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Yulissa Reyes
Professor Lewis
English 113A
29 November 2015
Staying Connected
Social media has blown up over the years, especially now due to all the apps that have
been created for them. Millions of people use all kinds of social media apps to stay connected
with friends and family around the world. Social media has impacted many peoples lives in
either a good or bad way. Some people use these apps all the time, while others use them on
certain occasions, but no matter what you cant stay away from social media apps. Although
social media apps like Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram can cause less face-to-face interactions
with our friends and family, they are making it easy for us to post freely, to view news updates,
and stay connected with our followers.
One of the most common used social media apps is Twitter. On Twitter, you can post as
many tweets as you want because there is no longer a limit like there used to be. It used to be
called Twitter Jail, but now thanks to the updates of the app people are free to post as much as
they want, when they want. Being a user of Twitter myself, I see how having no limit to tweeting
is a great advantage to staying connected with friends and family. When you post a tweet on
Twitter you are letting all of your followers know whats going on in your life. You are able to
communicate with hundreds of people all at once. This is one way on how social media apps are
changing the way we communicate with each other.
Before, if you wanted to let your friends know what you were up to, you would have to
either call them over the phone or see them face to face. Now with just posting a single tweet,

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you are able to let all your friends and family know what is going on without having to go
through the hassle of telling them one by one. According to Johnson in Deseret News National,
Theyre finding that people communicate more often with family and friends because of
technology, but the quality of that communication may be weaker. Even though people might
not communicate the same way as before, they are still able to communicate more easily with
people because of these social media apps.
Another common social media app is Snapchat. Snapchat is used to take pictures and
videos of yourself or of what is going on around you at that moment and be able to post it for
twenty-four hours. On Snapchat you can post whatever you want, whenever you want for your
friends and family to see. Being a user of Snapchat as well, helps me see what my friends are up
to by a click of a button. By using Snapchat, we are changing the way we communicate face to
face because now, you are able to see and hear someone, but not actually be there with them.
According to Fancourt Rising from 200 million snaps per day in June to 400 million in
November. This just shows how much Snapchat has started to make a huge impact on way we
used to communicate.
Celebrities tend to be very fond of Snapchat as well. They get to post pictures and
videos of themselves for their fans. This gives the fans a little look on the inside of what their
favorite celebs are doing. Before Snapchat was created, you weren't able to see what someone
was doing at that exact moment. This has given a new meaning of face to face communication
than it has been in the past. Now with Snapchat, people are able to see what their friends, family
and even favorite celebrities are doing, whether they are actually there or not.
Instagram is another social media app that is also changing the way we communicate in

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our society today. Instagram and Snapchat are some what a like because you still post pictures
and videos. I prefer to use Snapchat over Instagram because Snapchat is more for joking around
with pictures and videos, while Instagram is more for selfies and group photos. Another
difference is that on Instagram, it stays online for however long you want it to be. You can post
whatever kind of picture or video that you want on Instagram. It gives your followers the sense
of who you are when you post pictures. Posting pictures and videos on Instagram gives another
look on the inside of what a person is doing with their time. Also by liking a photo or video you
are communicating with the person who posted it, basically by saying that you saw what they
posted and you liked it. Instagram is probably the least social media app that I use between
Twitter and Snapchat because its just mostly about uploading pictures and videos and nothing
more.
Most people nowadays won't turn on the tv to look at the news. We are all too busy,
distracted on our phones with these social media apps. Twitter has been know to spread news like
wildfire. Like I said before, you are able to communicate with hundreds of people all at one time
by posting a single tweet. By posting about the news happening around the world, everyone can
know about it within minutes. For example, what happened in Paris not to long ago. It was
bombed and many lives were lost, but I would have never known that if it wasnt for all the
tweets being posted saying #PrayForParis. This is one of the main reasons why social media apps
help us stay connected with the news updates around world.
Snapchat on the other hand shows news updates a little bit differently than Twitter does.
Unlike Twitter, Snapchat already has their own news apps within the app. For example like
Cosmo, CNN, ESPN, and much more. They are updated every twenty-four hours with new news

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updates about whats going on around in our society. As a user of Snapchat, I do use these
miniature apps within the app to find out some news.
It is believed that the more followers you have on social media apps, the more you will
use those apps. Twitter has millions and millions of users that go on the app every single day. If
you follow quite a lot of people, your timeline is pretty much full of other peoples tweets, but
this helps you stay connected with your followers.You may not be great friends with someone
but you could become great friends with them by seeing what they tweet and if it similar to how
you feel at the moment. This is where the retweet and like option comes in. It shows how
someone noticed your tweet. Before it would be somewhat awkward to just tell a random person
that you liked what they said. Now though with Twitter, it is easy to meet new people and stay
connected with them as well.
Staying connected with your friends on Snapchat is a lot different than staying with
connected with your friends on Twitter. Instead of retweeting or liking a tweet, there's a thing
called a story on Snapchat, where you view what your friends are up to. It also gives them a
notification when you have viewed their story and if you even screenshot it. Even though you
may not send a Snap to a friend that day you can still see what they are up to. This is another
great way of staying connected with friends by viewing their story.
On Instagram, staying connected with your followers is just as easy. Every time someone
post a picture of video you can just comment right at the bottom of it. You can also stay
connected with your followers by tagging them in a post or using a hashtag. There is also direct
messaging but I feel like most people don't use it as much.
Social media apps help us stay connected with our friends, family, strangers and even

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famous celebrities. Its changing the way we communicate for the better because without it, we
wouldn't know what is going on, with the lives of our followers. Technology is advancing, which
means we must adjust to it or get left behind. Social media apps are changing the way we
communicate to a great extend but it is how our society is and without them, we wouldn't know
what we know now. We probably wouldn't know what's going on around the world without it and
it gives us a sense that we are never really alone. You have a wide variety of people to stay
connected with and this is why social media is benefitting us in our world today.

Work Cited Page

Fancourt, James. "How Snapchat Is Changing Our Communication." A Medium Corporation. 9
Apr. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
Johnson, Chandra. "Face Time vs. Screen Time: The Technological Impact on Communication."
Deseret News National. 29 Aug. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.