Category: Effects of Social Media

Does Facebook Need a Dislike Option?

Will offering Facebook users with a dislike button provide them more ammunition to spread hate across the social media platform? The Dislike button has been one of the most popular debates out of all Facebook’s features, and it could be the time to weigh up the potential benefits and drawbacks of allowing users to voice their disagreements.

At the Facebook HQ, CEO Mark Zuckerberg, describes his view on the Like button as a way to “Express a positive emotion or sentiment when someone puts themselves out there to share something.”

He goes onto to say: “You know a lot of times people share things on Facebook that are sad moments in their lives, or are tough cultural or social things and often people tell us that they don’t feel comfortable pressing Like because Like isn’t the appropriate sentiment when someone lost a loved one or is talking about a very difficult issue. Giving the people the power to do that in more ways with more emotions would be powerful but we need to work out the right way to do it. So that it ends up being a force for good not for bad and demeaning the post people are putting out there.”

This expresses a very valid reason to avoid adding a Dislike button to Facebook’s list of features. If, in some situations, even a Like button is not considered appropriate, then maybe a Dislike button would just add fuel to the fire.

Three years ago, it appeared Facebook was attempting to meet users halfway by introducing Reactions into the news feed. Zuckerberg’s company revealed that more than 300 billion Reactions were used in the past year, with the love heart being the most popular. Much to people’s surprise, surpassing the ‘sad’ and ‘angry’ Reaction.

However, this did not satisfy the users and as a result, last year, Facebook trialled an ‘upvote/downvote’ button for comments. Facebook were clear with their intentions behind this, stating that the purpose of this was not for disagreement, but instead, to take away the impact from comments with “bad intentions.” This lasted all of a few weeks, and then they disappeared, with no noise of their return.

Reddit user, Jamie Tallica commented on the potential use of a Dislike button: “Imagine being a generally ignorant, racist, bigoted idiot and commenting something obscene online? You might post a comment that really offends 18,000 out of 20,000 people, but it shows 2k likes from like-minded idiots. This sends out the wrong message – this tells people who are just passing that the opinion is popular, there’s a lack of balance without the effort of commenting and getting involved in spat. Add a dislike function and suddenly that comment has 2k likes, but 18k dislikes, which tells people that this is an unpopular viewpoint and might make people think twice about what they say, or take a rain check on their attitudes.”

This proposes an interesting argument, as mentioned by Tallica, the ability to comment leaves posts far more open to disagreement and argument as opposed to a dislike button. Which offers a subdued and quick way to offer your opinion. This can also be applied to the matter of fake news on Facebook currently, as other users can catch out the promotion of fake news with a Dislike option. Once again, voicing an opinion very matter-of-factly. Whereas the current use of the Angry Reaction could quite easily allude to anger towards the content topic, not the validity of that content.

There are of course, just as many arguments stating this dislike option would not be beneficial. Although the use of a dislike button on Facebook could force users to think more before posting their opinions, it has an even greater potential for misuse and with the issues Facebook is facing concerning fake news, it may not be the best time to add a gamble into the mix.

Does Facebook Need a Dislike Reacting Button?

Social Medias are made to give enjoyment to the people especially to the youth. One popular example for that is Facebook. It allows an individual to connect and communicate with different people around the globe. Also, it serves as a way for people to gather and disseminate information, express what they feel and their opinions, and share their experiences on their daily lives. Facebook is a very well known type of social media in which every individual are known to be participative and active.

Active in a way that you can react to any statuses and photos posted by others. The real question is, “Does Facebook need dislike reacting button?” We opposed to that statement. We don’t really think that this type of media needs a dislike button. Dislike means not enjoying or loving the sight of an object so having a dislike button would mean that a person might not be loving or liking such status or post that can lead to lack of confidence to someone and might hurt his or her feelings. Little thing matters and we all know that today’s generation, millennial are sensitive and prone to insecurities and depression.

Through the years, Facebook has changed a lot to make it more fun and engaging to the users. From only having the like button, now it has released various of reacting buttons allowing the users to select which emotion, such as like, love, haha, wow, sad and angry, suits best for the status posted. What’s missing in that list though? It is the ‘dislike’ button. Many Facebook users demanded to having the dislike button for them to be able to show their disapproval and that they disagree to that certain post. But we strongly disagree on having a ‘dislike’ button on Facebook for we find it offensive and unpleasant. Others may also use it to bully or upset people. For instance, if you posted a picture and 78 of your reactors reacted like and love but there’s one who reacted ‘dislike’, what would you feel? Surely, you’ll be offended and curious as well since you posted a fine picture yet there is one who dislikes it. You would likely ask yourself, “Is my picture awful” or “Why did someone dislike my photo? Is it unattractive?” Maybe the one that reacted ‘dislike’ just used that button for fun, to tease you or to annoy you on Facebook but you will never know if they are serious or not.

