Social Media Friend or Foe, Research Paper Example

Although the advent of social media is a relatively new phenomenon, the use of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms has grown exponentially in recent years. For children born in the 21^st century, social media platforms are simply a fact of life; for older users who remember a time when social media did not exist, such sites and platforms still represent a significant set of resources for personal and professional networking. The explosive growth of social media has been fostered significantly by technological advances that offer users opportunities to remain connected to these platforms on a near-constant basis. The availability of devices such as smart phones and tablets make it possible to log on to the Internet virtually any time and anywhere, and the features available on social media platforms entice users to take advantage of these mobile devices to a greater and greater degree. With the opportunities presented by social media come some potential pitfalls; critics of social media warn users about the risks of sharing private information, the possibility of online abuse and bullying, and even the threat of being monitored by government agencies. While social media platforms do afford users benefits related to personal and professional networking, the potential downsides of social media must be taken into consideration. Social media, as a whole, can be either friend or foe, depending on how they are used.

Background and Overview

The Internet began as a means by which government agencies, educational institutions, and other organizations could connect with each other and share information. With the development of user-friendly web browsers and other advances, the use of the Internet by members of the general public gained popularity in the late 20^th century, and businesses, public and private organizations, and even individual users began to create websites that gave them a presence in this burgeoning virtual world. In the early years of the Internet age, the use of web browsers was a largely passive activity; websites hosted text, images, video, and other content, but most of this content was posted for the purpose of being viewed in a unidirectional manner. The use of email for communication quickly became common and popular, but to a great degree the manner in which email was used was not unlike regular mail, if quite a bit faster. While the Internet made it possible for groups and individuals to communicate with each other quickly and effectively, it was, for many users, merely an adjunct to real-life activities and functions (McLean and Campbell, 2003).

By the dawn of the 21^st century, however, the ubiquity of the Internet coupled with advances in technology allowed users and developers to greatly expand the ways it could be used. While a detailed examination of this set of phenomena is beyond the scope of this discussion, there is no question that the advent of social media has been among the most significant developments in the nascent history of the Internet (Livingstone, 2010). A great number of social media platforms have come and gone in the last decade, and some that once enjoyed notable popularity –such as MySpace- are still extant, though no longer maintain their previous primacy (Hemaltha et al, 2012). Of the social media platforms that have amassed a large number of followers and also managed to remain popular and relevant, Facebook is undoubtedly in the top position. This platform, which began as a means by which college students could communicate with each other in the virtual space of the Internet, has now grown to be the largest social media site in the world, with billions of users logging on every day (Sacks, 2012)).

As the most popular social media platform, the features available on Facebook serve as a fairly comprehensive model for social media in general. Facebook users create “pages,” which are like personal websites on which users can post biographical information, pictures, and updates about their personal and professional lives. Facebook users amass “friends” with whom their pages are linked, so information posted by one user can, in most cases, be viewed by all the Facebook friends in that user’s network. Part of the appeal of Facebook is that it is not passive; as users post personal updates, comment on news stories, or otherwise modify their Facebook pages, those within the shared network of friends are encouraged –or even expected- to respond (Sacks, 2012). Unlike the passive, one-way communication of the early Internet age, social media are designed to foster ongoing interaction and dynamic interpersonal relationships.

Although Facebook is the largest and most widely-used social media platform, there are other popular sites that, in comparison, are more specialized and have a narrower focus. The so-called “micro-blogging” site Twitter, for example, allows users to create a much more rudimentary home page, and to communicate in brief bursts, or “tweets.” Where Facebook offers users a platform for offering a detailed and comprehensive set of biographical and personal information, Twitter users communicate with each other in messages of 140 characters or fewer (Thompson, 2008). Like Facebook, Twitter users can and do often share personal information, but the medium offered by Twitter is primarily used for in-the-moment communications while Facebook represents a broader, less time-specific platform (Sacks, 2012). It is not uncommon for social media users to utilize multiple sites, from Facebook to Twitter to sites such as Tumblr and Instagram (the latter of which focus on sharing photographs accompanied by occasional text) for different purposes, or among different sets of social networks (Sacks, 2012)). Other purpose-specific sites, such as LinkedIn, allow users to develop and maintain professional networks comprised of others who work in the same industries or share other professional interests (Sacks, 2012). Regardless of the generality or the specificity of any particular platform, social media sites share many of the same characteristics, thereby offering the same potential benefits and opening doors to the same potential risks and threats.

The Benefits of Social Media

In the 2008 New York Times article “I’m So Totally, Digitally Close to You: The Brave New World of Digital Intimacy,” author Clive Thompson examines the psychological implications of social networks and how they can afford significant psychological and emotional benefits to users. Thompson discusses the concept of “ambient awareness,” which he describes as the process by which we use various environmental and social cues to make determinations about the world around us. Thompson likens the ambient awareness proffered by social media to the way we learn to read the moods or attitudes of people in real life through facial expressions, tone of voice, body language, and other signals. As we increase our knowledge and experience of real-life people, places, and scenarios, our ambient awareness in these environments grows. The same is true in our online social networks; as we immerse ourselves in the ongoing rhythms of the things people post about or share online, we develop a larger sense of those people that extends beyond merely reading what they write or share online. Through participation in social media, users can, over time, develop a sense of intimacy with those in their social networks that, in many ways, goes beyond that which many people develop with those they know in real life.

