Social Media in our life free essay sample

?How Strongly Can Social Media Influence and Control People’s Lives? What comes to your mind when you hear the term â€Å"Social Media? Perhaps some people thinking about the media that makes them able to meet and communicate with people around the world. While some others think about that, social media is the channel that gives them the chance to send and receive many information. Others think that social media is about the way we get many updates from people who we follow and maybe someone out there thinks social media is a part of a new marketing strategy. Nowadays, social media seems like a big part of our life. When your friends didn’t reply to your text, you can greet them on Facebook. When you want to listen to music or see a music video from your favorite singer – go to YouTube. When you just wake up and open your eyes, you don’t have to walk outside to get the newspaper, just take your phone and scroll your Twitter timeline then you’ll get the information. We will write a custom essay sample on Social Media in our life or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Blog and Forum are also types of social media because they allow you to share â€Å"what you think† about articles, pictures, videos and so on. There is social media which allows the users not only to share about their profession, major of study, works and company, addresses, political views and religion, but also allow them to find a job and allow the company to find the employees. Everything looks and feels easier to do with social media. But from the examples above, I have a question on my mind â€Å"If everything looks and feels easier to do with social media, isnt something strange if society is extremely dependent on social media. How strong can social media influence and control people’s lives? † This question leads me to recall a case that happened about 5 years ago. Let me tell you a very interesting case from Indonesia about social media. In August 2008, there was a women who has known by Indonesian people as Prita Mulyasari. Her case begun when she wrote about her disappointment of the services of a Hospital in Jakarta. She told and wrote everything about the hospital and the bad services that she got from the doctors, nurses and administration staff. Then, she sent a message to her friends on the mailing list. Actually, she just tried to remind her friends to be more selective in choosing the hospital and to be more careful in accepting many kinds of services. But, her message became a big problem after her friend shared it to a website (the people’s forum) with so many read and commented about the issue. In September 2008, the management of the hospital reported Prita Mulyasari for the bad news about the hospital that she has spread. The management of the hospital demanded her to pay a material loss of about Rp. 161 million as a replacement for clarification in national newspapers and Rp. 100 million for immaterial losses. She wasn’t only to pay for the hospital losses but she was also detained in May 2009. After 8 months she went through the inspection and verification process and was convicted by the court for violating the law about using the ICT (Information and Communication Technology). This case rapidly spread among Indonesian people. As common issues, there are always pros and cons. Although the Indonesian people weren’t justified what Prita has done against the hospital, but most of people in Indonesia really cared about her life and Prita’s condition and tried to help her, at least to pay the amercement. The first Facebook account which made by some people is (https://www. facebook. com/KoinPeduliPrita). They were spreading â€Å"Bantu Bebaskan Prita† or â€Å"Help Free Prita† to Indonesian People and approached them to help Prita by collecting the coins. It didn’t take a long time. Many volunteers, social workers, activists, students and even artists came together to help her. They were collecting many coins from people on the street, office, and even an entertainment center. Some singers also held a charity concert to help her (http://koinkeadilan. com/). In December 2009, the campaign to help Prita was finished and they succeed by collecting the coins to help Prita raise about Rp. 825 Million. The money was extremely worth it for Prita, although she still had to go through the period of detainees. However, the money was very helpful for her not only to pay the amercement but also for her life, considering she has two kids. I’m not trying to spread bad news about my country or discredit someone or some institutions. I am just trying to make you believe that social media has the strength to influence and control people’s lives. Prita’s case clearly explains to us that social media were able to make people’s life get worse or get better. But, we don’t need to stay away or being anti-social media. People are stronger than social media because we can easily think before we act and think before we speak. There is nothing to be worried about if we are wise when we share something on social media. Sources: http://hukum. kompasiana. com/2009/06/03/kronologi-kasus-prita-mulyasari-13940. h tml http://www. hukumonline. com/berita/baca/lt4b3ac59e39184/pn-tangerang-vonis-bebas-prita-buka-perdamaian-dengan-rs-omni