Social Media as a Way to Capture the Present-Day Reality

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Table of Contents

Introduction: When Social Media Offers More than One Can Consume
A Business Venture Ahead: Powered by the Blog Comments
The Joys of Learning: Welcome to the School Cyberspace
Social Benefits: In Search for Pen Pals
Conclusion: Rethinking the Effects of Social Media on People and Progress
Reference List

In the modern world, when social media has become an integral part of people’s lives, it seems practically impossible to imagine the humankind without the blogosphere, the existing social networks which can be considered another place for people to discuss and evaluate current events.

However, the effects of the existing social media appears to be quite controversial; while social media opens a whole lot of new opportunities, it also has spawned a number of discussions concerning its negative effects. Creating an imaginary world, yet offering more opportunities for communication, social media deserves to be looked at closer.

A Business Venture Ahead: Powered by the Blog Comments

Among the numerous spheres which social media impacts to a considerable extent, business and entrepreneurship should be mentioned first.

Looking for a free promotion campaign

One of the most obvious choices to consider when deciding on the way to use social media for a company’s benefit is to create a basis for the promotion campaign out of it. If looking at the research conducted by Kriescher, one will notice that social media helps spreading the word about a number of issues starting with the local gossip and up to the recent developments in technology.

Hence, social media can be easily used as a means to push up sales and make a product more attractive, even if at first, it does not seem marketable and functional enough: “According to survey results, 88 percent of businesses are eager to start using social net-working primarily to advance business functionality” (Kriescher, 2009, p. 63).

When employees get angry

However, the above-mentioned does not mean that the strategies of involving more employees into sharing their ideas about the company will not stab the latter in the back later. According to the results of the recent research, the outcomes of employees’ negative posts in social network can seriously damage and even ruin the company’s reputation:

There are five principle worries that management has in regard to social networking: perceived loss in staff productivity, data leakage from staff gossiping freely in an open environment, damage to a company’s reputation, scams practiced by “cyber crooks,” and the open access to company information because of outdated passwords (Baker, Buoni, Fee & Vitale, 2010, p. 3)

Therefore, blogs and other social media pose quite a threat to companies.

What it all boils down to

The fact that some people use the blogosphere and other social media to their advantage to make the company look bad does not mean that social media is something to look down at. Whether the new media will be used for the benefit of the company depends on the policies within the firm – once the head of the company treats the employees good, there is no reason to expect unpleasant reviews in blogs.

The Joys of Learning: Welcome to the School Cyberspace

In the recent history, there has hardly been a single record of an average student surfing the social media in order to get ready for a class assignment. However, on that merit, half of the Internet should be considered worthless for academic purposes.

Jokes aside, most students do search for scholarly information only when pressured into it, and social media is, probably, not the best source to get objective data from. However, there are still a couple of issues which justify students spending hours in social media sites.

A pool of opportunities

There is no secret that adolescents actively engage in social media, and teachers have been using it since recently. According to Ahn’s conclusions, the results prove the social media efficiency as a learning and teaching tool: “the technical features and infrastructure of a particular SNS community impacts user behavior” (Ahn, 2011, p. 1444).

In addition, social media helps students build stronger relationships: “Early studies find that college student use of Facebook is related to positive relationships to their peers on campus” (Ahn, 2011, p. 1436). In addition, according to Ahn’s research, the participation in social networks improves the students’ self-esteem greatly (Ahn, 2011, p. 1441). Therefore, the use of social media in learning is fully justified.

Keeping with the pace of others

However, there are still a lot of issues that make social media a less fortunate choice as a learning source. As it often turns out, in the given case, it is the other side of a seeming advantage that happens to be the downside of the issue.

To be more exact, the fact that all the students are able to post their ideas, essays, and everything related to the course material might become a problem, since it is quite hard to follow a range of random posts (Hoffman, 2009).

As the research results show, “the overload of postings which made it hard to keep up, and some initial confusion by a few about having to log into a different system from the CMS to complete required activities” (Hoffman, 2009), which has its toll on the students’ performance. Hence, those who failed to follow the structure of online discussion board are unlikely to improve their grades.

Drifting through the mixed impressions

A major downside in the use of social media as a learning tool is that it is quite hard for students to follow. Therefore, it needs a better structure and a well-developed plan. In addition, the developers have to keep the interface as simple as it can be. However, when introducing new social media to the students in a proper way, they can avoid numerous complexities and use social media as a powerful tool for interactive teaching.

Finally, the aspect of socializing should be addressed. Of all the issues listed in the given paper, the aspect of communication is the most controversial one. Indeed, on the one hand, social media is created for the sake of bringing people all over the world together.

On the other hand, though, using social media means spending less time with real people, which means that social media applauds the issue which it criticized before. Hence, an analysis of social media is required.

Across time and space

It cannot be denied that social media offers great opportunities for people from all over the world to make friends, create communities, share their ideas, etc. Therefore, social media allows for having all sorts of fascinating experiences with new friends and old hobbies. One of the doubtless advantages of social media is that it literally bridges people no matter where they can be.

As the resent research results say, “Social Networking sites allow people to share and communicate with people that they have strong and weak connections with but also cross over the lines between on-line and off-line worlds” (WendyL, 2010, para. 5). Hence, there are reasons to consider social media a trustworthy means to communicate.

If relations are threatened

However, social media also has its downsides in terms of communication. As Das and Sahoo claim, “social networking site that once was thought to be helping people across the world to unite and making new relationship can also damage the relationship and make life miserable” (Das & Sahoo, 2011, p. 226).

Indeed, with the seriousness which people take their virtual lives with, the effects can be quite drastic. As the researchers explain, “Imagine one morning you find, your spouse updated his marital status to single on Facebook” (Das & Sahoo, 2011, p. 226).

The golden mean

Judging by the facts offered above, however, one must agree that the negative effect of social media as a communication means stems from its wrong use. The root of troubles with social media is that some people consider it a substitute for live communication, which it should not be.

Hence, the problem is rather in the minds of the people who misuse it than in the media itself. Once considering social media an additional opportunity, not a replacement for offline communication, people will be able to enjoy the benefits of the former.

Because of the ample opportunities for communication and the ability to share the news with incredible speed, the social media of the XXI century gets a free pass from most people.

Indeed, when considering the positive aspects of using modern social media, one must admit that the progress has eliminated the boundaries between people all over the world and from all walks of life, making the process of sharing information as easy as it can get.

Despite its obvious flaws, social media provides more chances for people to develop their business, build relationships and learn more, which means that social media has proved its value and reason to exist.

Reference List

Ahn, J 2011, ‘The effect of social network sites on adolescents’ social and academic development: current theories and controversies’, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, vol. 62 no. 8, pp. 1435-1445.

Baker, D, Buoni, N, Fee, M & Vitale, C 2010, Social networking and Its effects on companies and their employees. Web.

Das, B & Sahoo, J S 2011, ‘Social networking sites – a critical analysis of its impact on personal and social life’, International Journal of Business and Social Science, vol. 2 no. 14, pp. 222-228.

Hoffman, E, 2009, Social media and learning environments: shifting perspectives on the locus of control. Web.

Kriescher, M 2009, ‘Professional benefits of online social networking’, The Colorado Lawyer, vol. 38 no. 2, pp. 63-64.

WendyL, 2010, Social network sites have transformed the way we communicate and socialize in a positive way. Web.

Click Here To Order Now!