Moreover, Mark Zuckerberg stated in his interview in Townhall that “a lot of times people share things on Facebook that are sad moments in their lives, they don’t feel comfortable pressing Like because Like isn’t the appropriate sentiment when someone lost a loved one or is talking about a very difficult issue.” Yes, like may be not the appropriate button but ‘dislike’ button isn’t the answer either. You can react sad, right?

In conclusion, there is no need to have a ‘dislike’ reacting button on Facebook. If you disapprove or disagree on someone’s status, you can either ignore it and just keep scrolling or leave a comment to express your opinion and support. As what Daniel Van Boom said, “A dislike button would let people give their tick of disapproval without contributing anything meaningful.”

The Economics of YouTube

Almost all of us are familiar with YouTube the Google owned video sharing platform, but not all of us are familiar with its beginnings and the impacts it had on the consumer-producer world.

YouTube which is now considered a monopoly in its field was founded by three PayPal employees, who ran the company from a small office, which was above a small restaurant, in a Californian city. From such humble beginnings, it has become so prevalent in today’s media landscape, such that around 500 hours of content are being uploaded every minute. YouTube did not stay small for long. By the end of the year, kingmakers Sequoia Capital had invested $3.5 million, followed by another $8 million alongside Artis Capital Management in early 2006. Venture capital was not the only source of interest in the company: in late 2006, Google, no less, came knocking. $1.65 billion in stock later, YouTube was a Google (now Alphabet) property. The main reason why YouTube has been able to beat other competitors is the unique and innovative features it serves to both the content creators and users both alike. While it was and still is a stock of user-created content, it is now widely used by brands as a platform for marketing, it is also used by the film industry to promote their interest and also by musicians and artist to release their art, it is also used in politics, for example, to host the debates in presidential elections for the US. Here are some quick statistics to show the dominance and wide influence of YouTube, There are more than 2 billion active users monthly, it was the most downloaded app in the year 2018, One billion hours of YouTube content is viewed per day, YouTube app is downloaded in more than 5 billion android mobiles. The statistics clearly show the marketing potential of YouTube.

Looking at the gender demographics of YouTube, we see that the YouTube world is fairly male-dominated, men spend 44% more time on the app according to data collected by open slate, they also found that in 51 categories of the content posted on YouTube, the males are the major viewers in ninety per cent of the categories. The below graphs show the female and male-dominated categories in YouTube, while the women are into fashion, cosmetics, and music, the men dominate in sports, gaming, fitness..etc.

Looking at the age demographics, it’s not shocking that younger tourists tend to spend more time on the site. In summary, according to comScore information, YouTube has a huge audience, reaching 81.2 percent of Internet users in the U.S. YouTube drew 31.8 million users between the ages of 18 and 24 in March (98.3 percent of U.S. Internet users in that age bracket) who spent on the site an average of 10 hours, 15 minutes. For YouTube advertisers, buying beauty and fashion channels via Google Preferred — bundling the top 5 percent of YouTube channels for ad buys in any given vertical — is a good bet to target women efficiently, especially young teens and millennials. Beauty and fashion, according to OpenSlate, is a common category, with 582 million views per month across its top 100 channels.

How do people earn money on YouTube, this question intrigued me much as a child. Some of the ways are through google ads, product placement, and YouTube sponsorship.

• Google ads: Some people make money through the ads appearing before their videos on YouTube. YouTubers sign up through Google for an AdSense account that tracks how many impressions a video gets. An impression is counted as a viewer watches the video for more than 30 seconds at any time. AdSense revenue is based on the number of views shown during the video and the number of clicks on the advertisement. There is a 45-55 split policy in which 45% of ad revenue is kept by google and the rest 55% is to the content creator.
• Product placement: Payment of the service is another way for people to monetize content on YouTube. When a company pays the YouTube content maker directly to endorse an item and feature it in the video, payment for product placement occurs, generally speaking, the more people watching a video, the more it has value for an advertiser or sponsor. Therefore, it is likely to generate more revenue for the creator of the content. For people interested in benefiting from YouTube content, one of the most important priorities is to increase the size of their audience.
• YouTube Sponsorship: This is the thing all YouTubers yearn for, so what is sponsorship, it is when a brand invests in a YouTuber when the brand feels that the YouTuber is successful and reliable. The YouTuber may be paid by the brand to create a one-off video specifically about a product launch, a company event, a website opening, or something like that. Or, the brand sponsors the entire YouTube channel and then, in each video, YouTuber must recommend (or use) the product. The income a YouTuber receives from the sponsorship is variable depending on brand and content, but here is a rough idea. YouTubers earn from the brands for the pending video starting from $10 to $50 per 1,000 views anywhere, depending on the estimated number of total views. If the video hits or crosses 1 million views, YouTuber will make $10,000 to $50,000 anywhere.