http://outthinkgroup. com/tips/the-6-types-of-social-media http://news. okezone. com/read/2009/12/21/338/286733/redirect How social media is affecting our daily lives: Have you ever had one of those moments when you’re working on completing an important assignment that’s due the next day, and then you think, â€Å"I wonder what’s happening on Twitter right now? † Three hours later, you’ve scrolled through hundreds of tweets, and your assignment is left terrible and unfinished. It’s safe to say that social media is a big part of my life. In fact, I would go so far as saying that it has taken over my life. I’ve got nothing to do, so I’ll see what people are doing on Facebook. When I’m bored, I tweet about it. Chances are all of you do, too. But just how much are we tweeting? NBC News published an article in 2012 that said the United States spent 121 billion minutes on social media in July 2012 alone. That’s 230,060 years right there. According to NBC, that’s 6. 5 hours per person if everyone in the U. S. used social media. I believe that in this way social media poses as more than a simple distraction. As fun as commenting on your grandmother’s cat photos can be, there is no real value to the string of 10- to 15-second comments or updates are generally meaningless. Unless you are getting involved in a meaningful substantive dialogue (as opposed to pokes and likes), the time spent on a social network doesn’t add to your life. Social media is supposed to bring people together online to share information. In practice, it does neither of these things in a meaningful way. What is nefarious and subtle is what use of social networks takes away. Time that could be spent working on far more important things is wasted on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Tumblr. Think of what you could do with an extra 6. 5 hours of studying, time with family, and time with friends in person. Think of the sleep and the money you could make working. Sadly, cutting down on â€Å"Internet time,† as it has been frequently dubbed, is easier said than done. Social networking has gotten so big because of the ease with which it facilitates communication, allows people to connect with others who have similar interests, and provides businesses with opportunities to reach out to consumers. People can miss real life important events because they didn’t see the Facebook invitation. My intent is not to criticize, but to enlighten. Social media has been key in helping me keep in touch with friends and family, and it is a wonderful tool for communication as well. The issue at hand is the excessive amounts of time being spent on social media and how it has unwittingly become a priority in our lives. It simultaneously enables and replaces socialization. On the other hand, recent studies conducted by researchers from Miriam Hospital have found a correlation between lower GPAs and higher social media use in female college students. This further reinforces the idea that while social media may be the norm and is currently popular, I don’t believe it’s bettering society. So next time you’re bored on the bus on your way home from school, try talking to the person sitting next to you on the shuttle instead of spending the ride scrolling through Instagram. If you’re sitting in a lecture hall, forget about tweeting throughout the class and actually pay attention. If there’s one thing social media isn’t doing for you, it’s helping you be social. Social networking sites and our lives: Questions have been raised about the social impact of widespread use of social networking sites (SNS) like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter. Do these technologies isolate people and truncate their relationships? Or are there benefits associated with being connected to others in this way? The Pew Research Center’s Internet American Life Project decided to examine SNS in a survey that explored people’s overall social networks and how use of these technologies is related to trust, tolerance, social support, and community and political engagement. The findings presented here paint a rich and complex picture of the role that digital technology plays in people’s social worlds. Wherever possible, we seek to disentangle whether people’s varying social behaviors and attitudes are related to the different ways they use social networking sites, or to other relevant demographic characteristics, such as age, gender and social class. The number of those using social networking sites has nearly doubled since 2008 and the population of SNS users has gotten older. In this Pew Internet sample, 79% of American adults said they used the internet and nearly half of adults (47%), or 59% of internet users, say they use at least one of SNS. This is close to double the 26% of adults (34% of internet users) who used a SNS in 2008. Among other things, this means the average age of adult-SNS users has shifted from 33 in 2008 to 38 in 2010. Over half of all adult SNS users are now over the age of 35. Some 56% of SNS users now are female. Facebook dominates the SNS space in this survey: 92% of SNS users are on Facebook; 29% use MySpace, 18% used LinkedIn and 13% use Twitter. There is considerable variance in the way people use various social networking sites: 52% of Facebook users and 33% of Twitter users engage with the platform daily, while only 7% of MySpace and 6% of LinkedIn users do the same. On Facebook on an average day: 15% of Facebook users update their own status. 