Premium Essay

Effect of Social Media on Society

In: Social Issues

Submitted By coolsrish
Words 13825
Pages 56
2010, Issue 1, Volume 1
The Student Journal for Media Literacy Education is published twice each year, and includes articles by undergraduate college students studying media literacy.

Social Media Impact and Implications on Society
By Nick Pernisco, SJMLE Editor

In the past five years, social media websites have become ubiquitous, giving young people a new way to interact with each other and communicate with the world. This new form of communication depends on usercreated content, not mass produced messages coming from large media companies. But as with other media before it, social media's rise to prominence has experienced some very serious growing pains. Companies like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter have struggled to balance an inviting interactive environment with the ultimate pursuit of profits. Thanks

to these sites, our expectations of the web, as well as society, have changed. This issue of the Student Journal for Media Literacy Education aims to explore some of the issues related to social media, and a generation fully engaged in this interactive world. The main focus is popular social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube, and LinkedIn, but other social networking sites are explored as well. All articles in the Journal have been written by college students in Santa Monica College’s Reading The Media

course in Spring 2010, under my supervision. The students selected from a list of topic related to current issues in social media. I reviewed all of the articles, and offered suggestions and guidance, but the students were allowed to make the final decisions on all of their work. The research, analyses, and conclusions are the students’ own. I hope you enjoy this premiere issue of the Student Journal for Media Literacy Education. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please send them to

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Effects of Social Media on Society

...How social media has caused a change in Social behavior Pedro Saul De Jesus-Sanchez DeVry University Proposal for Standardized Tests I. Introduction A. Topic 1) Research question: How has social media affected the standard for social interaction amongst one another? 2) Working thesis: There are more than two hundred social networking websites. Some people have no idea about the dangers of social networking. If not monitored, social networking can be dangerous. 3) Angle: Cyber bullies, pedophiles and scam artists are making social networking dangerous. As a society we have allowed interactions amongst one another to resort to social media without verifying whom sits behind the other device you communicate with. B. Context 1) Recently there has been an increase in cyber bullying leading to increase suicides among adolescents as social media has become an avenue to emotionally assault one another. 2) Cyber bullying is a danger that is becoming more popular with the use of social networking. It can come from friends and acquaintances or it may be anonymous through someone using a false identity.” Anyone can be a cyber-bully. Cyber bullying can, however, be even more vicious than you think it seems. C. Audience 1) My primary audience will be parents of young adults or teenagers whom as reported seem to spend most of their time using social media and networking sites. 2) My secondary audience is to business professionals whom allow or disallow...

Words: 688 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Social Media and Its Effects on Society

...Dr. John Drozd Writing 101 04/07/2016 Social Media and Its Impacts on Society One of the biggest invention in the world is social media. A tool that changed our society and the way we communicate with others. The aspects of social media both have a positive and negative impact on life. Websites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter has made it easier for people to communicate with other people all over the world. However, this type of technology might be doing more harm than good. The downfall of social media is that it prevents people to have a face to face interaction. Without that face to face interaction, false information can be used such as identity. Social media reflex a negative influence in school, relationships, self-influence, and interaction with others. Social media has expanded and became more popular not only to teens but to adults as well. Meeting new people may seem like it has become a good concept because of social networks, but it is the complete opposite. For example, when a guy compliments a girl, the possibility of a girl responding back to a guy in person is way higher than the possibility of a guy leaving a compliment on a girl's picture. People usually tend to respond to people to attractive people and to people that they know personally. The sad truth is that growing up with social media, people feel more comfortable talking behind a computer than in person. This...

Words: 754 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

The Effects of Social Media on Society

...Social media has changed our lives in many different ways. Have those changes been for the better or the worse? Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and the many other social networking sites that are an everyday part of our lives have influenced the world in numerous ways. The face of our economy has changed drastically over the past years. In the past, businesses advertised their products based on how the public would perceive the product prior to purchase. Today, businesses must focus on how products are perceived after the purchase. Social media provides an outlet for consumers to tell the world about their purchases. If the consumer isn’t happy, social media will spread the word of the inferior product far and wide. Social media provides consumers with knowledge. Type in the name of a product on a search engine you are interested in purchasing and opinions are widespread on the internet. Between mainstream social media outlets like Facebook, blogs, magazines, newspapers, and other outlets, product reviews are common place in today’s society. In the past, consumers needing a new product were limited to the local stores in their area. You went in the store, made a choice based on the guidance of the sales person in the store. Today, consumers can purchase the same item with the click of a button on their computer, with knowledge about the product and the ability to order the product from the most cost effective supplier, even if that supplier happens to be located across the...

