Meredith Lewandowski
Professor Batra
CM491
April 3, 2013
Social Media Revolution
Social media has taken the world by force. Whether its Facebook, Twitter, or Linkedin, people in today’s society crave social media. Little by little, the Internet has taken one of the largest roles in people’s lives today. It is hard to say whether these social media sites are doing more good than harm. Staying connected, meeting new people, and finding jobs are all great uses of these sites, but unfortunately there are people out there that will always try to ruin something good.
The college generation today would probably tell you that their first social media site that they used was called Myspace. This was geared towards the younger generation. Many people in middle school and high school used Myspace. This was a big hit until something even greater came along. Something that seemed more prestigious because only few were able to access it at the time. Slowly, a social media site started to take over the world. Facebook was one of the Internet’s first social networking site that was established back in 2004 that still growing to this day. “There are no close to 1 billion people registered on Facebook and half of them use it everyday. Research from The Social Habit shows in the sample surveyed, 80% of Americans between 12 and 24 have a Facebook account,” (Schaefer). This is an unbelievable amount of people connected to one specific site. There is hardly another brand that anyone could possibly think of that has that amount of people interested and using it all of the time. When Facebook first started up, it was specifically only for college kids. You had to sign up under your college in order to participate. Once Facebook realized how big of a hit their site was becoming, they opened it up so that everyone, no matter their religion, their ethnicity, how poor or rich they were or where they lived, could use this site to its full advantage. Almost anyone that uses Facebook would tell you that it is a great site.
But which social media site is better today? Each social media site has its own purpose and suits different peoples needs. Facebook is used for people who want to stay in touch with friends and family and even meet new people. Facebook is almost like a storybook of your life. Some will post pictures of their life while others write statuses about how they are feeling. You can put as much of your personal life on it as you want. The newest feature to Facebook is the instant messaging which draws in a lot of users. You can see if your friend is online and you can talk back and forth, and even if they aren’t, you can still send them a message for later. Making friends and relationships on Facebook is a large reason why many people use it as well.
Facebook makes meeting new people extremely easy due to the fact that it allows you to add up to thousands of friends, and acts as a social melting pot of the Internet. If you comment on a friend’s status, and one of their friend’s comments on it, maybe you two will strike up your own conversation. This can lead to a great friendship down the road (Barricella).
Surprisingly enough, many relationships start on Facebook. It is like a match making site in its own. You can stay connected to people in your area especially if you “like” or “share” some of the same interests. Talking online can be much easier for some people then if they were to call someone or talk to them in person. Many relationships especially high school and college relationships start by chatting on Facebook first. You start “liking” their pictures and commenting on how great they look, you send a personal message to them and voila! A relationship has started!
Another great positive aspect of Facebook is that it lets people express themselves. There are many ways to express how one is feeling on Facebook. They can either post lyrics, or pictures, or just vent about their day. To some people, they love that they can tell the world their problems because maybe they have no one else to listen to them. Others think that this is a very annoying aspect of Facebook. A big controversy going on today is people posting political statements on Facebook. Many feel as if this is not the place for that. Twitter is certainly the place to express how you are feeling. They have many groups associated with Twitter to help people vent to the world about gun laws or gay rights. Facebook tries to keep their site clean of any unnecessary drama such as nudity and illegal things, but unfortunately if it is not brought to their attention, they will not see it to remove it.
Although there are many great aspects to Facebook, as have been mentioned, there are a lot of scary parts that come along with all of these social media sites. A lot of people, especially children, have not been taught what is acceptable to put online. These people do not realize that harm that they could do to themselves just by giving out an ounce of information online even if it’s only for a brief second. Someone, somewhere, saw what you posted, whether your privacy settings are locked down or not. People tend to think that as long as their privacy settings are set to only their friends, that only their friends are going to be able to see it. These people are what some people call “ignorant.” To start simple, there are things on Facebook that could hurt people but not necessarily in a life threatening way. A big downside to Facebook and other social media sites is the addictiveness. Some say being addicted to social media is taking it too far. But in order to be addicted, it must hinder your life in a negative way. And for some, that is exactly what social media is doing.
If you're not paying for the product, you are the product. And that's the real cost of social media access: becoming a product. Advertising and sponsorships keep the lights on in your favorite social networks and what they pay for is access to you. The more we engage, the more the networks track and analyze. The more they track and analyze, the more they can charge advertisers (Fiorella).