22% comment on another’s post or status. 20% comment on another user’s photos. 26% â€Å"Like† another user’s content. 10% send another user a private message Facebook users are more trusting than others. We asked people if they felt â€Å"that most people can be trusted. † When we used regression analysis to control for demographic factors, we found that the typical internet user is more than twice as likely as others to feel that people can be trusted. Further, we found that Facebook users are even more likely to be trusting. We used regression analysis to control for other factors and found that a Facebook user who uses the site multiple times per day is 43% more likely than other internet users and more than three times as likely as non-internet users to feel that most people can be trusted. Facebook users have more close relationships. The average American has just over two discussion confidants (2. 16) – that is, people with whom they discuss important matters. This is a modest, but significantly larger number than the average of 1. 93 core ties reported when we asked this same question in 2008. Controlling for other factors we found that someone who uses Facebook several times per day averages 9% more close, core ties in their overall social network compared with other internet users. Facebook users get more social support than other people. We looked at how much total support, emotional support, companionship, and instrumental aid adults receive. On a scale of 100, the average American scored 75/100 on a scale of total support, 75/100 on emotional support (such as receiving advice), 76/100 in companionship (such as having people to spend time with), and 75/100 in instrumental aid (such as having someone to help if they are sick in bed). Internet users in general score 3 points higher in total support, 6 points higher in companionship, and 4 points higher in instrumental support. A Facebook user who uses the site multiple times per day tends to score an additional 5 points higher in total support, 5 points higher in emotional support, and 5 points higher in companionship, than internet users of similar demographic characteristics. For Facebook users, the additional boost is equivalent to about half the total support that the average American receives as a result of being married or cohabitating with a partner. Facebook users are much more politically engaged than most people. Our survey was conducted over the November 2010 elections. At that time, 10% of Americans reported that they had attended a political rally, 23% reported that they had tried to convince someone to vote for a specific candidate, and 66% reported that they had or intended to vote. Internet users in general were over twice as likely to attend a political meeting, 78% more likely to try and influence someone’s vote, and 53% more likely to have voted or intended to vote. Compared with other internet users, and users of other SNS platforms, a Facebook user who uses the site multiple times per day was an additional two and half times more likely to attend a political rally or meeting, 57% more likely to persuade someone on their vote, and an additional 43% more likely to have said they would vote. Facebook revives â€Å"dormant† relationships. In our sample, the average Facebook user has 229 Facebook friends. They reported that their friends list contains: 22% people from high school 12% extended family 10% coworkers 9% college friends 8% immediate family 7% people from voluntary groups 2% neighbors Over 31% of Facebook friends cannot be classified into these categories. However, only 7% of Facebook friends are people users have never met in person, and only 3% are people who have met only one time. The remainder is friends-of-friends and social ties that are not currently active relationships, but â€Å"dormant† ties that may, at some point in time, become an important source of information. Social networking sites are increasingly used to keep up with close social ties. Looking only at those people that SNS users report as their core discussion confidants, 40% of users have friended all of their closest confidants. This is a substantial increase from the 29% of users who reported in our 2008 survey that they had friended all of their core confidants. MySpace users are more likely to be open to opposing points of view. We measured â€Å"perspective taking,† or the ability of people to consider multiple points of view. There is no evidence that SNS users, including those who use Facebook, are any more likely than others to cocoon themselves in social networks of like-minded and similar people, as some have feared. Moreover, regression analysis found that those who use MySpace have significantly higher levels of perspective taking. The average adult scored 64/100 on a scale of perspective taking, using regression analysis to control for demographic factors, a MySpace user who uses the site a half dozen times per month tends to score about 8 points higher on the scale.