The Positive and Negative Impact of Social Networking on the Society - Essay Example

The Positive and Negative impacts of Social Networking on the society Name of Student: Course: Institution: Date submitted: The Positive and Negative impacts of Social Networking on the society Social networking is apparently one of the prevalent trending issues in the 21st Century. Being at the core of the channels in which the current world conveys messages and information, social networking plays a major role in shaping the lifestyle of many people. Going by the statistics released in 2015, 76% of the Americans adults using the internet agreed to be social network user[Pro16]s. This is way up from the year 2008 when only 26% of the American adults were part of social networking sites[Pro16]. It is thus a clear revelation that social networking is part and parcel of many people’s lives. A social network can be defined as the representation of the flows and relationships occurring between groups, organizations, people, computers, animals or information processing entities. In the modern day society, social networks are formed on the grounds of the existing relationships[Web16]. They are however geared towards the establishment of interaction where people with relationships arising from family ties, institutional or common interests can maintain their touch. The common social networking sites where such interaction happens include Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. The social networks in their very unique existence present advantages and disadvantages to their users. The analysis of the pros and coins associated with social networking can be the basis of the move to either support or reject their existence. The advantages of social networking The first advantage that social media presents is the fast spread of information. Social media attributes to more than 50% of the manner in which people get to learn about the most recent news[Pro16]. In the U.S.A, 27.8% of the population get their news updates from social media. Social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter, which are prompt to make news updates, provide material to 65% of the traditional news reporters[Pro16]. A second advantage of social networking is in the field of academics where students with access to social networking sites and media report better performance in school[Imt15]. 59% of scholars accessing the internet report to having used the social networking sites to facilitate their discussion of academics related topics. 50% of students use the sites to discuss their school assignments[Pro16]. According to a publication in the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, college freshmen are encouraged to make use of social networking sites to develop networks in which they can socialise and build their morale to reduce the rate of drop out cases[Pro16]. A third advantage of social networking sites is the fact that they enable people to improve their relationships and also to make new friends[Can151]. 52% of the teenagers using social media report that the use of such sites has helped them maintain better relationships with their friends. 88% of the teenagers report to the use of media being an avenue for keeping in touch with the friends they don’t meet or see regularly. 57% of these teenagers report that social network sites enabled them make new friends[Pro16]. Social networking is also responsible for the formations of teacher-student collaboration platforms outside their classroom. In the year 2014, Edmodo, which is an education-oriented social networking site which facilitates the connection between teachers, students and their parents reached a 49 million user base mark[Pro16]. In the U.S.A, 80% of their college faculties make use of social media to communicate to their students and for the achievement of their course objective[Pro16]s. Skype, which is also a very important networking tool enables teachers and educators to invite guest teachers, experts and resources persons to their teaching sessions. Universities and colleges have also found the use of social media quite essential in the recruitment and in the retention of their students. Four-year institutions are more popular with the use of social media for this very purpose. 96.6% of these four-year institutions use Facebook for the recruitment of the students, 83.4% of them use Twitter and 79.3 % reported to using YouTube[Pro16]. These universities and colleges have also reported to their reliance on Facebook application and related social media platforms to increase their student retention. There are also institutions that use these social networking sites to give the students an around the clock accessible system. Another advantage of social networking has been in the building of an audience for artists and musicians even before they are able to access corporate contracts[Ann15]. Most teenagers heavily rely on the use of social media to view or listen to their preferred music as opposed to the use of radios and CDs. 64% of teenagers report to the use of YouTube in their listening to music[Pro16]. The list of musicians who have been discovered on YouTube is endless. A case in example is the famous Justin Bieber, discovered on YouTube by Ludacris another famous artist. Justin Bieber was worth $290 by the end of May, 2016[Tom161].The likelihood of the attendance to an event, according to The National Endowment for Arts, has been found to be three times likely to be bigger if there is the interaction of the event organisers and event attenders through social media[Pro16]. Small, medium and large corporations have had part of their success attributed to the use of social networking sites[Ann15]. Small business and enterprises have greatly benefited from the availability of free social networking platforms on which they can grow the popularity of their businesses by connecting with potential customers. They have also been able increase the popularity and the view of their products and services. Close to 90% of the large corporations utilising social media platforms in their ventures have reported to achieving at least a single business benefit[Pro16]. For instance, large restaurants and chain stores are making use social media in the dissemination of information to branch managers, in the training of their employees and in receiving feedback from their customers on specific items. Most companies already have a functional and well established social media platform by now. A very societally relevant advantage of social networking has been in the disarming of social stigmas[Pro16]. There are a number of marginalised groups in the society which prior to the advent of social media had a hard time trying to reach out to the masses on what they were discriminated for. Wipe out Homophobia is a Facebook site in which gay people can get to speak openly to the online audience in order to increase homosexuality acceptance in the society[Pro16]. There is also the Sticks and stones campaign on Twitter which is aimed at the reduction of discrimination on people with