But it’s not always a profit for YouTubers there are challenges additional to production costs, such as the average rate for pre-roll advertising is significantly lower than that for a traditional media channel like CNN, but at the end of the day if the YouTuber is able to gather a large base of viewers or subscribers, and get more views for their videos, the income they receive will be enough for a livelihood. In fact, the highest-paid YouTubers make more than 20 million dollars per year, which is no wonder why people are flocking to make money on YouTube.

In conclusion, we have seen the influence, and reach of YouTube in today’s modern world, how brands use the content to promote their interest, and how content creators make a livelihood from the ad revenue and also use it to improve and expand their content.

The Facebook Privacy Scandal

“The Federal Trade Commission has approved a fine of roughly $5 billion against Facebook for mishandling users’ personal information, according to three people briefed on the vote, in what would be a landmark settlement that signals a newly aggressive stance by regulators toward the country’s most powerful technology companies,” ( ). Besides for the fine, Facebook also has to give more insight of how data is collected when it comes to the users. This is one of the biggest fines that many have seen, especially when it comes to online platforms. According to N.Y. Times, Facebook has been violating laws and agreements since 2011. “That earlier settlement which came after the company was accused of deceiving people about how it handled their data, required the company to revamp its privacy practices,” ( ). The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) also has filed claims with Facebook because of their targeted advertisements. “The Department of Housing and Urban Development alleged that Facebook’s targeted advertising platform violates the Fair Housing Act, ‘encouraging, enabling, and causing’ unlawful discrimination by restricting who can view housing ads,” ( ). By doing this, landlords and realtors can exclude people such as people with kids, people of specific cultures or ethnicities, or people that have service animals. Another issue with the company is that hackers were able to get into users accounts and steal their information. Hackers try to steal information such as name and address and they are able to get into their other social media platforms. This goes hand and hand with the invasion of privacy. More claims against the company have been that they are not up front with what data they take whenever you do sign in or make an account. There are instances where people will click on the button that say save your password. When this happens, employees for the company are able to see the users’ passwords in a directory. Lastly, the final major issue that has been happening with Facebook is the facial recognition system. Whenever people upload photos, you are given the option to tag people in them. Facebook has started using this to “suggest” that it could possibly be the person that is actually in the picture. More and more claims show up as time goes on with this company and they continue to get into trouble for it.

A law that was broken in this case is the discrimination law for the Fair Housing Act. “The Fair Housing Act protects people from discrimination when they are renting or buying a home, getting a mortgage, seeking housing assistance, or engaging in other housing-related activities,” (HUD WEBSITE). The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), filed a report because Facebook targets specific people when it comes to housing. “HUD claimed that Facebook mines users’ extensive personal data and uses characteristics protected by law – race, color, national origin, religion, familiar status, sex and disability – to determine who can view housing ads, even when it’s not the advertiser’s intent,” (WASHINGTON). According to the HUD, relators and landlords could pick and choose who their advertisements were shown to, and who would be excluded. This law applies because of the categories of race and gender specifically. According to the article, “It also announced several steps to address the issue, including a separate advertising portal for housing, employment, and credit ads that offers significantly less targeting options, and a new page where us users can search for and view current housing-related ads even if they didn’t appear on their New Feed,” (NEW ARTICLE). The organization is trying to sue the company in order to seek damages for anyone was harmed by the advertisements.

The second law shown is the Privacy Act. “The purpose of the Privacy Act is to balance the government’s need to maintain information about individuals to be protected against unwarranted invasions of their privacy stemming from federal agencies’ collection, maintenance, use, and disclosure of personal information, “ ( ). This law goes with the Facebook scandal because of the aspect of internet privacy and spreading private information. Hackers have been able to get into Facebook accounts and go to apps that are linked to the peoples accounts. Some of these platforms include Spotify, Instagram, and multiple others. More than 50 million users were affected, and the hackers try to access information such as name, gender, and where they have lived. There have been multiple software flaws that make it easy for hackers to get into the accounts. The rather vulnerable aspects of the company have made it a problem because of how often they have compromised information.

The third law shown is the Breach of Data. “A data breach is an incident where information is stolen or taken from a system without the knowledge or authorization of the systems owner,” (TRENDMICRO). This breach can cause a lot of damage for companies because their users will not want to use the platform anymore if they know their information can be compromised. The company has the option to store your password whenever you sign onto the app or website. By doing this, the employees are able to see a directory of emails and passwords of everyone that has logged in that way. Another instance is where they ask for your email passwords and whenever you type it in, the company imports your contacts without consent.

“The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information from individuals who live in the European Union (EU),” ( ). Users must be given insight into what the website will take from them if they continue using them. This means that it could possibly collect your data and that you are giving your permission to do it. You have to be notified and this could be shown when you are asked to agree that ‘cookies’ are used. The GDPR has been used over seas to help users control their personal data. This helps websites when making sure information is collected legally and, in a way, where you will not get compromised.

