The Impact Of Social Media To Its Users Argumentative Essay Examples
The perils of social networking have been constantly echoed in most social circles nowadays. However, most people, especially the younger generation choose to ignore it because of its apparent benefits on their lifestyle. But not until a video in YouTube titled, ‘Facebook Parenting: For the troubled teen’ that the impact of social media such as Facebook and others have been placed on the spotlight once again. This video was about an angry father teaching his child some lesson when his child apparently posted some negative comments on her Facebook page. The father ended up shooting his child’s laptop and eventually uploading the video on the child’s Facebook page. Some say that the father’s reaction was quite extreme while others say that children needs to be taught some lessons regarding the proper use of Facebook and other social media. But even in these varied opinions, it is quite evident that Facebook or social media has something to do with what happened between the father and his child. This occurrence is, in fact, one of the many negative impacts of social media. For the same reason, this paper would like to investigate how social media has impacted its users and to evaluate its advantages and disadvantages.
The Growth of Social Media
The growth of social media can be attributed out of the need of people to communicate and connect with each other. According to Boyd and Ellison, the first social media site to emerge in 1997 was SixDegrees.com, which allowed its users several functionalities such as creating profiles, listing friends and surfing on profiles of listed friends. Among the first users of social media were students either in high school or college who wish to affiliate with fellow classmates. Even in its early years, social media has been developed as a tool to help people connect and communicate with each other. Three years after, several social networking sites have been launched including Friendster. Accordingly, Friendster was designed as a dating website and as a direct competitor with Match.com. The popularity of Friendster as a social networking site was quite phenomenal. However, its popularity was also the reason for its pitfall. Accordingly, “Friendster’s servers and databases were ill-equipped to handle its rapid growth, and the site faltered regularly, frustrating users who replaced email with Friendster”. As Friendster began to decline, a lot of social networking sites were launched the most significant of which is Facebook. Facebook was initially launched as a school networking site; that is, to foster student and teacher interaction . However, as the site became increasingly popular, its features have been upgraded to resemble that of dating sites and other social networking sites and is currently catering to worldwide users.
Advantages of Social Media
The ability to communicate and interact with each other is one of the most desirable attributes of social media sites. Before social media sites were invented, messages are relayed over the net through emails. Email messaging, however, is quite formal and lacks the feel of real time chatting conversation as what is featured in social media sites. Apparently, social media sites are among the best online tools for interaction and collaboration between individuals and groups. Its platform can also be used not only for personal interaction but also for organizational and business purposes. Social media, for example, is heavily utilized by educational institutions as a mode of instruction medium. According to studies, 90% of professors in college incorporate social media channels into their classes despite concerns for privacy and integrity. Social media sites are particularly useful for business interactions. Almost all businesses today, whether big or small, have their own social media page and as part of their advertising and marketing tactics, most businesses have arrangements with social media sites that advertise their products as well as direct customers to their social media page. One of the major advantages of social media advertising is the reduced cost and the enhanced reach of this type of advertising.
Disadvantages of Social Media
One of the major disadvantages of social media is in the invasion of personal space and privacy. Among the privacy issues associated with social media is social engineering. Social engineering has been defined as “the art of exploiting the weakest link of information security systems,” which refers to the people who are using them. In this context, people who are using social media are at higher risk. Social media attracts a pool of scammers and hackers because of their popularity. Facebook, for example, was initially available only for Harvard students but have not catered to a worldwide audience. According to researchers, there are several programs have been designed to conduct phishing attacks on social media users in order to gather personal information from them unwittingly and to use these information for whatever activities that would benefit these crooks.
Data mining is another disadvantage that social media users must be concerned about. More disturbing is the finding that that social networking sites, themselves, are the ones who are using their client information for social engineering purposes. Most often, these information ends up in some corporate data bank for processing. Accordingly, “The design of SNSs allure users to disclose personal information which enables providers to create a more valuable data pool and thus generate more profit”. In her article, ‘The Business of Surveillance’, Heidi Boghosian reflects on how corporation and even governments utilize technology to gather information and spy on individuals. These technological capabilities have posed a threat to privacy. As observed by Boghosian, “Communications and information technology have advanced with such speed that privacy safeguards lag far behind”.
