites. This will encourage students to ask questions; which they would have not asked in front of all their class, and greater transfer of knowledge from teacher to students.They can share the latest knowledge and research via these platforms. We cannot certify the use of this medium in our educational systems, as being right or wrong. It is an evolving method of communication and most probable to gain recognition and dominance in the future. Proper judgement can only be made once this system has reached its final state, till then it is beneficial to utilize it by minimizingthe negatives and devise new ways of interaction using social media. Conclusion Social networking sites as an endless part of our daily lives haveassociated advantages and disadvantages. For example, we can make friends from all over the world; get to understand different cultures yet get detached from our own culture and family life. Our accounts get hacked and big mess is waiting for not only us but also the people linked to us on these sites. Social networking as a great revolution has taken over our lives. Confidence, sharing, socializing and interacting are the main advantages. Once shy are now able to open their thoughts and ideas to others. Sustaining relationshipswithsteadycommunication is made possible. Unlimited benefits lure us towards the use of social networking sites. It should be taken into account that how much information we are sharing and with whom are we sharing. We should be very vigilant in protecting our privacy through privacy filters. There should be a restriction on the content available to anyone. The restriction can be positive and constructive. It is better to have a self modifiablemethodof restricted access than to have a government censorship. This is matter of respect of the other person’s information, in addition to privacy concerns.We should respect our privacy and same goes with others to make the best of these social networking sites. Since, youth is the main focus of this essay, it is to be emphasized that it is very easy for a teenager to get ensnared by many illegal activities taking place online by these social networking sites. This fascination might lead to irrecoverable damages; recovering from which can be a challenging task to achieve. 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