The General Data Protection Regulation has benefits that are used to support their purpose. Some benefits include clear consent rules, the right to be forgotten, improved data security, and third-party compliance. Whenever you go onto a website, companies have to make consent forms easy to understand so that the users will be able to understand and agree to the terms. When they need private information, they will make it known that they want it so you can willingly agree. If you give your permission and decide you do not want them to use or have it anymore, you can back out and they will erase it. You could also make corrections with the information you submit; they do this to make it easier to change information or correct any possible typos. Encryption is used on most websites to help fight off their hackers. Although some do not report it, most companies and organizations report the information because it could possibly ruin their company if they do not. Data breaches take place whenever this happens, and they want to be able to get their information back. Lastly, if your data is being shared, GDPR has to notify you in some way so they do not do it without your knowledge.

When it comes to Facebook, they should use the implications of the General Data Protection Regulation to help better their company. Right now, they have reports filed from all over the globe because of their lack of control with their company. The reports issued against them are constant and they seem to get worse as time goes on. If they implemented these guidelines, the people who use Facebook would be better protected from any type of compromise within the platform. Whenever you sign into the app or website, you are giving them your permission to share your information with third party websites. They never directly say that is what happens, but they cater their advertisements to what you like. If you ever are on a website on safari and are looking at shoes, chances are the shoes will pop up on an advertisement on Facebook. If you are putting your advertisements on Facebook, you must show the consumer the information you have on them if they ask to see it. They are also free to withdraw or edit any information they want when they subscribe to anything.

Impacts of Facebook Addiction on Student Academic Performance

Executive Summary

Although some research has shown a negative relation between Facebook and academic performance more recent research suggest that this relation is likely caused by excessive use of facebook.

This study examine the time spent with facebook.As well as the activities students engage on in the site. Facebook is a tool designed basically to communicate with the other but in recent study it is found that they all are using as the time wasting and spend their all energy and power in trolling on facebook with no need.Variables identified are time spent on facebook,addiction to facebook and academic performance.Furthermore, a multiple linear regression was carried out to determine the relative contribution of addiction to Facebook and time spent on Facebook to students’ academic performance.Finding of this study shows that time spent on it and addiction to it negatively and significantly affects students performance.

Introduction

Facebook is the most popular and most recognized social networking site for communication and interaction .It has over 500 million active users every month.Mark Zuckerberg founded the site on February,2004 to connect the Harvard university students and then later on this whole site widened and hundred of thousands of people joined it .

Facebook is a free social networking site and a fast growing ,It has alot of features such as photos,wall post and status updates.One can share his her photos, video ,send messages and keep in touch with friends and family .promote the business by creating page.One can use facebook live where he can stream live vidoes.One can like comment share poke and poke back .Facebook have online games.we can make new friends on this platform by sending friend requests .The wall isa space where we can share videos and new posts ,its visible to just those to whom we want and that we can do from the setting of facebook .then there is another feature which is tagging .Tagging is basically putting the names of a user and it will automatically appear on his news feed. Facebook is used by massives but university students are the biggest fans amongst all.results of one the reports shows us that 94% of college and university students spends 90 minutes online each day communicating with their friend and families.

This social network is generating billion of dollars and helping to contact relative who are far away in fraction of second but it has got adverse impact also on the student performance and health and personal relationships

Problem statement

Popularity of networking sites began in later part of last decade mostly because of school and university students.Globally currently it is been used by many people to connect with each other.Its rapid growth is reached to such extent that it has attracted many people all across including students and they have completely forgotten their purpose and aims.According to research it has affected students academic performance negatively.They are easily attracted to these social media sites and basically waste their time using it.

These website disables students and have negative impact on their academic performance by interrupting them from learning process.It not only do this but have adverse effect on student health and have strong effect on them both physically and mentally.With overdose of usage of this student become and inherit psychological disorders.This situation is very worryingsome and many developed countries are working on its causes and trying to identify the gaps and trying to eradicate it.

Variables

There are positive and negative impacts of Facebook on our lives.Talking about positive impacts it includes interaction with the friends and families and improving the relationships between family.The negative impacts are poor academic performance health and personal relationships .According to the research teens who are using facebook frequently may develop fascination with oneself and of these are not the character traits which are desirable for the child.Psychological disorders are also been observed in the teenagers due to the overdose of technology daily .teens are becoming anti social in real life and developing aggressive tendencies which can be very dangerous .As students are wasting more of their time on facebook their communication with the people in real life has decreased and depression and loneliness is prevailing or increasing .The excessive use of facebook is resulting in lower self esteem in students .they compare themselves with others who are posting picture and videos on facebook and feels insure and they are not satisfied with theirs lives .if your self esteem is low and you are not happy with the things around you .The facebook could worse your self esteem resulting in sleep disturbances muscle tension and anxiety . physical activity and the social hobbies has been affected badly.Excessive use of facebook leads to the mental health and and the physical health both .According to one of the findings 98% students have their facebook accounts with 26 %students spending 3 hours per day on the facebook and due this students skip their meals and their sleep .negative health issues are prevailing which includes eye strain reduction of energy levels back pains .students who are wasting their time on facebook are basically living in their own virtual world which is becoming the main cause of addiction disorder . this disorder keeps the students away from the real life relations and causes troubles in their career building .