Social behavior has also changed in response to the popularity of social media. Most likely, conventional dating and romance would be forever altered by social media. Today, it is easy to find a date just by searching for people even those that an individual has not met yet. While it increases the chance of having romantic relationships, it also increases the risk of being lured into scamming individuals. The social media has also been a popular medium of outrage and of violent and offensive acts that often results to extreme intrusion of privacy. Some individuals, for example, can be wrongfully accused and shamed and most often, the damage to one’s reputation is irreversible.
Social media has lived up to its initial design of being a medium for interaction and communication. However, along the process, its negative impacts have been overlooked. Today, the disadvantages of using social media are already apparent that some people believe that its use is more detrimental than good. So far, social media has changed how people and organization interact and communicate with each other but it has also significantly affected its user’s life in ways that can be considered as intrusive. Perhaps it is time that the advantages and disadvantages of social media should be weighed and proper intervention to its use must be employed.
Acar, A. Attitudes toward Blended Learning and Social Media Use for Academic Purposes: An Exploratory Study. September 2013. November 2014 <http://www.je-lks.org/ojs/index.php/Je-LKS_EN/article/view/809/843>.
Boghosian, H. The Business of Surveillance. 2013. September 2014 <http://www.americanbar.org/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/2013_vol_39/may_2013_n2_privacy/the_business_of_surveillance.html>.
Boyd, D., & Ellison, N. Social network sites: Definitions,History and Scholarship. 2008. February 2015 <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x/pdf>.
Huber, M., Kowalski, S., Nohlberg, M., & Tjoa, S. Towards Automating Social Engineering Using Social Networking Sites. n.d. March 2015 <https://www.sba-research.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/2009%20-%20Huber%20-%20Towards%20Automating%20Social%20Engineering%20Using%20Social%20Networking%20Sites.pdf>.
YouTube. Facebook Parenting: For the troubled teen. February 2012. March 2015 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl1ujzRidmU>.
Madhara ya Mitandao ya Kijamii kwa Watumiaji wake Mifano ya insha ya hoja Hatari za mitandao ya kijamii zimekuwa zikirudia mara kwa mara katika duru nyingi za kijamii siku hizi. Hata hivyo, watu wengi, hasa kizazi kipya, huchagua kupuuza kwa sababu ya faida zake za wazi juu ya mtindo wao wa maisha. "Hata hivyo, baada ya video ya ""Facebook Parenting: For the Troubled Teenager"" kuonekana kwenye YouTube, watu wengi walianza kuvutiwa na matumizi ya mitandao ya kijamii kama vile Facebook." Video hiyo ilihusu baba aliyekasirika akimfundisha mtoto wake somo fulani wakati mtoto wake alipochapisha maoni fulani mabaya kwenye ukurasa wake wa Facebook. Baba huyo aliishia kupiga risasi kwenye kompyuta ndogo ya mtoto wake na hatimaye kupakia video hiyo kwenye ukurasa wa Facebook wa mtoto huyo. Baadhi ya watu wanasema kuwa baba huyo aliitikia vibaya sana, huku wengine wakisema kwamba watoto wanahitaji kufundishwa masomo kuhusu jinsi ya kutumia Facebook na mitandao mingine ya kijamii. Lakini hata katika maoni haya tofauti, ni dhahiri kabisa kwamba Facebook au mitandao ya kijamii ina kitu cha kufanya na kile kilichotokea kati ya baba na mtoto wake. Tukio hili ni, kwa kweli, moja ya athari nyingi hasi za mitandao ya kijamii. Kwa sababu hiyo hiyo, karatasi hii inataka kuchunguza jinsi vyombo vya habari vya kijamii vimeathiri watumiaji wake na kutathmini faida na hasara zake. Kuongezeka kwa media ya kijamii kunaweza kuhusishwa na uhitaji