Introduction
For some people, social media allows them to make new contacts and connect with old friends even without the benefit of face-to-face interaction. For some, it is an avenue to create business contacts and network with people who share the same interests. Still, there are those people who join social media sites just to have fun and have the chance to voice out their opinions while hiding in a masked profile. The virtual world has completely transformed how individuals and businesses conduct their daily activities. Are there benefits to social media sites? What is the apparent usefulness of these social media sites? Do the benefits outweigh the disadvantages? This paper aims to address questions pertaining to the usefulness, significance, and concerns about various social media.
The Merits of Social Media
Apart from maintaining connections, business or otherwise, social media has been responsible for 1 out of 8 marriages in the US today. That alone is enough reason for some to stay connected online. In addition, because corporations also use the web for most transactions and keeping the customers closer, finding jobs has never been this easy considering that some 80% of companies use social media for recruitment purposes. On the education front, it has also been proven that with the number of individuals opting for a second course or attaining higher education, online students are doing better than students who attend regular school set up (Social Media Revolution 2). It is this "openness" to information and opportunities that keep people staying and wanting for more.
The Risks of Social Media
This same "openness" and easy access to information is also putting social networkers at risk of various online scams, privacy issues, and harassment, among others. Facebook, for instance, make changes on its privacy settings (Eldon, 2010) that expose its subscribers to various account hackers and persons who are deemed "blocked" from viewing one's profile. As a result, even if one opts to make tags of oneself private on his or her profile, that individual's pictures, notes, or comments can still be viewed by "friends of friends" on another friend's account. This lack of anonymity becomes a problem because by sharing your information on one site, other sites can also pick up your personal information (Gozzi, Jr., 1999), which can also be used by third-party software (as in the case of Facebook games).
In addition, it becomes a vehicle for fraudulent individuals to begin defrauding unsuspecting victims by creating faux accounts pretending to be the individual or a representation of a company. As for work, actively engaging in social media can affect employee productivity, especially if employees spend a lot of time on Facebook or Twitter.
Conclusion
Social media is not a fad (Social Media Revolution 2) and will stay on as technology advances even more. It has its pros and cons and to say that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages (or vice-versa) is an inaccurate representation of how social media negatively or positively affects users. Depending on what people's motivations and purposes are for using social media, the correct way to approach this is to find the right balance when using social media sites and sharing personal information.
References
Eldon, E. (2010, May 11). Analysis: Some Facebook Privacy Issues Are Real, Some Are Not. Retrieved from http://www.insidefacebook.com/2010/05/11/analysis-some-facebook-privacy-issues-are-real-some-are-not/
Gozzi., R., J. (1999). The Power of Metaphor in the Age of Electronic Media. Cresskill,NJ: Hampton Press. Retrieved from EBSCOhost
Social Media Revolution 2. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj-JOILI9_Y
