What Impact Do Social Media Sites Have on Love Relationships - Term Paper Example

What Impact Do Social Media Sites Have On Love Relationships? Executive summary This report provides detailed information on how social media impacts love relations. The method of acquisition of data includes secondary data. The results of data analyzed shows that social media affect relationships significantly. The report finds the impact of social media on relationships both positive and negative. The recommendation discussed include: users of social media need to involve face-to-face interactions in managing their relationships, users of social media should avoid jeopardizing their own privacy on social media. Table of content 1. Introduction 2. Business question 3. Research approach 4. Definition of relationship through social media 5. Impact of social media on people’s life 6. Social media and their role in relationship initiation 7. The contrast between relationship before social media and after social media 8. Result 9. Conclusion and Recommendation List of figures 1. Figure 1 2. Figure 2 3. Figure 3 Introduction Since the introduction of massive social medial in mid 1990s, electronic media has reshaped the way people convey message to each other (Wheels et al, 1984). Emails, twits, forums as well as instant message have introduced a new meaning for the term community. Social media has successfully managed to provide a platform for exercise of romantic relationships. Most people use social media sites such as Myspace as well as Twitter to not only create relationships, but also to sustain relationships with other people (Urista et al., 2009). The purpose of this report is to expound on how the growing demand has resulted to creation of thousands of web sites as well as social media. The spending so much time on social media as well as web site affects the personality of the users. Additionally, more energy is diverted to the virtual than real life and people have been found to lose track on their own personalities while building online ones. This report will provide detailed information on how social media really impact on people’s lives. It will however detail specifically on people’s love life. The limitation of this report however is the use of mainly secondary data in justifying that social media impact on love life of people. Business question What impact do social media sites have on love relationships? Research approach Non-academic as well as academic information regarding the business question (what impact do social media sites have on love relationships) was used. The non-academic information required was taken on popular forums that talked about the subject but also on psychological essay realized on this topic. Academic information on the other hand was obtained from many reports that were consulted with the intention of having global idea on the topic as well as the information that was to be used. Research and development about this subject made by doctors were also taken into consideration. Books about psychological influences and media impact on people were also part of the academic information. Information concerning numeric data such as statistics and numbers was taken from recent studies as there were many recent papers on the subject. Definition of relationship through social media Relationship as defined in social media, is an interaction that involves following of people of interest as well as keeping in touch with valuable people with aid of both face-to-face interaction as well as networking interactions. Impact of social media in people’s life Loss of privacy In his work, Ellison (2006) assert that social media is a public web-based services that provide users with a platform to develop personal profile as well as identify other users with whom they are closely connected. According to him, the sites allow users to send to each other messages which trigger their relationship (Jiang, Bazarova, & Hancock, 2011). Apart from messages, users also include pictures for their loved ones as well as update their relationship status. From this, it is evident that social media hampers with the privacy of the users. Tarnish of users’ names A lot of the information provided in social media such as Facebook and Twitter are gossips; social media is very good in spreading propaganda (Tufekci, 2008). In most occasions, the spread information tarnishes the names of social media users (Zhao & Martin, 2008). For instance, the use of Facebook is associated with spread of negative information of people because of the uncontrolled posts on the site. Some of the users of Facebook have also the habit of posting negative comments as well as photos on other users’ profiles. The negative comments as well as photographs unfortunately hampers with the name of innocent users. Use of internet in making social contacts According to the study carried out by Baym, Zhang, and Lin (2004), a good number of young youths value the use of internet in making social contacts. In their study, they found out that e-mail led in terms of communication, followed by chat and instant messages. Of 51 participants in their study, 49 admitted that they use two of the social media channel in conveying messages to their loved ones. Similarly, one of the studies that were carried out by Sheeldon (2008) showed that 27% of young adults rely on social networking site in communicating with their loved ones. Thus, social media enhances people to make social contacts and as a result make people’s lives easier. Social media fulfills users’ communication wants Social network plays a very