wa watu wa kuwasiliana na kuungana. "Kulingana na Boyd na Ellison, tovuti ya kwanza ya vyombo vya habari ya kijamii iliyoibuka mnamo 1997 ilikuwa SixDegrees.com, ambayo iliwaruhusu watumiaji wake kazi kadhaa kama vile kuunda wasifu, orodha ya marafiki na kutambaa kwenye wasifu wa marafiki waliotajwa. """ Baadhi ya watumiaji wa kwanza wa mitandao ya kijamii walikuwa wanafunzi wa shule ya sekondari au chuo kikuu ambao walitaka kuungana na wenzake wa darasa. Hata katika miaka yake ya mapema, mitandao ya kijamii imebuniwa kama chombo cha kusaidia watu kuungana na kuwasiliana na kila mmoja. Miaka mitatu baadaye, tovuti kadhaa za mitandao ya kijamii zimezinduliwa ikiwa ni pamoja na Friendster. Kwa hiyo, Friendster ilibuniwa kama tovuti ya uchumbiana na kama mshindani wa moja kwa moja na Match.com. Umaarufu wa Friendster kama tovuti ya mitandao ya kijamii ulikuwa wa ajabu sana. Hata hivyo, umaarufu wake pia ulikuwa sababu ya kuanguka kwake. Kwa hiyo, "Friendster's servers and databases were ill-equipped to handle its rapid growth, and the site faltered regularly, frustrating users who replaced email with Friendster". Kwa hiyo, "Friendster's servers and databases were ill-equipped to handle its rapid growth, and the site faltered regularly, frustrating users who replaced email with Friendster". Wakati Friendster ilianza kupungua, tovuti nyingi za mitandao ya kijamii zilianzishwa ambayo muhimu zaidi ni Facebook. Facebook ilizinduliwa awali kama tovuti ya mitandao ya shule; ambayo ni, kukuza mwingiliano wa mwanafunzi na mwalimu. Hata hivyo, kama tovuti ikawa maarufu zaidi, makala yake wamekuwa kuboreshwa kufanana na kwamba ya dating tovuti na tovuti nyingine za mitandao ya kijamii na kwa sasa ni catering kwa watumiaji duniani kote. Uwezo wa kuwasiliana na kuingiliana na kila mmoja ni moja ya sifa zinazotamaniwa zaidi za tovuti za media ya kijamii. Kabla ya tovuti za mitandao ya kijamii kutengenezwa, ujumbe ulipitishwa kupitia mtandao kupitia barua pepe. Ujumbe wa barua pepe, hata hivyo, ni rasmi kabisa na hauna hisia ya mazungumzo ya mazungumzo ya wakati halisi kama kile kinachoonyeshwa katika tovuti za media ya kijamii. Kwa kweli, mitandao ya kijamii ni moja ya zana bora za mtandaoni kwa mwingiliano na ushirikiano kati ya watu binafsi na vikundi. Jukwaa lake pia linaweza kutumika si tu kwa mwingiliano wa kibinafsi lakini pia kwa madhumuni ya shirika na biashara. Mitandao ya kijamii, kwa mfano, hutumiwa sana na taasisi za elimu kama njia ya kuelimisha. Kulingana na utafiti, 90% ya walimu wa chuo kikuu wanajumuisha njia za media ya kijamii katika madarasa yao licha ya wasiwasi wa faragha na uadilifu. Tovuti za mitandao ya kijamii ni muhimu hasa kwa maingiliano ya biashara. Karibu biashara zote leo, iwe kubwa au ndogo, zina ukurasa wao wa media ya kijamii na kama sehemu ya mbinu zao za matangazo na uuzaji, biashara nyingi zina makubaliano na tovuti za media ya kijamii ambazo zinatangaza bidhaa zao na pia kuelekeza wateja kwenye ukurasa wao wa media ya kijamii. Moja ya faida kubwa ya matangazo ya media ya kijamii ni gharama iliyopunguzwa na ufikiaji ulioimarishwa wa aina hii ya matangazo. Madhara ya Mitandao ya Kijamii Moja ya hasara kubwa ya mitandao ya kijamii ni katika uvamizi wa nafasi ya kibinafsi na faragha. Miongoni mwa masuala ya faragha yanayohusiana na vyombo vya habari vya kijamii ni uhandisi wa kijamii. Uhandisi wa kijamii umetajwa kama "sanaa ya kutumia kiungo dhaifu zaidi cha mifumo ya usalama wa habari", ambayo inahusu watu wanaotumia. Katika hali hii, watu wanaotumia mitandao ya kijamii wako katika hatari kubwa. Mitandao ya kijamii huvutia wadanganyifu na wahasibu kwa sababu ya umaarufu wake. Facebook, kwa mfano, awali ilikuwa inapatikana tu kwa wanafunzi wa Harvard lakini haijawahi kukidhi watazamaji wa kimataifa. Kulingana na watafiti, kuna programu kadhaa zilizobuniwa