(Candidate’s Name)
Effects of Social Media
In this technological era, social media has influenced cultures globally. Social media can be identified as the interaction through virtual communities and networks. It allows people to interact without being physically present. This is a different approach of communication among people, developed from the use of technology.
In an essay on electronic millennium, the author talks about the effects of changes with the applications of technologies. He argues that the printed word is part of a systematic order that we are moving in to the millennium by choice and social compulsion. People are slowly moving away from writing as time progresses. They begin to rely on technologies for contents. This shift is happening throughout our culture, away from the patterns of the printed page and toward a new world; distinguished by its reliance on electronic communications.. This is true since the use of technologies, in a culture, becomes more modernize with time. He also warns about the process of transmitting information and contents with technologies, as the information and contents will not be private; rather "travelling along a network," which means people can spread their information.. Transmitting information, this way, can also allow hackers to steal and destroy information from people who are involved with networking. Technologies have positive and negative applications, and they impact on the everyday life.
Dual-Identity Theory
In the essay on tethering, the author concludes that the application of technology generates a second identity; a "tethered self", defined as a person who lives his or her life by relying on those electronics. The author assumes that people may connect differently through physical interactions; tethered people come together, but do not speak to each other.. People may gather together in a crowded area, but each person ignores everyone else around him with his or her device and connects to another person through that device. Technology controls the person's life. The author believes that the everyday language for talking about the effect of using social media assumes both an on and off screen life, i.e. the existence of two separate worlds, plugged and unplugged.. This creates the existence of two identities: the person and the "cyborg". The "cyborg" represents a person who is always on the internet.
At a talk show “We Are All Cyborgs Now” reiterates the theory about a second identity, using the example of Facebook. She sees the walls (now: timeline) function of Facebook as representation of second identity, which allows people to interact when they are not present on the virtual network. The wall feature on Facebook allows the users to post any comments or information to share their friends on Facebook at any given time. This enables a person to choose how to present him or herself on Facebook. However, is it really justified for both Turkle and Case to consider the use of these technologies as second identity?
Although both authors present facts and examples that imply a second identity with the use of technologies, it doesn't mean that people have acquired a second identity literally. Turkle explains that people are relying more on technological devices, yet it seems more like a role rather than an identity; it is the role that allow people to easily connect to each other. It is similar to a scenario where a person chooses to act at a working time and personal time; a person can be serious and demanding at work, but he or she can be kind and lax at her own time. People are becoming accustomed to the use of technology in their everyday lives. They have the choice to use technologies around them at their own discretion. Despite of Case and Turkle’s reasoning, I still see that social media is used for the extension of one’s own self. The self decides whether or not to use social media. The self controls social media; and social media gives the opportunity to change the self.
Impact of Social Media
Social media facilitates communication. Back in the 1900s, before network technologies were made, many people communicated through letters. Each person wrote a letter back and forth, which took weeks or months to deliver. This process was slow, but effective. However, social media changed everything. It can be used to deliver messages, photos, or videos within seconds. Examples of social media include Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, Skype, Instagram, and Snapchat. Each of these social networking services has its own unique features. However, they share one thing in common: connecting people. Long distance is no longer a hindrance in communication.
Although primarily used for communication, I believe that social media can serve a greater purpose: to create awareness among its users. Birkerts also supports the notion that visual and non-visual technologies encourage an ever-changing awareness of the present in its users. Social media can be used to spread information among people regarding news and events across the globe, most of which they are unaware of. This can only be made possible if the people and social media owners and facilitators decide to share the news, events and other information with other people. Making time for and taking action to spread such news and events is a small step that people can take to spread awareness. The ultimate power to take an initiative, making them aware of global affairs and bring about a change in them rests with the people themselves, with social media acting as a tool to encourage, facilitate and speed-up the process.
Practical Examples
In the essay, "Small Change," Malcolm Gladwell provides an example in which social media played an important role in bringing about a change. He narrates the story of Sameer Bhatia, a young Silicon Valley entrepreneur who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. He needed a bone-marrow transplant, but none of his relatives or friends matched for the transplant. His business partner wanted to help him, so he sent email to their acquaintances, who then forwarded email to their personal contacts and Facebook pages and YouTube videos were devoted to the Help Sameer campaign.. As a result, twenty-five thousand people volunteered to register in the bone-narrow database in order to help Bhatia find a match for his transplant and the Bhatia finally found a match. This result was the small step that each individual took to bring awareness to Bhatia's problem, which eventually saved Bhatia's life.
One of the main goals of creating awareness through social media is to help people, a lesson I learned from one of my friend's action. Melissa (my friend) wanted to help raise money for an event, namely American Cancer Society: Relay for Life. The event was organized to raise money to save lives from cancer. Melissa believed that the best way to help people is to take the issue to a greater level; spreading awareness through social media. She put up a message and an HTML link on her Facebook wall hoping to gain more and more sponsors. Her intent was to create awareness amongst her friends, family and acquaintances regarding the issue and help the organization in organizing and managing funds and sponsorship, without the use of force or a plea. On any normal day, on the social media, I might not have sponsored the event or spread the word about this organization and its event, my reason being that I could never accomplish anything even if I did contribute. However, one of her message changed my thought. She said that her goal in life is to be able to help someone change his or her life and that she just liked helping people in need. It was this selfless action to help other people that can inspire people to spread awareness to other people through the use of social media.
People nowadays take advantage of social media to promote their business too. In the article on the boom of social media technology, the author provides such an example of a person who started an online business called Adom Shoe Accessories, which sold decorative ornaments for footwear.. The organization operated virtually through Facebook and Twitter, a technique frequently employed by salesmen all across the world (virtual sales and transactions). Many readers and critics might consider it to be a case of cheap marketing and publicity. Some might argue on the merits and hazards of online transaction but no one can deny that it is a common business technique that is entirely the work of 20th Century. Gaining market share by increasing sales revenue, understanding and predicting the customer needs and sometimes creating artificial needs through online marketing is a growing market trend. Yet, I wonder what impact can awareness do for such ambitions?
Conclusion
Works Cited
Birkerts, Sven. "Into the Electronic Millennium." Boston Review (October 1991): 2. -.
Gladwell, Malcom. "Small Change: Why the Revolution will not be Tweeted." The New Yorker 4 October 2010: 2. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all.
Salmon, Melissa. "The Boom of Social Media Technology." Jamaica Observer 25 March 2014: 1. http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/The-boom-of-social-media-technology_16309612.
Turkle, Sherry. "Always on/Always-on-you: The Tethered Self." MIT Press (2008): 133.