significant role in enhancing communication. It is one of the convenient methods of conveying messages and it provides the ability to stay in touch with friends as well as family on the users own time (West & Currie, 2009). The social network allows users to manage their own interactions at their own time. As a result of this, lovers use it in controlling the social interaction of each other. Additionally, it is one of the efficient methods of spreading information (Urista, Dong, & Day, 2009); individuals in relationships use it in spreading information concerning their relationship. Thus, social media makes people’s lives easier by enhancing quick and easy communication. The rate of usage of social media leads to lose of users’ time According to Lenhart et al., (2010), approximately 57% of the persons who use social network are of the age between 18-29 years. This scope of users, the active age in terms of relationships, uses multiple social media websites in satisfying their relationship quest (Welch & Rubin, 2002). An analysis carried shows that majority of the social media participants spent about 30 minutes each day socializing, mostly during the night hours between 9 p.m. and 12 a.m. According to the analysis, students also spent approximately 50 minutes each day on Facebook. Over 50% of college students also visit social networking sites very many times (Sheldon, 2008). This is also evidenced by the study carried out by Arnett (2000). According to their findings, about 82% of college students login into Facebook many times a day. Surprisingly, majority of those who visit social media sites juggle or track their love relationships. Therefore, it is evident that social media contributes to lose of users’ time. Loss of face-to-face communication Internet technology has significantly affected face-to-face interactions. However, the study by Baym et al. (2004) shows that quality and quantity of love interactions is not affected by social internet sites. According to him, local relationships rely more on face-to-face contacts than use of internet (Wilmot & Baxter, 1983). He however, asserts that long distance relationships are maintained via use of internet just like phones. From his finding, “one can assert that internet interactions are high in quality and slightly lower than face-to-face conversations and telephone calls” (Baym et al., 2004, p. 34). Social media and their role in relationship initiation Social media trumpeting the relationship status The social networking site referred to as Facebook has over 900 million active users worldwide (Facebook, 2012). This number includes 74% of the U.S. adolescents and young youths aged between 12 and 24 (Baker & Oswals, 2010). Nearly three quarters of the Facebook users visit the site at least six days a week (Facebook, 2012), and the U.S. users spend much of their time in Facebook compared to other sites. Although people communicate about their relationship status with others, the public nature of the social media make it easier to spread information about the status of people’s relationships to wide scope of people using the social media compared to the traditional face-to-face method of passing messages. With the use of Facebook, given information pertaining to love relationship spreads to a large group of social media users in a matter of seconds. This is also in connection with Blair and Holmberg (2008) findings. According to them, social networks contribute significantly to people’s romantic relationships. According to Sprecher (2011) and Sprecher and Femlee (2011), the nature of Facebook also makes its users declare their relationship status as well as upload relationship photographs online. Social media communicative processes escalate relationships Social media enhances communication process between individuals in relationship. It is through the enhanced communication that relationships escalate as well as stabilize. According to Knapp and Vangelisti (2009), social interactions via media initiates as well as allow experimentation of relationships. Facebook, which the most popular social network system, provide users with many diverse platforms to express themselves. For instance, it has a timeline, about feature, likes, friends, status updates, news fed, and a message service (Walther, 2008). These affordances have the potential to shape how individuals in a relationship communicate with each other in addition to how the parties involved about their relationship to social networks (Lui & LaRose, 2008). Conveying of relationship status Social media are also associated with the listing of the categorical relationship status such as single, in relationship, or married. Unlike other social networks, Facebook advanced its way of presenting relationship status: rather than just listing relationship status, it allowed users to identify as well as link to their partners on their profile (Lenhart et al., 2010) and (Walther et al., 2008). For instance, instead of just listing John’s status as “In a Relationship,” Facebook allows John to connect to his significant to make his relationship appear as “In a Relationship with Dorcas.” The same link will also appear on Dorcas profile, and as a result initiate their love relationship. The contrast between relationship before social media and after social media Before the introduction of social media, love relationships were enhanced by face-to-face communication. Each party in a relationship made movement from their places to specific points to meet their loved ones. During that time, there was also great use of letters in passing relationship