Positive Impact of the Social Media - Essay Example

Social Media Name: Date: Affiliation: Social Media Introduction Social media refers to the social interaction whereby people create and share information in the virtual communities and networks (Appel 2012, p.1340).Appel goes ahead to define social media as a group of the internet based applications that normally build on the technological and ideological foundations. It is worth noting that social media normally depends on the mobile and web based technologies in an attempt to create the highly interactive platforms through individuals and communities. They normally introduce substantial and the pervasive changes in the communication between individuals and communities. Normally, social media differ from the traditional or industrial media in various ways such as quality, usability, immediacy and ultimately permanency. Research shows that the internet users continue to use the internet more and more in the social media sites more than other sites. Social media has gone beyond social sharing, and it involves bringing opportunities and monetary income altogether (Appel 2012, p. 1342). Social network is categorized into different groups which include; the social blogs, wikis, podcasts, twitter, social bookmarking, facebook among others. All these are used in the process of networking. According to Wigmore (2014), social media refers to the collective of the online communication that is dedicated to the community-based interaction, input and collaboration. The websites and applications are normally dedicated to micro-blogging, social networking among others. Social networks have continued to impact differently on people in the United Kingdom, and that places the task under investigation. Some feel that social networks have affected positively in there and that of the immediate family others feel that it have affected them negatively. This paper seeks to demonstrate the effects of social media on the UK environment and impact that it has brought on that particular society (Benady, 2013). Positive impact of the social media It is affirmative that honesty is the best policy, and this has not been an exception in the UK. Having lived in the United Kingdom for the entire life, it is evident that the people around love telling lies despite having Christian backgrounds. However, with social media it is not possible to tell an entire lie since a loophole will appear somewhere along the way. For example, during an interview, one appears to be very honest and godly but upon viewing his facebook or twitter page you find that it is opposite of the portrayed character. In such cases, you will find employers looking for WebPages to dig more about their clients. Individuals are at their real character in the social network (Fischer & Reuber, 2011p.17). The comments that they drop on their counterparts proves the real character of this particular person. Therefore, tracking down the updates and tweets of a person will make it possible to ascertain the true character of a person. People who are honest and frank will be known through the comments and updates they post. In the case of an interview, the employers will use these characteristics and ultimately determine the person at hand (Moreno et al, 2013p.45). Multinational companies for instance apple Inc, Toyota among other fortunes 500 have twitter and face book pages that help them to fetch more customers, and eventually they become familiarizing themselves with the public. In such cases, the company will provide quality and honest information, which will be realistic in the sight of the public. The truth and honesty will always prevail in such cases (Qiu, et al 2012, p.715).). Moreover, customers will respond based on the truths, and they will give facts about what they know. They will give consumer feedback frankly and through that, the company will ultimately achieve the right feedback and consider what and where to change. Therefore, in such a case, it is affirmative that social networks are agents of truth and nothing is negligible in terms of truth. Social networks in the UK have been highly used in business. The fist social network that was invented is the email and people highly use the email in sending and receiving the business documents. Invoices are sent through the email and in the process making the transaction faster and easier. When using the social media, it is possible to advertise and promote business. Through advertising, it is possible to generate more revenue for the company hence becoming successful in the long run. Companies such as apple Inc, IBM, Amazon and others have embraced social media advertisement, and they have grown significantly. Social advertisement may be in the form of pictures, videos, audios among others, and they have proved to be very effective. For instance, in facebook, one is required to pay a little fee to the company and eventually his or her product is posted, and people can view it (Appel 2012, p.1342). Through the initiative, it is possible to overcome challenges associated to marketing since people are able to get information. In the world of business, information and taste are the most-important issues since people will buy such products that they know and that which have the right taste. All this is possible through social media advertisement. Online shopping has also been made easier through social media. People can freely and conveniently shop for goods in the social media the fact that makes it possible for business to take place. When people are shopping online, the relevant company upon the payment delivers the goods hence making the entire exercise easy and convenient. These cases have been proven to be workable and profitable hence making the entire exercise worth. The shopping sites are advertised on the social media and upon clicking the site, another link opens which provides an opportunity shop and explore the goods on sale (Fischer& Reuber2011, p.16.). Moreover, on the same site, it is possible to sell the product that one wants, and that is done through posting the picture of the product and details. Then the customer who happens to be willing contacts the individual and the transaction is carried out. At times, the company can facilitate the transaction process, or it may take place independently. Therefore, social media is an important agent of a business. With the invention of the 24-hour economy, dating and forming good relationships has become almost impossible. However, social media has formed a platform where single men and women can interact and form profound relationships (Moreno et al 2013) Relationships are paramount to each individual since human being is a social being. Therefore, social media providing a platform for dating makes it possible to integrate families and bring them together. Christian governs the dating sites and moral ethics and meeting of such people is monitored to ensure that abuse does not take place. Therefore, in