learning disabilities and those affected by mental health conditions. Prolific blog authors also come up strongly and use their experiences to lessen the stigma that the society places on people undergoing similar suffering. Jenny Lawson, who is the author of her blog called “The Bloggess” has had her struggles with anxiety disorder, depression and OCD, and she has managed to lessen the stigma directed towards people suffering the same conditions[Pro16]. The Disadvantages of social networking Social networking has its drawbacks, some of which can be quite far-reaching. Some of the drawbacks that the users of social media users in the society have encountered in their various walks of life as explored below. One of far reaching disadvantages of the use of social media has had is in the harming of students’ chance in college admissions[Pro16]. Most college administrators are adapting the use of Facebook profiles to gather evidence for illegal behaviour by the students seeking admission. In 2014, a survey dubbed the Kaplan Test Prep, was able to establish that 35% of college officers in charge of admissions took time to go through student’s profiles on social media in order to know more about their personalities[Pro16]. This survey was also able to establish that 16% of the admissions officers attributed the information on social media as a negatively impacting on the chances of admission of the students. Students are however naïve about the possibility of their social media content ruining their admission chances with only 3% believing that social media plays any role in admission. Another drawback that the society has had social networking for is the fact that it enables students to cheat in their school assignments and tests.an example is the case in which the students in Houston and California ( New York City) went ahead to post photos of tests on various social media. The students who had completed the standardized tests gave those who were waiting to get into the examination centres an opportunity to view the questions and answers to the tests. Similar problems have been experienced by the SAT where students taking the examinations earlier go ahead to post the examination questions on social media. In the month of March, 2015, there was an incidence in Maryland where two students faced allegations of having cheated in their 10th Grade Common Core tests through twitter posts. Within the first three months of the year 2015, Pearson (a company liable for the administration of standardized tests) was able to identify 76 cases in which students in six states posted test[Pro16]. The disadvantages of social networking do not leave out employees in their various work levels[Can151]. The use of social media during work hours has been found to take a toll on employees’ productivity. 51 % of employees falling in the 25-34 age bracket report that they access social networking sites during work hours[Pro16]. In the USA, two-thirds of employees in their various organisations report that they access their Facebook accounts during work time. Going by the arithmetic approach, employees spending 30 minutes daily on social networking sites would eventually cost an organisation with 50 employees an average of 6500 productivity hours in a year[Pro16]. The workers tend to concede with this fact since 51% of them agree to productivity being negatively impacted on by the access of social networking sites during work hours. Academic institutions are once again on a losing end when it comes to the use of social networking sites and media. Students who heavily use social media tend to deliver lower grades as compared to those who do not spend as much time on social media. A study conducted on various categories of social media use had the heavy social networking media users scoring a 3.06 GPA average. Students whose use of social media was minimal had a 3.82 GPA average[Pro16]. The students who juggled between study material and the use of social media during study time were found to score 20% lower in their tests. The study also revealed that every extra 93 minutes above the 106 average minutes spent on Facebook daily led a drop of students’ grades by 0.12 points. Most educational instructors tend to side with the proposition that social media negatively impacts on students more than it positively impacts on their studies[Pro16]. A study publication, in the American Journal of Family Therapy, made of 2nd September, 2004 came up with the conclusion that secondary students’ grades declined steadily after the 30th minute spent daily on screens. This includes the students’ mobile phone, laptops and related electronic devices. After a period of four hours on the screens, the students’ average GPA drop by a full grade, the study reveals[Pro16]. Social networking practices more so those related to advertising may lead to the invasion of the other users’ privacy[Can151]. A marketing report from ExactTarget brings to light the manner in which a brand owner can get to access information about a user upon their clicking of the like button of a Brand page on Facebook. Such information includes ones work information, their birthdate, their school affiliations and all the related information that the Brand page owners may be interested in finding out about. Simple algorithms can be used on the information a user avails on social media to determine one’s personality traits, their sexual orientation, signs of depression, alma matters, and their place of residence. These algorithms can determine this information even without a user of social networking sites places that data on their profiles[Pro16]. Another negative impact of `social media use can be in the facilitation of inappropriate relationships between students and teachers. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) was, in the year 2014, able to open 179 cases related to inappropriate interaction between students and educators[Pro16]. Education experts attribute these relationships on the increased social media use in learning institutions. Social media makes it possible for the unsupervised interaction to occur between teachers and students. This can within no time transform into inappropriate or sexual relationships. A District Attorney working in Alabama, upon prosecuting a number of teachers who had engaged in inappropriate interactions with student, made the claim that social media has to blame for the scenario. This, the attorney claims is as a result of the lack of a wall to govern what the involved parties say to each other on social media that they cannot say in person. Social networking presents its advantages and disadvantages which to the eyes of an impartial observer may come up as equivalent in the, magnitude of impact. The choice therefore lies within the hands of every being as to how they will exploit the social networking platform for the achievement of their personal objectives. References Pro16: , (ProCon.org, 2016), Web16: , (Webopedia, 2016), Imt15: , (Ali, 2015), Can151: , (Canada, 2015), Ann15: , (Smarty, 2015), Tom161: , (Gerencer, 2016), Read More