Academic performance is basically how the students manage or deal with their studies and how well they complete different tasks given to them by their teachers.In the last few span the facebook usage has increased alot .students are more eager towards facebook rather than paying attention to their studies .these site are harming society and students are becoming its prey as when they are studying online they easily get attracted to just get out of the boredom and they forgot why they are using the internet .the misuse of the facebook leads to the destructive effects on their health making them unenthusiastic towards people in real life and gets isolated .some of the research shows that students who spends most of the time on facebook are those with the lower GPAs and they cannot concentrate on their assignments and homework given to them by their teachers .The facebook users usually switches from their work to visit facebook profiles and ultimately spending much time there temporally disassociated from their main work which leads to the wastage of precious time and disaster .students who use facebook’s most of the time are chatting with unknown people and sharing every personal details which can badly affects them in their future also and they don’t realize that this valuable time is not going to come back .youth is giving most of their time to the facebook not realizing that their main focus should be their studies and career and this time which they are wasting can never come back .

Statistical Support

The research shows that the people and students of all kind are using the social media facebook twitter instagram and other are increasing with every increasing year. Comparing from the 2017 to 2019 a big change in the percentage of using of social media can easily be judged. With every year people are more attractive to the social media. From this the statistical support the major change of usage of social media is of facebook. Most of the students and people use facebook for daily chatting with the relative and friends. They change their preferences from facebook. They should have to encourage to the other medium and sites which will be more helpful than that. In this they are get addicted rather than getting any advantage. In which disadvantages are more than advantages. The addiction of any thing is not useful for anyone.

The percentage change in the following year is quite challenging for any economy where people are focus on the one medium rejecting all the other more helpful and advantaging platforms. They should have to encourage to other projects. Facebook is a tool designed basically to communicate with the other but in recent study it is found that they all are using as the time wasting and spend their all energy and power in trolling on facebook with no need.

The change also damage the academic performances of the students which they waste their important time on social media. They all have to encourage spending their time to read books and novels which should help also help in their daily academic performances. Impacts of facebook and other social media by every year as shown in graph and pie chart the other curricular activities and sports interests are also starts declining very rapidly. Which should also not a good report for any economy.

The following graph and chart are showing the percentage change of number of people preferences changing towards the social media. Their usage is increasing by every year.

Literature Review

This chapter present the gathered sources from different sources.These studies will be used as a guide and support to our research.It will let us know what are the effects that might affect students while extensively using social media and facebook.

Definition of Social Networks

Person to person communication destinations (SNS) are the most recent online specialized device that enables clients to make an open or private profile to collaborate with individuals in their systems (Boyd and Ellison, 2008). Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, Cyworld, Bebo, Twitter and other informal organization destinations are the best instances of SNs that enable people to introduce themselves to different clients utilizing an assortment of arrangements; including content, video and visit administrations. These locales have turned into an undeniably significant piece of youthful grown-up life (Gemmill and Peterson, 2006). In respect to the overall public, teenagers and youthful grown-ups are the heaviest PC and Internet clients, principally utilizing it for finishing school assignments (36%), email as well as texting (26%), and playing PC recreations (38%) (DeBell and Chapman, 2006). SNS consolidate a rundown of different clients with whom people share an association. In any case, not at all like some other web administration, SNS enable people to make obvious their rundown of associations with others and to navigate their informal organizations (Boyd and Ellison, 2007). Consequently, more than virtual Lessons from Facebook people group brought into the world on the web, SNS are typically online networks made and kept up to reflect disconnected connections.

SNS can be characterized as online administrations that enable people to build an open or semi-open profile inside a limited framework, articulate a rundown of different clients with whom they share an association, and view and navigate their rundown of associations and those made by others inside the framework (Boyd and Ellison, 2008, ). Facebook was made by Mark Zuckerberg to support private school and college understudies to distinguish understudies in other living arrangement lobbies. It is portrayed as ‘an online index that associates individuals through informal communities at schools and colleges’ (Zuckerberg, 2005). Sites, for example, MySpace and the more mainstream FB have a large number of enlisted clients, with FB turning into the overwhelmingly increasingly prevalent SNS (comScore, 2009; Gonzalez, 2009).