messages. It is the introduction of social media that led to the advancement of the way people maintained their relationships. Social media made parties involved in a relationship to pass messages without meeting physically. Social media also increased relationship security; it led to the drop of the use of middlemen in passing message (Walther & Parks, 2002). Additionally, social media enhanced the existence of long distance relationships which rarely existed before the introduction of social media. Fig 1Derived from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/5-tools-that-help-measure-your-social-media-influence/ The graph expounds on the fluctuations in twitter activity among young youths. Fig 2 Retrieved from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/5-tools-that-help-measure-your-social-media-influence/ The graph shows an increase in usage of twitter in communication. Fig 3 Fig 4 Fig 5 Retrieved from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/5-tools-that-help-measure-your-social-media-influence/ The bar graphs shows how use of tweets in communication is highly valued. Interpretation and analysis of my report Fig one shows an increase in number of social media users with very few of them leaving. The high number of joiners is as a result of new relationships as well as an increase in monitoring. Fig 2 also provides the same information but in a different way. The high number of comments as well as likes is often associated with relationships. As discussed above, table 3 ascertains that the number of students engaging in social media is alarming. The high number of students using social media correlates with the number of students under relationships. Fig 3, 4, and 5 expounds on the time spent on social media by their users. According to those figures, it is evident that people in relationship spent a lot of time on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Result Social media such as Twitter, Myspace, and Facebook influence love relationship significantly. Social media enhances the coming together of a couple with common interests. In bring together a given couple, thorough expounding on their common interests. Social media has also the potential to impair with love relationships. It achieves by jeopardizing its users privacy in the name of being open to their respective relationships. For instance, it is evident that social media forces the persons involved to echo out their relationship status to all users of the social networks (Ellison, 2006). Additionally, information provided in social media such as Facebook leads to confusion that result to breakage of relationships. Apart from wasting time for those in a relationship, social media also hampers with face to face communication of lovers. The loss of face-to-face communication contributes to loss of attachment between those in love relationships. The time spent on the social media by the users also leads to boredom that is associated with loss of feelings for love relationship. Apart from jeopardizing with its users privacy, social media has the potential to sustain long distance relationships. It provides relationship partners that reside far from each with a platform to share photographs and relationship updates. It also enhances parties residing far from each other to communicate to each other enhancing the survival of love relationship. Social media is also associated with quick spread of information regarding relationships. The rapid spread of information love relationship initiates relationships. Social networks such as Facebook also boosts relationships by ensuring the users have declared to the public about their relationship status. The declaration of relationship status enhances continuous unification of persons in a relationship. Additionally, the update of relationship status also aid significantly in keeping away relationship vultures (Zhao & Gramsmuch, 2008). Social media also provides a significant communication platform for relationship information. It allows people in a relationship to communicate with each other via message system enhancing the unification of couples. Social media is also associated with breakage of some love relationships. In most occasions its users posts bad information about their enemies resulting to crop of differences between people in a relationship. Conclusion Social media impacts love relationships significantly. It initiates relationships by providing a platform for declaring relationship status. Social media also enhances parties living far from each other to remain in touch; it enhances the existence of long distance relationships. Social media also enhances communication between people in a relationship. Apart from trumpeting relationships, social media communicative process escalates relationships. Social media is also associated with the cropping of challenges in love relationships. Apart from jeopardizing with the users privacy, social media also affects the existence of face-to-face communication. Social media is also associated with loss of users’ time. Recommendation People in love relationships ought to embrace technology and use social media in order to initiate their relationships. It is also crucial for the users of social media to observe their privacy by avoiding posting everything about themselves. Additionally, traditional face-to-face interactions should be enhanced in order to avoid the occurrence of misunderstandings as a result of social media. References Arnett, J.J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. 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