A significant part of what makes social media attractive is that users have opportunities to create a public identity that emphasizes their positive attributes. This concept of constructing social identity is hardly new; it is something in which everyone engages in real life. Part of what makes asocial media so attractive to adolescents is this aspect of social-identity construction; one study compares a 21^st-century teenager creating a Facebook page to teenagers of previous generations hanging posters of their favorite celebrities on their bedroom walls (Livingstone & Brake, 2009). It is during adolescence that people begin to create their identities and to experiment with different roles; the inherent qualities of social media are, to a great extent, merely extensions of this process of psychological and social development. Social media give users a platform on which they can present their idealized vision of themselves to the world and in which they can connect with others who share their interests or points of view.

Beyond the capacity to construct a social identity online, it is the potential for building networks and relationships on social media platforms that presents the greatest set of potential benefits. Personal and professional networks built on social media platforms can have significant positive repercussions and implications, and these can spill over into real life. For younger users especially, there are fewer clear demarcations between members of online social networks and real-life networks (Livingstone & Brake, 2009); in fact, the functions of ambient awareness in the context of online social networks can have a positive effect when online “friends” meet and interact in the physical world (Thompson, 2008). It is not necessary for example, to ask someone “how are you” when meeting with them in person if your ambient awareness of that person keeps you in touch with their thoughts and activities through social media. The same phenomena can be helpful for job-seekers or in other professional contexts (Sacks, 2012); social media can, for example, heighten awareness of a job opening and also foster communication between those looking for a job and those looking form someone to hire.

The Risks of Social Media

The same set of attributes that make social media a way to make and maintain friendships or build professional networks can also pose risks to users. At the core, the biggest threat posed by social media are the manner in which users reveal personal, and sometimes extraordinarily intimate, details about their lives (Thompson, 2008; Sacks, 2012). The widespread access to the personal details of user’s lives can have significant implications in a variety of ways.  An employer who is considering an individual for a job opening might, for example, come across personal information online that dissuades the employer from hiring the potential candidate (Elliosn et al, 2007). Even users of social media who strive to keep personal information shielded from the public may discover that someone else in his or her social network has revealed information without consent (Thompson, 2008). In this sense, the construction of social identity on social media is a process that is not always entirely in the control of individual users.

Providing access to private information can have dire real-life consequences in a number of ways. As users post more and more private information online, anyone with access to that information could use it to harass that user online or in real life. Once information has been posted on social media or other online forums it is all but impossible to make it go away; with this in mind, posting something that seems innocuous at the time it is posted may have serious consequences months or years later (Aquisti& Gross, 2006). The same factors that make social media attractive to young people are those that pose threats, as younger users may not have the capacity to fully grasp the long-term implications of posting personal information online. Just as their capacity for ambient awareness can afford them insight into the lives of others, those who may wish to harm them in some manner can use the same awareness to peer into their lives.

Conclusion

As social media become more firmly entrenched in the daily lives of users, the potential for them to function as positive or negative forces also solidifies. Social media allow users to construct a positive social identity, to build personal friendships, and to even to advance professional careers.  Unfortunately, social media also present potential risks and dangers if they are misused. Whether social media are friend or foe depends largely on how and why people use them, the extent to which they share personal information, and how fully they understand the potential risks. In the 21^st century social media are no longer something that exists outside of the real world; they are merely an extension of it. In order to ensure that social media are a friend rather than a foe, users must learn to take the same precautions to protect themselves as they would with any other setting. As more and more of our lives moves online, the lines between the real world and the virtual world will become less and less distinct, and our friends and foes will be just as real online as they are at school, at work, and at play. It is the potential for both risk and reward that makes social media valuable, and those who understand the value of social media are those who will make it a friend rather than a foe.

Works Cited

Acquisti A, Gross R. Imagined communities: Awareness, information sharing, and privacy on the Facebook. In: Privacy Enhancing Technologies. Springer; 2006:36-58.

Ellison NB, Steinfield C, Lampe C. The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication. 2007; 12(4):1143-1168.

Hemalatha, N. (2012). Informal Social networking: problems and prospects of the knowledge society. International Journal of Research in Management, Economics, and Commerce, 2(2), pp. 116 – 129.

Livingstone, S. (2010).On the Rapid Rise of Social Networking Sites: New Findings and Policy Implications. Children and Society, 24(1), pp. 75 – 83.

MacLean, C.; Campbell, C. Locating research informants in a multi-ethnic community: ethnic identities, social networks and recruitment methods. Ethnicity and health. 2003; 8(1):41-61.

Sacks, M. (2012). How many friends do you need? Teaching students how to network using social media. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(1), pp. 80 – 88.

Thompson, Clive. “I’m So Totally, Digitally Close to You.” New York Times.com.  New York Times. 5 Sept. 2008.  Web. 30 March 2011.