Words: 1071 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

How Social Media Effect Society

...Have you asked yourself what is social Media? Well after researches and articles social media is networking site where people get together and interact using a highly open and scalable communication techniques. Social media are media for social communication, using highly accessible and scalable communication techniques, it is mostly a web based, like face book, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and Google. Also Social media can be more than web based for example text messaging, news papers, and using cell phone. The Social media had brought a lot and it had brought more good than harm. In this easy I am going to discuss the impacts of social media to our day to day life. There more than billions and billions people on social media every day. For instance some marketing company’s sell their products through social media. Some people just use social media for fun or to just waste lack of time. Some people use social media to still identity and do more stuff to it, while others are putting more of their information in. Social media can be helpful or it can be dangerous. People don’t know what’s behind it. I know some people that are online on Facebook the whole time nothing else, but there some others are selling their products. According to the Social media revolution 2 video it said”1 Out of 8 couples married in the U.S. met via social media”. Anyone worldwide use social media. Teens and adult mostly use it for fun, but college students use it to communicate or to learn. According...

Words: 907 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

How Social Media Effect Society

...Have you asked yourself what is social Media? Well after researches and articles social media is networking site where people get together and interact using a highly open and scalable communication techniques. Social media are media for social communication, using highly accessible and scalable communication techniques, it is mostly a web based, like face book, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and Google. Also Social media can be more than web based for example text messaging, news papers, and using cell phone. The Social media had brought a lot and it had brought more good than harm. In this easy I am going to discuss the impacts of social media to our day to day life. There more than billions and billions people on social media every day. For instance some marketing company’s sell their products through social media. Some people just use social media for fun or to just waste lack of time. Some people use social media to still identity and do more stuff to it, while others are putting more of their information in. Social media can be helpful or it can be dangerous. People don’t know what’s behind it. I know some people that are online on Facebook the whole time nothing else, but there some others are selling their products. According to the Social media revolution 2 video it said”1 Out of 8 couples married in the U.S. met via social media”. Anyone worldwide use social media. Teens and adult mostly use it for fun, but college students use it to communicate or to learn. According...

Words: 1793 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Critically Assess the Effect of Social Media on Society

...Critically assess the effect of Social Media on society Social media as defined by Andreas M and Michael (2010, p. 61) is “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.” Social media platforms include chat rooms, blogging web sites, social networking sites, forums, and also text messages and e-mail (Luxton, June and Fairall, 2012). The most popular social networking site, Facebook has made such an influence on society that from 2004 to 2011 the number of users registered to the site increased from 1 million to about 1 billion users worldwide (Yahoo Finance, 2012). With such vast figures social media is bound to have an impact on the way society operates, either positively or negatively, or both. These will be critically analyzed in this essay, identifying the most crucial impacts it has on our society. With the rapid increase in the awareness and use of social networking sites, it has provided positive contributions to how society functions. First and foremost, social networking has grown to become a critical part of a business’s marketing strategies, and if managed efficiently, will prove to be a major factor for its success. Social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter have provided an easy-to-access platform for people to share their views, preferences, and experiences about brands and products. Once this information gets widespread through...

Words: 3119 - Pages: 13

Free Essay

Negative Effects of Social Media on Society and Teens

...Negative Effects of Social Media on Society and Teens Tyler Clementi, 18 was a regular freshman who was passionate about playing the violin and was still very new to his gay identity. Instead of enjoying college life at Rutgers University, his first semester proved to be a disaster experiencing the tauntment of tweets and statuses from other students behind computer screens and key boards. Cyberbullying is not the only negative effect that social media has on teens and society but she shares the biggest impact. It can be used through so many ways especially through social networking sites. All media sites construct reality that has powerful, yet subtle implications. The media has the ability to influence how teens and society think, shop, dress, behave, judge people and feel about other individuals. Some of these influences cause social and health issues. Social networking is not safe enough to protect anyone that has access to the internet. Social media has become very superior to the daily lives of society that has negatively affected society because of its influences of cyberbullying, the judgement of others and the promotion of drug or alcohol. Social networking is a very common way for people of different groups, age and ethnic background to connect together. It can become more of a community online that is only on the internet. Social media sites are usally free to sign up and join with no cost to connect with others. The question may be how the companies of social media...