COLLEGE-AGE USERS

The age of 18-multi year old clients has been alluded to by numerous names – millennial, cutting edge, and most basically, age Y, a considerable lot of who are currently customary school matured grown-ups. This gathering of 18-multi year old clients has been delegated as computerized locals, an age who has never known a world without the Internet (Jones, Ramanau, Cross and Healing 2009). These youthful media customers are more associated than any past age, and they have a desire to remain that way in all parts of their lives.

A significant measurement to comprehend while assessing use inside this statistic is the wide exhibit of client identities taking part in internet based life discussions. Given the immense extent of clients in this age run, variety possesses large amounts of this tremendous computerized space. Among millennial understudies, for example, various accumulations of Internet-minority bunches exist as opposed to a homogenous gathering of age-confined clients (Jones et al. 2010), and the assortment of subgroups of millennial understudies utilize online life in an unexpected way. For instance, one subgroup may comprise of inconsistent clients of these advances, while another subgroup may utilize a couple of specific advances and a bigger subgroup may make broad and successive utilization of an assortment of the most recent innovations. Moreover, Palfrey and Gasser (2008) note that the general online practices that include these heterogeneous client types run the array from character investigation to media robbery or illicit downloading, excitement, and social activism – which are all showed through socially empowered media.

Conclusion

Few side effects and the symptoms of Facebook antagonistically on an understudy conduct and performance,one of the greatest impact is a lot of time on web. Another change found in understudies conduct is that they won’t invest the required energy in concentrates as they are gotten some information about the position they are on the diversions online,how numerous companions are there as their partners,scores records and so forth.

Over the top utilization of facebook, a well known informal community site, has significant positive and negative impacts on the academics, social associations, and health of the students in this study. With constrained academic advantages, extreme utilization of facebook may really expand the danger of facebook added additive behavior, bringing about less time spent on academics. It is essential to include the guardians of students, educational institutions, and the facebook expert, to work together on the best way to urge students to restrain internet based life use and convey attention to the results of unreasonable use, particularly among the student population.

Facebook Usage and Gender Differences

The differentiating effects of gender have been studied in various fields regarding Internet use due to it being such a basic demographic variable. When comparing Internet usage between men and women, it is clear that men have a much higher rate of usage, exploring a broader range of sites, however, women show a higher frequency of social media usage (Biernatowska et al. 2017). Studies have shown that more often, men play online games, contribute to discussion groups and visit gambling and pornography sites. Conversely, women show more interest in using the Internet for communication purposes which can be achieved through social networking sites such as Facebook (Ono & Zavodny 2016; Joiner et al. 2012).

According to Hargittai (2007), when comparing the use of social media between men and women, the differentiation between the two aren’t statistically significant, however, women are more likely to spend a higher frequency of their daily Internet time on Facebook compared to men. Thompson and Lougheed (2012) found that women also find themselves spending more time on Facebook than intended. These reports include feeling signs of addiction as the effects include having a negative perception of their image when seeing pictures of others, feeling anxiety and stress while on and off the platform and losing sleep. Additionally, women spend more time posting pictures, making status updates, and sending private messages and friend requests (Muscanell & Guadagno 2012). Men, however, show fewer signs of addiction, as they use Facebook for making friends, online dating, learning about events and gaming more than women. (Raacke & Bonds-Raacke 2008; Muscanell & Guadagno 2012; Joiner et al. 2012).

In order to differentiate how men and women use Facebook, it is crucial to understand the different styles of Facebook usage. As stated by (Biernatowska et al. 2017), there are six different styles of Facebook use, all differing among its users. The first style relates to general use which includes everyday activities such as communicating with other users and scrolling through the site as a form of leisure. The second style concerns users who use Facebook solely for the purpose of gaining visibility. This includes posting status updates and media on a daily basis, as these users are most notably celebrities. The third style is associated with gamers who mainly use the platform for gaming purposes, however, this is no longer prevalent as the frequency of playing games on the platform has decreased over recent years.

The fourth style relates to users who pay close attention to how they are perceived on the platform and what they post, creating a picture-perfect representation of themselves. Users who employ the second style are most likely to also utilize this style, as creating a virtual showcase can contribute to more visibility. The fifth style correlates with fan page members who use the platform to receive frequent updates about their subject of interest and contribute to discussions on the page. Lastly, the sixth style concerns users who seek information on the platform such as news. Considering this information, it is essential to recognize how preferred styles differ between men and women and how it could lead to either gender using Facebook more.

Is Facebook Making us Lonely?

This article was issued in May 2012 by Stephen Marche in The Atlantic. In this article, he told us about the technology which was more connected to our lives even more than from our still but still by using this person themselves lonely.

From the last three decades, in a country like New York people fed on extra socializing and have much less time for the real society. We live in logical contradiction the more they feel alone. We were guaranteed that we have inhabitant surveys to express huge suburbs of data. However, this is the main reason why people feel more loneliness because more than 800 million people were using social sites and Facebook is one of them. Facebook is becoming a vast day by day because the usage of Facebook is more than the coffee industry.