kufanya mashambulizi ya ujanja kwa watumiaji wa media ya kijamii ili kukusanya habari za kibinafsi kutoka kwao bila kujua na kutumia habari hizi kwa shughuli zozote ambazo zinaweza kuwafaidi wadanganyifu. Uchimbaji wa data ni hasara nyingine ambayo watumiaji wa mitandao ya kijamii lazima wawe na wasiwasi juu yake. "Kichekesho zaidi ni kugundua kwamba tovuti za mitandao ya kijamii, wenyewe, ni wale ambao wanatumia habari za wateja wao kwa madhumuni ya uhandisi wa kijamii. """ Mara nyingi, habari hizo huingia katika benki fulani ya habari ya kampuni ili zitumiwe. Kwa hiyo, "muundo wa SNS huvutia watumiaji kufunua habari za kibinafsi ambazo zinawawezesha watoa kujenga hifadhi ya data yenye thamani zaidi na hivyo kuzalisha faida zaidi". Katika makala yake, <unk>The Business of Surveillance<unk>, Heidi Boghosian anafikiria jinsi kampuni na hata serikali hutumia teknolojia kukusanya habari na kupeleleza watu binafsi. Uwezo huo wa kiteknolojia umekuwa tisho kwa faragha. Kama ilivyoonekana na Boghosian, "Uhamisho na teknolojia ya habari imeendelea kwa kasi sana kwamba ulinzi wa faragha unabaki nyuma sana". Tabia ya kijamii pia imebadilika kwa kukabiliana na umaarufu wa mitandao ya kijamii. Yaelekea zaidi, uchumba wa kawaida na mapenzi yangebadilishwa milele na vyombo vya habari vya kijamii. Leo, ni rahisi kupata tarehe kwa kutafuta tu watu hata wale ambao mtu hajakutana nao bado. Ingawa huongeza uwezekano wa kuwa na mahusiano ya kimapenzi, pia huongeza hatari ya kuvutia watu wengine. Mitandao ya kijamii pia imekuwa njia maarufu ya hasira na vitendo vya vurugu na vya kukasirisha ambavyo mara nyingi husababisha uvamizi mkubwa wa faragha. Baadhi ya watu, kwa mfano, wanaweza kushtakiwa kimakosa na kuaibishwa na mara nyingi, uharibifu wa sifa ya mtu ni wa kudumu. Mitandao ya kijamii imeishi hadi muundo wake wa awali wa kuwa njia ya mwingiliano na mawasiliano. Hata hivyo, katika mchakato huo, athari zake mbaya zimepuuzwa. """Siku hizi, hasara za kutumia mitandao ya kijamii tayari zinaonekana kwamba watu fulani wanaamini kwamba matumizi yake ni mabaya zaidi kuliko mema." "Hata hivyo, vyombo vya habari vya kijamii vimebadilisha jinsi watu na mashirika yanavyoingiliana na kuwasiliana na kila mmoja, lakini pia vimeathiri sana maisha ya watumiaji wake kwa njia ambazo zinaweza kuchukuliwa kama ""kuingilia.""" Labda ni wakati wa kuzingatia faida na hasara za mitandao ya kijamii na kuingilia kati kwa matumizi yake. Acar, A. Mtazamo wa Kujifunza Mchanganyiko na Matumizi ya Vyombo vya Habari vya Jamii kwa Malengo ya Chuo: Utafiti wa Utafiti. Septemba 2013 "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika makala ya ""Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji-Ji- Boghosian, H. Biashara ya Ufuatiliaji. Mwaka 2013 "Mwezi Septemba 2014 ""The Business of Surveillance"" ilitangazwa na jarida la Human Rights Magazine." Boyd, D., & Ellison, N. Tovuti za mitandao ya kijamii: Ufafanuzi, Historia na Scholarship. Mwaka 2008 "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika ukurasa wa ""Maktaba ya Kiingereza"" (http: www.wiley.com) tarehe 10 Februari, 2015 (UTC: 10:10:15) na ""Maktaba ya Kiingereza"" (http: www.wiley.com) tarehe 10 Februari, 2015 (UTC: 10:10:15)." Huber, M., Kowalski, S., Nohlberg, M., & Tjoa, S. kuelekea Automating Social Engineering Kutumia Tovuti za Mitandao ya Kijamii. "Mwezi wa Machi, 2015 ""HTML"" ilitolewa na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" ilitolewa na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" ilitolewa na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" ilitolewa na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa"" na ""Spa""" YouTube. Facebook Parenting: Kwa ajili ya kijana mwenye matatizo. Februari 2012 March 2015 - Hatua ya kwanza ya YouTube ya kuanzisha mtandao wa kijamii wa YouTube, kwa jina la K-U-Z-Rid.