Words: 900 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Social Networking in the Business World

...Social networking has become a major part of society. Many people wake up each day and check social media websites specifically throughout Twitter and Facebook first thing in the morning instead of reaching for a newspaper. Since people are spending such a large amount of time surfing social networks, it is important to point out some of the positive and negative effects that social networking can have on a society. The positive effects of social networking sites are allow people to create new relationships and reconnect with friends and family. Increased communication, even online, strengthens relationships. And the other is social networking sites make people share everything that they want and bring people with common interests together, offer exposure to new ideas from around the world, and lower inhibitions to overcome social anxiety. Social networking could be your business media promotion for examples a marketers at small companies can post on Twitter, in addition to generating revenue this way, companies also can get positive and negative feedback directly from consumers. While social networking sites have a positive effects, they also have negative effects for society. Social networking sites entice people to spend more time online and less time interacting face to face. The sites offer many time wasting activities that supplant more productive activities. Also social networking sites make cyberbullying, a type of bullying that occurs online, easier and more...

Words: 492 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Body Image Literature Review

...Review Pressure to be Perfect Media has become an increasingly important aspect of today’s society. People interact with many different forms of media on a daily basis. Because of the frequent usage of media, it is reasonable to assume that it has its effects on people. The topic discussed in this paper is the impact social media has truly had on society. Focusing on the main factors that cause an influence to the general well being of people in modern society, this paper will discuss how the effects of media are determined and explore what is believed to be the two main categories in which media affects today’s society: mental illness and body dissatisfaction. In reviewing the literature on the different effects that media has on society as a whole, ten pieces of literature that discuss the effects that media has on the psychological well being of society will be shown, and that ultimately what is at stake in this conversation is the health of our society. In reviewing the literature regarding the health impacts of social media on society, the authors used in this paper discuss either mental illness or body dissatisfaction. Authors such as Dohyun Ahn, Sheri Bauman, and Sandee LaMotte discuss the mental illnesses in their articles (“Is the Social Use of Media…”, “Associations Among Bullying…”, and “The Health Risks of Cyberbullying…” respectively. The remaining seven authors who focus on body image and how it is influenced by the media can be separated by three subcategories...

Words: 1578 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Impact of Social Network

...Student’s Name Professor’s Name Course Date Impacts of social media Does emergent social technology improve our lives or ultimate bring complications? To understand the impact of social technology or social network for that matter, it is important to define what social media is. Social media is a platform that is used to connect people and interact with other individuals having similar interests to oneself through of applications or websites. Social networking can be viewed from different aspects depending on one's opinion. Impacts brought by social networking can both be negative and positive, and this trickles down to the intentions of setting up that particular network of interaction. It will, therefore, be unjust for me to say that social media has improved or brought complications in our lives. This paper would like to review different research outcomes and opinions from both sides of the divide. My opinion is that society has gained a lot and yet to gain even more from social media. Social media has given a platform to communicate effectively to many across the world, use of the social network as means to share reading materials has helped in reducing illiteracy and improve human enlightenment. The most important part of society is how members of the society relate. How children relate to their parents and their peers after interaction with the social network is prone to change. Through social network, they are re-establish old contacts, meeting new people...

Words: 1531 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

The Impact of Technology and Online Communities

...communities The importance of social media in today’s generation is really significant, and because of its influence, it is recognized as an excellent marketing tool and could help businesses in building an online presence. Social media paved the way for the evolution of social relations and of people’s interaction. Nowadays, people seem to do everything online: making friends, watch movies, and even transact businesses (admin, 2011). As part of your social media branding, the importance of social media in today’s society is nothing to be overlooked at and it should never be, it was not existed a short few years ago but yet we could not see ourselves without it. Today’s social media is much more than just a website that young teenagers and our children use to talk to their friends. Everybody from big business to independent business owners is using some form of social media marketing plan in their day to day lives. Social media is being used all over the world by many people, different age range but mostly by teenagers and young adults. Social media is being used mostly for businesses, social networking, researching, entertainment and news. The importance of social media has really made the world a smaller place; we can now do business with people from all over the world so much easier and quicker than before (Lodge, 2012). If social media was to be removed, the effects on society would obviously be negative but in a way somewhat positive. Social media being part of our daily lives...

