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cJoel Tamez

Professor Carter

WRC II

10/30/10

Effects of Social Networking

Facebook statistics show, that the world spends over 700 billion minutes per month on the

Facebook site. (Facebook Statistics) What is it doing to the relationships and social capital that

Americans have with friends, relatives, neighbors, and workmates? Those on one side of the

debate admire the social networks ability to expand relationships - socially and geographically.

Those on the other side of the debate fear that these social networks will alienate people from

their richer, more authentic relations.

Once upon a time, the internet was seen as something special, available only to wizards

and geeks. Now it has become part of everyday life. People routinely integrate it into the ways in

which they communicate with each other, moving between phone, computer, and in-person

encounters. To some, social networking sites such as, Facebook allow users to take part of a

second life. Social networks contain numerous positive effects as well as some negative effects.

Numerous counts of evidence calls into question fears that social relationships and

community are fading away in America. Instead of disappearing, people¶s communities are

transforming: The traditional human orientation to neighborhood and village-based groups is

moving towards communities that are oriented around geographically dispersed social networks.

People communicate and maneuver in these networks rather than being bound up in one solitary

community. Yet people¶s network continues to have substantial numbers of relatives and

neighbors the traditional bases of community as well as friends and workmates.

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The internet and email play an important role in maintaining these dispersed social

networks. Rather than conflicting with people¶s community affiliation, we find that the internet

fits seamlessly with in-person and phone encounters. With the help of the internet, people are

able to maintain active contact with sizable social networks, even though many of the people in

those networks do not live nearby.(Procons.org) Moreover, there is media diversity: The more

that people see each other in person and talk on the phone, the more they use the internet. The

connectedness that the internet and other media promote within social networks has real payoffs:

People use the internet to seek out others in their networks of contacts when they need help.

According to Procon.org,

Social media can be a powerful tool for social change and an alternative to more

traditional methods of communication. During the protests of the Iranian election

in June 2009, protestors used Twitter to circumvent government control over

phones and the media. Twitter was so important that the US State Department

asked Twitter to delay a network upgrade that would have taken the website offline

at a busy time of day in Iran. Twitter complied and rescheduled the downtime to

1:30 am Tehran time. The ability to remain anonymous helped protect people who

were spreading information in real time. (Procon.org)

The internet plays socially valuable roles in a world moving towards ³networked

individualism.´ Email allows individuals to get help from their social networks and the internet

lets them collect information and find support and information as they face important decisions.

While standard means of communications such as landline telephone and in-person visits

conversations are the crucial ways by which people keep in touch with those in their social

networks. We find that email supplements, rather than replaces, the communication people have
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with people who are very close to them - as well as those with those not so close. Email is

especially important to those who have large social networks.

In a social environment based on networked individualism, the internet¶s ability to help

maintain and cultivate social networks has real payoffs. Our work shows that internet use

provides online Americans a path to resources, such as access to people who may have the right

information to help deal with a health or medical issue or to confront a financial issue.

Sometimes this assistance comes from a close friend or family member. Sometimes this

assistance comes from a person more socially distant, but made close by email in a time of need.

The result is that people not only socialize online, but they also incorporate the internet into

seeking information, exchanging advice, and making decisions.

Unfortunately, the issue of social networks and ability privacy is sometimes affiliated with

negative effects. Individuals may be targeted for identity theft. Personal possessions may be

targeted and stolen because some individuals may post valuable information on their profiles.

Children also fall victim to negative effects of social networking. According to Tracy Mitrano,

Director of IT Policy at Cornell University, ³Congress passed the Children's Online Privacy

Protection Act (COPPA) in 1998, which controls the acquisition of personally identifiable

information from persons thirteen and under on the Internet by requiring adult permission´(A

Wider World)

The internet has advanced transformation in community from densely knit villages and

neighborhoods to more sparsely knit social networks. Because individuals rather than households

are separately connected, the internet and the cell phone have transformed communication from

house to house to person to person. There is ³networked individualism´: Rather than relying on a

single community for social capital, individuals often must actively seek out a variety of
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appropriate people and resources for different situations. Although many may believe social

networking may have negative effects on the world, its flourishing community will continue to

grow.
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Works Cited

Boase, Jeffrey. The Strength of Internet Ties. Tornoto: University of Toronto, 2006. Print.

"Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998." Federal Trade Commission. Web. 03 Nov.

2010. <http://www.ftc.gov/ogc/coppa1.htm>.

Social Networking ProCon.org. Web. 03 Nov. 2010. <http://socialnetworking.procon.org/>.

"Statistics | Facebook." Ô
  

. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2010.

<http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics>.

Winslow, G.. "Media Companies' Social Problem. " Broadcasting & Cable 1 Nov. 2010:

Research Library, ProQuest. Web. 3 Nov. 2010.