Since these people do not have to pay a dime to use these sites, they are getting scammed instead. Did you ever wonder why you are constantly seeing ads for your favorite sports team or these cute new pair of shoes you were looking at on the side of your Facebook page? Facebook now has tracking devices that can tell what you are Googling and looking at on the Internet so that they can pay these companies money to put their ads on your page, knowing that you will like them or be interested in them. To some, this is very helpful, but to others, they might wonder what else Facebook is tracking. And these people need to remember that they are tracking everything! From every picture to post to every message you send “privately.” Nothing is private.
Another downside is that people are getting distracted on these sites because they want and need to constantly check up on everyone. It has formed a bad habit for people. While these people should be working or listening to their professors in class, they are instead scrolling through their news feed on Facebook or looking through their tweets on Twitter. “The total time spent accessing and engaging in social media sites has increased 37 percent in the U.S., representing 121 billion minutes (up from 88 billion minutes the year before)” (Fiorella). Workers are constantly getting in trouble and college students are constantly getting yelled at for not paying attention because they need to check on their social media sites. These sites distract you from what is really going on and what is really important in life.
Although there are many negative side effects that come along with social media sites, there is one that many people tend to forget or ignore. Cyber bullying is the most dangerous, life threatening case there is to come from the Internet. If it weren’t for social media sites or e-mail or instant messaging, this would not happen. But unfortunately it is not possible to shut something down just because some people abuse the privilege of the Internet. “Cyber bullying is the harmful application of technology by students wishing to extend the reach and impact of their bullying behavior during and beyond school hours” (Ryan’s Story). There are many levels of cyber bullying, none of which are OK to do at all. Unfortunately, the worst case that can come from cyber bullying is suicide.
There have been many cases of suicide due to cyber bullying, but one of the first cases truly recorded was the case of Ryan Halligan from Essex Junction, VT. In 2004, Ryan committed suicide because of the countless amounts of threats he was receiving online. Growing up, his parents knew that he was slightly different from his peers and went to special education classes up through the fourth grade. They noticed that Ryan was being picked on starting in the fifth grade. He went to counseling to help him deal with the situation and his parents thought this was helping. What they didn’t realize is that Ryan started hiding everything. Even though his parents did everything they could to try and prevent these things from happening on the Internet, it wasn’t enough. They knew all of the passwords to Ryan’s things, they told him he was not allowed on instant messaging sites. But of course everyone knows that children do not always listen to their parents. Since Ryan’s mother had all of his saved passwords, after his suicide she was able to get into his files and read all of the terrible messages sent from other children. As was noted earlier, it is always easier for people to say things via the Internet then say them to people’s faces. This is the negative consequence that can happen. These children obviously didn’t know when enough was enough. Even after Ryan’s death, his mother was still receiving messages online saying that they were happy about it.
Shortly seven months after Ryan’s death, Vermont’s Governor Jim Douglas “signed into law a bill establishing bullying prevention procedures for schools,” (Ryan’s Story). Douglas knows that this bill cannot solve everything, because people can’t be helped if they do not wish to be. But this has put the awareness into schools all over the country so that teachers and friends and family can look for the signs and help these children that are being bullied. They stress the importance of not putting things online to the public and instead talking to people face-to-face or even on the phone.
Social media has become such an important aspect of most people’s lives. There are many good and bad things that can come from these sites. Some people will use these sites for good such as making special connections with people, but others will abuse the privilege of having things at their fingertips on the Internet like bullying or being addicted to the point that it hinders their lives in a negative way. These social sites are only going to keep growing more and more popular as the years go on. People need to learn how to use them properly before more life threatening things happen to others.
Works Cited
Barricella, Nick. "The Positive and Negative Effects of Facebook." HubPages. N.p.. Web. 4 Apr 2013. <http://nickbarricella.hubpages.com/hub/The-Positive-and-Negative-Effects-of-Facebook>.
"Cyber Bulying." Ryan's Story. N.p.. Web. 4 Apr 2013. <http://www.ryanpatrickhalligan.org/cyber_bullying/cyber_bullying.htm>.
Fiorella, Sam. "The Addiction and Cost of Social Media." Huffington Post. N.p.. Web. 4 Apr 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-fiorella/social-media-addiction_b_2749102.html>.
Schaefer, Mark. "Three Amazing Ways Social Media is Changing the World." Grow. N.p.. Web. 4 Apr 2013.