It is not the simple isolation which is rising sharply. Its depression as well which make people unhealthy. However , if some people have external issue loneliness is not the only reason. For example, the Dutch Twins had some anxiety because of depression. In 2010 AARP survey found that 35% of adult children are desolate because they have a lot of loneliness in their lives and might be suffering through depression and have theirs through doctors.

Another having a less friend circle is also the reason for loneliness. It might be because of confidence because about 20 to25 % people have confident to talk to the people. That is why they told us that before Facebook interacting people face to face is the socializing so that can connect with the different people. But some people might not like they don’t like to meet different people from which they also suffer from the loneliness so being in depression or living alone problem existed before Facebook.

We can get all the things in Facebook whichever we want we can like them by clicking a button of like and we can also write comments but by the press of like button is less satisfied then the personalized messages from we can interact more than any else. Moreover, people use it just to spend a time on like checking their friend’s accounts they don’t have the any valid to use Facebook. However, some people find that Facebook is not the reason for loneliness. A person who uses facebook can experience the different things by reading the other people thinking and what happens with the life they can motivate by reading them.

Moderately it depends on a people that how they are using it. They tell us that social media do different advertisement from which get to know about that what is happening around the world when the football tournament is going similarly they get to know about the different things happening around the world. Basically, technology has been made so that lives of every people become easy whether it is related to their work, to their personal issues because of technology people can’t depend on each other they buy their own. However, sometimes people feel embraced to show their feelings in front of others but because of Facebook, they can update their status by posting pictures and videos.

More than 700 million pictures get posted on facebook by different people within a weekend. However, people who were 13 to 34 years old check their facebook after waking up early in the morning whereas 28% do this when they came out their bed. Wistfulness, it would be the unreasonable in any case because Facebook tells us about human nature, and tell the bond with others. And people deny thinking about ourselves because they have connected to the Facebook more than their personal lives.

Facebook and Its Socioeconomic Impact

Introduction

A range of computing applications has been evolved in the past decades but nothing as popular as Facebook. Facebook is one of the most globally popular social media platforms in today’s world. According to a report by statista.com, there were 2.7 billion active monthly users during the second quarter of 2020 and 1.82 billion daily active users during the third quarter of 2020.

Facebooks impact on the global economy is also tremendous. According to a report by Deloitte Facebook was responsible for 227 billion US dollars and 4.5 million jobs globally in 2014 .

To further understand how computing has changed our way of life and its socioeconomic impact on our daily lives let’s look at a survey conducted by one of Europe’s leading economic firms. Copenhagen economics had surveyed 7700 businesses across all industries and sizes in 15 European countries. The survey has shown that Facebook has helped them to produce 208 billion euros worth of revenues, economically speaking an estimated 3.1 million jobs last year.

For this reason, I believe that Facebook is the best example and a perfect platform to study to understand and explore the socioeconomic impacts, challenges, opportunities, inequality, and ethical issues that have come with computing technologies.

Socio-economic Impact

Facebook has changed our lives in many ways. Whether we know it or not the way we think and see things is greatly influenced by various social media platforms and Facebook is at the forefront. It has a tremendous impact on our economic, social, cultural, and political aspects of our daily lives. Facebook has changed the traditional way of communication. Nowadays using Facebook, you can hang with your friends regardless of geographic location and get updated with each other on a daily basis. It has also created an opportunity for a lot of people to find like-minded people and build communities. By connecting over two billion people Facebook has changed the way we see the world. People can share cultures, learn new things which result in understanding each other, and promoting shared values and goals across the globe. It also creates an opportunity to create businesses and get connected to billions of people. It has also provided us with a platform where individual users can advertise to sell things as it has a dedicated marketplace. Facebook has also a great influence in political elections. Political parties and candidates can engage and mobilize a wider community easily compared to the traditional way of using the mainstream media. It also creates an opportunity for the wider community to raise awareness regarding the various issues that arise in their society and forcing politicians to address them. Although different computing applications have proved that they have significant importance in our daily lives and have played an important role in uplifting our standard of living there is a major issue that has come with them and needs to be addressed which is social inequality. One of the major inequalities concerning Facebook is the digital divide.

