Austin Drzewiecki

Brunskole
ARC
March 7, 2014
The Social Network

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat, Vine, Kik, MySpace and many others
are among the limitless list of social networking sites. The recent trend of social media
has skyrocketed over the last decade with the amount of internet users who own a
social media account changing from 9% in 2005 to 73% in 2014(MAEVE DUGGAN
AND AARON SMITH). Facebook itself has over 1 billion users and a complete dominant
control over all social networks. Mark Zuckerberg created a dynasty back in 2004
among college students which has now expanded from middle schoolers to
grandparents. The terms Facebook or social media have become regular words of
our daily vocabulary. People have recently been discussing about the pros and cons of
social media. The pros may include more connection over longer distance and business
market the world has never seen. Cons may include privacy infringement and a
disconnection from the world around us. The funny thing about social media is that one
single negative does not outweigh any single benefit; they simply coexist with each
other creating a perfect balance in an imperfect society.
As social media has become such a major impact on our society, it has of course
changed our society as well. One major hot debate or political issue is the lack of
privacy one may receive for their social media account. The National Security Agency,
otherwise known as NSA, has created laws that may allow them to infringe upon our
rights and check our accounts for any suspicious activity that may put our nation in
danger. Yahoo News writer Sarah Parvini wrote an article not only explaining that the
NSA manipulates the Freedom of Information law in order to get ahold of our
information and cell records, but they also do not even use the intelligence they receive
to track down threats to the United States of America. Stated in the article, We have
not identified a single instance involving a threat to the United States in which the
program made a concrete difference in the outcome of a counterterrorism investigation,
writes the board, which reviews actions taken by the government to protect the country
from terrorism. People all throughout the country are outraged by the agency tracking
down our phone calls, listening to our conversations, and always having to look over
their shoulders for Big Brother watching. As technology around us speeds up, so does
our desire to keep up with it. Many believe that our desire is a poor indication of what is
to come. Writers like Luke Mckinney believe that social networks are detrimental to our
society. In his column, 6 Scientific Reasons Social Networks Are Bad for Society
Mckinney gives six reasons why social networking sites are bad for this society. His
number one reason is that people are failing to communicate with others around them
instead of interacting face to face. He states people in their first year of college use this
time to meet new people, develop a true personality away from home, and start living in
the real world As social media and internet have now come into play, people who are
generally shy find themselves being accepted on the internet. The study was done on
100 freshman college students. Using the Revised Cheek and Buss shyness scale,
scientists found that the shy would rather spend more time online and on social media,
but with less Facebook friends. This translates to wanting to be observing people, but
not interacting with them. Whether or not this helps them in the long run, the world may
never know.
As there are many social media cons, there as many equal social media benefits.
Social media is growing and it reaches all seven continents and almost everyone living
in the first world country had access to have an account, which takes the term long
lasting relationship to a whole new level. Our lives are extremely unpredictable, and at
any point jobs may be lost, new promotions may be at stake, or senior boy/girl
relationships in high school. If boyfriend and girlfriend are moving to different colleges
200 miles apart, social media can allow them to continue their relationship. They can
keep in touch over a long distance and maybe high school sweethearts will not be
separated by distance. As sentimental and sweet that was, there is another aspect of
social media that the corporate industry has found a new love in. It is online advertising,
online shopping, online anything to get your corporate brand out and known around the
world. It has become the new hot place for advertising. Business Insider ranked the top
thirty most creative social media marketing ads. Twenty-two out of the top thirty were
done on websites like Twitter, Instagram, Vine, and Facebook(Laura Stampler). The
business world for the first time ever has found a way to market without overbearing the
consumer, and making an almost friendly or personal approach reaching out to the
potential customers. Many aspects of social media can be negative, but there are also
many other aspects that can be equally as beneficial.
As we look at the pros and cons of social media, it is the one true thing that we
created that will never die. Multiple sites like MySpace, Cinemagraph, and Path have
already met their maker. Other sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have made a
lasting impression on society. Social media has changed our society whether for the
better or for the worse, it has changed the ways we look at people and how we interact
with one another. It has made connections never seen before. It generates double the
marketing revenue trade show, telemarketing, daily mail and PPC (Jonathen Bernstein-
socialmediatoday.com). Statistics like this can be seen as a positive or negative from
whatever angle one is looking at. People that are in the telemarketing business or postal
service look at this as haunting stat threatening their careers, but people who are pro-
technology love the fact that we can broadcast ads around the web, or order an item
online and it show up on our doorstep within 24 hours.
As people who were not born in the 21st century adjust to the rapid speed
technology progresses it comes with some speculation. How will it affect our society in
the long run? Where will we go from here? It seems that people have reached their full
potential at social media. How could it get any better? Only time will tell. The way our
society has began to adapt has given bright hope for the future, and severe angst for
what is to come. The pros and cons of social media are perfect equivalents. One is the
peanut butter to the jelly, the salt to the pepper, or the apple to the pie. People have
picked their side and their stance to the new aspect of our world, but these can only be
based off of opinions. People will fret that social networking is tearing at the moral
fabrics of our society, and almost nothing can be said or done to change their opinions.
Other people can praise and cherish the way social media has evolved and sped up our
evolution to achieve greatness, thinking, it is the most beautiful creation of the 21st
century. The pros and cons are endless, but they will always come hand in hand. As
Simon Mainwaring put it, Like all technology, social media is neutral but is best put to
work in the service building a better world