pursuit of getting good relationships, people have gone ahead to form more dating sites in the social media to ensure every single person has a partner. Therefore, social media is paramount in joining people together (Moreno et al 2013). The young people and more especially in the UK have been facing challenge due to drugs and other related complications, and they have opted to solve the enigma through forming social sites where the affected people can chat and encourage those under rehabilitation. The people who are under rehabilitation have resolved to form social sites where they can effectively encourage and communicate amongst themselves in an attempt to shun drugs (Moreno et al 2013). Such sites have proved to be beneficial since some people have affirmed that they have worked for the better. Moreover, psychologists and other relevant people have formed sites where they can video conference with such people in an attempt to help them, no matter where they might be. This initiative have proved to be very workable and effective hence affirming the essence of social media. Family and school reunions have been made possible with social media. Almost everybody today is using social media, and through it, people can post information relating to a particular issue. When people are using social media, it is possible to send and receive any information to different people in the distinctive parts of the world. Through the initiative, people have been able to organize reunions and family gatherings hence affirming its essence. For instance, one of the most-important reunions is high school ones that are entirely made possible through such reunions. Therefore, it is paramount to note that social media has played a major in ensuring that such events and activities are taking place (Fischer& Reuber2011, p.17.). Finally, social media has played a crucial and indispensable role in providing jobs for the young people in UK. Most of the young people have managed to get their jobs through the internet whereby they apply for the jobs that may be posted online. Through such initiatives, they have managed to scoop good employment opportunities hence affirming the essence of social media(Fischer& Reuber2011, p.18). Moreover, social have provided advertisement jobs and through that, the young people can earn cash that they might use in their endeavors. Negative impacts of social media On the other hand, social media have proved to be contributing to bad communication skills. Extensive use of social media encourages slang language (Rodrigo Campodonico, 2012), and this has adversely affected the use of language. People who are known to be using the social media extensively are believed to be having many problems when they are using formal language (Qiu, et al 2012,p.716) Children who use it extensively have difficulties in making correct grammatical sentences since the language that is in the website is much more of slang and colloquial like. Moreover, verbal communication is hindered, and people cannot communicate effectively. They use short abbreviations affirming the rate of language death. The teenagers are the most affected since them the only one who communicates in such contractions. The G-talk, twitter and facebook has some chatting options that only require people to write simple and few words and this has contributed to the eventual fall of effective communication (Qiu, et al 2012, p.716). These chatting options have significantly reduced face-to-face communication hence people developing insufficient PR. The relationships that are formed through these relationships are not real affirming the essence of forming and establishing meaningful relationships. Therefore, considering the rate at which these misinformation and misinterpretation of information is taking it is important to ensure that measures are enhanced to ensure that the future editors and newscasters are not affected.Addiction to social media is also a menace that is facing people today and more especially in the UK. According to Koikai, (2013), Social media addiction refers to the situation whereby people are spending excessive time on the social media and more importantly the dependence comparable to drug addiction. The addiction causes people to be attached to facebook just as if it is a friend or a relative. Such cases have produced negative effects especially in the workplace, where ONE cannot be productive enough, and all they do is tweeting and face booking. The gadget that he or she is using to surf the internet determines the approximate time that a youth may spend on the internet. Those individuals who have the 4G and 3G devices are the most affected since they use heavily influence others using them. As mentioned above, addiction contributes to reduced productivity and eventually obsession. Once obsessed it is difficult to any meaningful activity (Benady, 2013). Social media in the recent past have been known to influence the politics and destabilizing peace in the entire United Kingdom. Many are times that uprisings take place, and they are normally affiliated to social media. For example, according to Gavin Stamp 2011 the social media whereby the people who were in the riots are members of particular sites in the social media-fueled the recent England riots. In that connection, it is affirmative that social media can be used to destabilize the country and more especially involving the youths to cause mayhem in the streets. Such initiatives are evils, and they should be countered at all costs. One of the best illustrations of what social can do is Egypt (Fischer & Reuber, 2011). The social media relationships will not last and mostly they end up in heartbreaks and disillusionments. Therefore, facebook relationship should be handled with care if not avoided (Appel 2012, p.1345). Many people who have dated in the social media have confessed that they were not safe and even though the relationship ultimately works, it is out of luck and the commitment of the parties involved. Otherwise, was it not for a commitment, such relationships never succeeds. Cyber bullying is also another instance where people are being trapped. When people engage in the social sites, they are likely to find friends and foes, and it is difficult for them to differentiate who is who. It is difficult to know the enemy since they all pose as friends. Children are among the most vulnerable since they are innocent and easily convinced. Many are time's children are lured into relationships, and they eventually fall prey. For instance, cases are reported where teenagers are kidnapped, and all these start in the social media. Parents are later on supposed to pay the ransom for the release of the kid. Therefore, social media have proved to be nascent when it comes to these cases. Moreover, cyber bullying can be seen from the angle of leaders and other prominent people being intimidated through social media. For example, some nude pictures of a certain politician