The digital divide is the gap between regions and demographics that have access to modern internet infrastructure services. It exists globally between developing and developed nations and locally between cities and rural areas. For instance, if we see the gap between Africa and the west while only 27% of the African population has access to the internet, around 90% of Europeans and North Americans have access to the internet.Furthermore, the digital divide among developing nations is much higher (between rural areas and cities) compared to the developed nations. As Facebook is based on internet infrastructure digital divide is one of the major issues of Facebook. The cost of using Facebook and the ability to use it on daily basis is also another factor that creates inequality. While in some big cities of developed countries wi-fi access is provided freely on the main streets and most of the hospitality industry provides free wi-fi for the wider public, citizens of most developing countries can’t afford to use and browse Facebook continuously on their daily basis as the cost of internet is much higher compared to their income. The consequences of this inequality are that billions of people are discriminated against for all the benefits that Facebook provides and are left alone creating a major social inequality. Another issue that arises with Facebook is the gap in demographics which we call the social divide. According to data released by Facebook, young people are the biggest demographic group that uses Facebook whilst the use of Facebook by elderly people (65+) is low . Although Facebook is relatively easy to use, the ease of use is another element that creates social inequality when it comes to how well individuals can utilize it. Well educated people can utilize Facebook to their needs in promoting their businesses and starting digital marketing as compared to low educated people which further increases income inequality.

Ethical use

Privacy

Another concern that comes with Facebook is ethics. Facebook collects a lot of data from its users. Users have been always worried about their privacy as a lot of their data from basic information to their likes, preferences, and even their day-to-day mood is exposed. Improper use of personal data or data breach is one of many ethical issues facing Facebook. Cambridge Analytica data scandal in 2018 is an example of Privacy issues where Facebook has been accused of misusing the personal data of its 50 million users nevertheless Cambridge Analytica has admitted to collecting data from only 30 million users.

Fake News, Harmful and Hate Speech

Fake news hate speeches and racist content are also some of the biggest ethical problems Facebook has to address and could have a devastating effect if not properly addressed. As Facebook is an online platform where users can post textual and video content and hosting live streams without any censorship, the nature of the content is a major concern. Without polarizing free speech content that promotes ethnic conflict, xenophobia and religious radicalism should be filtered out and banned from Facebook. If we consider the role of radio Rwanda on the Rwandan genocide , we can imagine how unethical and improper use of Facebook could affect our well-being and harmony. Another example is that research conducted by the University of Warwick in 2018 found that Anti-refugee racist and xenophobic posts are the main reasons for increased violence against refugees in Germany . Organized online disinformation is also another ethical issue that needs to be addressed as it could cause political and economic uncertainty and could have a great impact on our democracy.

Digital Ownership

The role of computing applications in creating the digital world is non-negotiable. Several computing applications are out there making our life much easier. But They have also posed a great concern for Digital ownership. Face book could facilitate copyright infringement as videos and contents can be shared illegally without the author’s approval.

Fraud

Facebook fraud is also a major issue. There are so many real-world events where Imposters with fake accounts are using Facebook messenger to defraud users.

Discrimination

Facebook has allowed a lot of businesses to advertise to a large range of audiences and targeted advertising is one of the common practices used by Facebook. But there are incidents where advertisers are using it unethically in which they are found to ban certain people according to their race, religion, and other interests. One example of this is that the charges brought against Facebook for breaching the US fair housing Act as advertisers are restricted certain categories of people from accessing the housing-related ads .

To tackle these ethical challenges that come with Facebook or other computing technologies governments should need to regulate it constantly and need to follow a stricter approach to reduce any conflict of interests and to force these at Facebook or other platforms to address them properly and take a strong initiative to fight these problems.

Conclusion

Computing and computing applications have a huge impact in today’s world. The rise of various social media and communication platforms has a profound influence on our economy, social interaction, and even our thoughts. Facebook as a leading social media platform has changed the business and marketing industry. It enables several businesses to build a solid relationship with their customers and helps customers to have a say on the services they get by easily sending feedbacks. It also creates us a platform where we could easily follow any news and events across the globe and a platform where we could easily share and broaden our knowledge. But on the contrary, Facebook has brought us several challenges. Improper, illegal, and unethical use of Facebook could affect so many businesses and even innocent lives. The risk that comes with computing technologies is serious and there should be a global understanding of their usage and they should be regulated by governments.

This assignment has helped me to understand the opportunities and challenges that come with computing and to realize the power of computing in both positive and negative ways. As a person aiming to join the software industry, I found this project is useful in preparing me to acknowledge the responsibility and ethics associated with computing.

References

1. https://www.statista.com/statistics/346167/facebook-global-dau/
2. https://about.fb.com/news/2020/01/european-economic-impact-report/
3. https://about.fb.com/news/2020/01/european-economic-impact-report/
4. https://www.ocorian.com/article/africas-digital-divide
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook%E2%80%93Cambridge_Analytica_data_scandal
6. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/mar/28/facebook-ads-housing-discrimination-charges-us-government-hud
7. https://www.omnicoreagency.com/facebook-statistics/
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_T%C3%A9l%C3%A9vision_Libre_des_Mille_Collines
9. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/21/world/europe/facebook-refugee-attacks-germany.html
10. https://zephoria.com/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/
11. https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2018/Facebook-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2017-Results/default.aspx