Words: 889 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Body Image and Media Literature Review

...Review Pressure to be Perfect Media has become an increasingly important aspect of today’s society. People interact with many different forms of media on a daily basis. Because of the frequent usage of media, it is reasonable to assume that it has its effects on people. The topic discussed in this paper is the impact social media has truly had on society. Focusing on the main factors that cause an influence to the general well being of people in modern society, this paper will discuss how the effects of media are determined and explore what is believed to be the two main categories in which media affects today’s society: mental illness and body dissatisfaction. In reviewing the literature on the different effects that media has on society as a whole, ten pieces of literature that discuss the effects that media has on the psychological well being of society will be shown, and that ultimately what is at stake in this conversation is the health of our society. In reviewing the literature regarding the health impacts of social media on society, the authors used in this paper discuss either mental illness or body dissatisfaction. Authors such as Dohyun Ahn, Sheri Bauman, and Sandee LaMotte discuss the mental illnesses in their articles (“Is the Social Use of Media…”, “Associations Among Bullying…”, and “The Health Risks of Cyberbullying…” respectively. The remaining seven authors who focus on body image and how it is influenced by the media can be separated by three subcategories...

Words: 1573 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Ruining Your Life And You Re To Blame Analysis

...In discussions of Social Networking, one controversial issue has been whether or not social media sites are good for society. On one hand, Nicole Ellison, in a New York Times blog “Is MySpace Good for Society?” argues they are helpful, claiming they “have made us better off as a society and as individuals, and that as they continue to be adopted by more diverse populations, we will see an increase in their utility.” On the other hand, Kerry Coppinger, in her work, “Phone Fetish: How Snapchat is Ruining Your Life and you’re to Blame”, argues that social media sites, such as Snapchat, are harmful, stating “We seemingly can’t go anywhere without posting something about it, in hopes of being validated by our peers.” My own view is that social media sites are damaging because they falter society’s growth and spark hatred and feuds. First off, one of the essential things in society is growth. How we grow as a person affects how we grow as a society. Americans today tend to believe that society is growing because of the things we post and tweet about, however, it is...

Words: 758 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Social Media

...October 30, 2014 Social Media-Cause and Effect Much controversy revolves around the idea of social media. Some claim that altogether, social media benefits society by helping connect people in an easy, hassle-free way. Others argue that social media is a distraction and a waste of time. Regardless of whether social media can be considered good or bad; it has and continues to have multiple effects on our society. Social media continues to revolutionize, shape, and change our society’s basic functions, including the interaction between society members, the promotion and advertisement of products, and the altering of individual privacy. Technology is always changing, so the cause and effect it has on our society is vast and diverse. Communication plays a vital role in society, and social media continually constitutes to change in the way we communicate. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc., are all examples of social media that affects each of us, or whether we have an account or not. Society’s ways of communicating is growing rapidly, and Facebook has become one of the greatest examples to support this. Shilpa Shanbhag stated, “Facebook became the most popular social network in India in the week ending July 10, 2010 with a 24.69% share of all visits to social media sites. It has grown to a 32% share in October 2010, and the share has since increased to 34.66% in the week ending November 20, 2010.” The growth rate does not represent the communication change, rather...

Words: 1002 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Social Media Political Efficacy

...Social media for social change: relationship between social media political efficacy and student activist groups The concept of Social Media Political Efficacy was proposed to resolve discrepancies in prior theories of social media activism. Social media topic is very relevant among in youth activist groups, a number of surveys reveals that social media political efficacy was positively related to successful experiences using social media for activism. Some studies found that political uses of social media are not extensive practicable (Carlisle & Patton, 2013; Glynn, Huge, & Hoffman, 2012: Rainie, Smith, Schlozman, Brady, & Verba, 2012).on other side some studies suggest that social media has mobilization effect on youths. This article focuses on investigation of social media effects on youth and political aspects. First, I will discover the effects of social media on social life. Second I will examine that how social media act in moral way for political and youth. At last I will implement my outcomes on problem so that can help to get moralizing effects of social media. Thus, my article asks this question that how can modernizing and political use of social media be motivated? In my opinion social media...

Words: 487 - Pages: 2