were posted on the social media, and that was a great blow to his family and career (Appel, M. (2012, p.1346). Sexual addiction and pornography have also been associated with extensive use of the social media whereby people in discriminatively post sexual content on the internet without considering the implication that it might have on the people who are watching. Children who are underage are exposed to this content, and they ultimately end up becoming perverts the fact that is saddening and destroying the society. Some of them may start engaging in practices such as masturbation that eventually makes them sex perverts. Many cases are reported where people have posted sexual video and pictures hence contributing moral erosion. Continued watching of the pornographic materials by the teenagers and youths makes them immoral contributing to the spread of diseases and unwanted pregnancies (Qiu et al p.717). Another major disadvantage of using the social media extensively is distraction whereby people are disrupted whenever they are doing various activities. One must log on the internet to ensure that their updates are intact and to ensure that they are commenting on the updates of their friends. Therefore, one will find people always busy trying to comment on different issues on the social network hence proving the extent of distraction caused by the social media. Research postulates that social media may lead to decreased cases of self-control whereby it could lead to higher cases of spending. The Columbian university professor by the name Keith Wilcox recommends that one can counteract that through raising the self-awareness and get to know how the facebook page can do to one's life. Further research proves that the more one is exposed to food porn, the more that person is likely to eat more hence contributing to obesity and general fatness. Moreover, facebook contributes aggression whereby people may face various challenges of self-pity especially when they compare themselves with the other people. Comparing one with other people brings out some deficiencies that translate to self-pity and ultimately an aggression (Fischer & Reuber, 2011p.56). Generally, face book and other social media have contributed to depression and narcissism among the youths. Measures should be enhanced to ensure that the people are living good and normal lives. Control measures Controlling and minimizing the negative effects of social media is one of the toughest tasks that one can embark on. For instance, in an attempt to solve the pornographic menace, measures should be enhanced to ensure that such content, be it a video or pictures are not posted on the website. Those who will be caught in discriminatively posting such content should be prosecuted, and relevant measures taken to avoid such occurrences in the future. This will ultimately reduce such content on the social media (Benady, 2013). Moreover, teenagers should be guided on the effects of watching and seeing pornographic pictures since it causes serious implication on the mind and development of the child. Enhancing such measures will ensure that the strings of pornography and masturbation no longer tie the youths. Guidance and counseling are another way, which one can guide the youths on the ways to evade the negative implications of social media. The youths should get to know ways through which they can be fooled and trapped through the social media. Especially in the case kidnaps and rape, the youths should be able to know how to avoid compromising situations. When the youths are exposed to such cases, they should be allowed a hotline to call in an attempt to avoid such weird cases. In a case of depression emanating from facebook, the youth should be taught assertiveness that is an important value, and it is highly valued amongst the facebook users. Once assertive, it is not possible to be discouraged by looks, since the looks are just portrayal and the most-important thing is character (Appel, M. (2012, p.1346). The administrators of facebook and other stakeholders should post the dos and don’ts since this will guide the users on what to expect in facebook, twitter and other social media. Through such initiative, it will be possible to counteract any challenge that will emanate from usage. For instance, they should filter all the contents that are posted in facebook to ensure that no extreme photo is posted. After doing all these, it will be possible to ensure that no content that is posted will affect children at all. Such initiative will ultimately work the betterment of the social media users and more especially the kids (Qiu et al 2012,p.717). Strict fines for those who propagate crimes and revolutionaries in the social media should be taken jailed for a long term. Long-term jail will discourage other people who might want to get in social media crime such as kidnapping and political incitement. Through such measures, it will be possible to discourage any future such happenings and ultimately make social media a better place for communication and interaction. Moreover, addiction problems should be solved through enhancing discipline in its usage (Benady 2013). When one have the required discipline, it will be practically possible for him or her to use it wisely without wasting time and at the same time avoiding addiction. Conclusion In conclusion, it is clear that social media has had both positive and negative impacts. The positive impacts should be embraced, and the negative impacts should be reduced and controlled as much as possible. Reducing the negative impacts involves giving control measures that will ultimately offer a workable solution. However, social media should be not be perceived to be a monster since it has so many advantages. Effective use of the same will lead to a better society. However, when misused it will be a bombshell that will lead to moral erosion and entire destruction of the society. References Appel, M. (2012). Are heavy users of computer games and social media more computer literate?. Computers & Education, 59(4), 1339-1349. Benady, D. (2013). The future of social media. theguardian.com. Retrieved August 11, 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/best-awards/the-future-of-social-media Fischer, E., & Reuber, A. R. (2011). Social interaction via new social media: (How) can interactions on Twitter affect effectual thinking and behavior?. Journal of Business Venturing, 26(1), 1-18. Moreno, I., Bertoa, M., & Dolezal, J. (2014). Negative impacts of social media as my space and facebook on teenager.... Negative impacts of social media as my space and facebook on teenager.... Retrieved August 11, 2014, from http://www.slideshare.net/GeorgeDolezal/negative-impacts-of-social-media-as-my-space-and-facebook-on-teenagers-in-the-usa Qiu, L., Lin, H., Ramsay, J., & Yang, F. (2012). You are what you tweet: Personality expression and perception on Twitter. Journal of Research in Personality, 46(6), 710-718. Read More