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Are Social Networking Sites Good for Our Society?
74% of American adults online use social networking sites such as Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, as of Jan. 2014, up from 26% in
2008. [26] [174]. On social media sites like these, users may develop
biographical profiles, communicate with friends and strangers, do research,
and share thoughts, photos, music, links, and more.
Social Networking Home
Featured Resources
Proponents of social networking sites say that the online communities promote
increased interaction with friends and family; offer teachers, librarians, and
students valuable access to educational support and materials; facilitate social
and political change; and disseminate useful information rapidly.
1. Did You Know?
2. Pro & Con Arguments
3. Background
Opponents of social networking say that the sites prevent face-to-face
communication; waste time on frivolous activity; alter children’s brains and
behavior making them more prone to ADHD; expose users to predators like
pedophiles and burglars; and spread false and potentially dangerous
information. Read more...
4. Video Gallery
Projects
5. Top Pro & Con Quotes
Did You Know?
Pro & Con Arguments
Top Pro & Con Quotes
Background
Video Gallery
Comments
6. Comments
Learn More
7. Footnotes & Sources
8. Source Biographies
Social Networking ProCon.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit website that presents research, studies, and pro and con statements on questions related to social
networking and its impact on society.
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Did You Know?
1. Social networking sites are a top news source for 27.8% of Americans,
ranking below newspapers (28.8%) and above radio (18.8%) and print
publications (6%). [1]
2. Students who used social networking sites while studying scored 20% lower
on tests and students who used social media had an average GPA of 3.06
versus non-users who had an average GPA of 3.82. [84]
3. 35 global heads of state, every US Cabinet agency, 84% of US state
governors, every major candidate for US President, and more than 40% of
top global religious leaders are on Twitter. [157]
4. 10% of people younger than 25 years old respond to social media and text
messages during sex. [100] [173]
5. In July 2012 Americans spent 74.0 billion minutes on social media via a
home computer, 40.8 billion minutes via apps, and 5.7 billion minutes via
mobile web browsers, a total of 121.1 billion minutes on social networking
sites. [147]
Pro & Con Arguments: "Are Social Networking Sites Good for Our Society?"
PRO Social Networking Sites
1.
Social networking sites spread information
faster than any other media. Over 50% of people
CON Social Networking Sites
1.
learn about breaking news on social media. [1] 65% of
traditional media reporters and editors use sites like
Facebook and LinkedIn for story research, and 52% use
Twitter. [2] Social networking sites are the top news source
for 27.8% of Americans, ranking close to newspapers
(28.8%) and above radio (18.8%) and other print
publications (6%). [1] Twitter and YouTube users reported
the July 20, 2012 Aurora, CO theater shooting before news
crews could arrive on the scene [3], and the Red Cross
urged witnesses to tell family members they were safe via
social media outlets. [4]
2.
Law enforcement uses social networking
sites to catch and prosecute criminals. 67% of
Social media enables the spread of unreliable
and false information. 49.1% of people have heard
false news via social media. [1] On Sep. 5, 2012 false
rumors of fires, shootouts, and caravans of gunmen in a
Mexico City suburb spread via Twitter and Facebook caused
panic, flooded the local police department with over 3,000
phone calls, and temporarily closed schools. [79] Shashank
Tripathi, tweeting as @ComfortablySmug, spread false
information in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy by tweeting
that the New York Stock Exchange was flooding and that the
power company would cut off electricity to all of Manhattan;
the bogus information was picked up by national news
outlets including CNN and the Weather Channel. [80]
2.
federal, state, and local law enforcement professionals
surveyed think "social media helps solve crimes more
quickly." [5] In 2011 the NYPD added a Twitter tracking unit
and has used social networking to arrest criminals who have
bragged of their crimes online. [6] When the Vancouver
Canucks lost the 2011 Stanley Cup in Vancouver, the city
erupted into riots. Social media was used to catch vandals
and rioters as social networking site users tagged the
people they knew in over 2,000 photos posted to the sites.
Social networking sites lack privacy and
expose users to government and corporate
intrusions. 13 million users said they had not set or did
not know about Facebook's privacy settings and 28%
shared all or nearly all of their posts publicly. [81] The US
Justice Department intercepted 1,661 pieces of information
from social networking sites and e-mails in 2011. [82] The
2009 IRS training manual teaches agents to scan Facebook
pages for information that might "assist in resolving a
taxpayer case." 4.7 million Facebook users have "liked" a
health condition or medical treatment page, information that
is sometimes used by insurance companies to raise rates.
[7] [8]
[81] [83]
3.
Social networking sites help students do
better at school. 59% of students with access to the
3.
Internet report that they use social networking sites to
discuss educational topics and 50% use the sites to talk
about school assignments. [9] After George Middle School in
Portland, OR introduced a social media program to engage
students, grades went up by 50%, chronic absenteeism
went down by 33%, and 20% of students school-wide
voluntarily completed extra-credit assignments.[10] [11] A
Jan. 2015 study published in the Journal of Applied
Developmental Psychology said college freshman should
use social networking sites to build networks of new friends,
feel socially integrated at their new schools, and reduce their
risk of dropping out. [182]
4.
Social networking sites allow people to
improve their relationships and make new
friends. 70% of adult social networking users visit the
sites to connect with friends and family [12], and increased
online communication strengthens relationships. [13] 52% of
teens using social media report that using the sites has
helped their relationships with friends, 88% report that social
media helps them stay in touch with friends they cannot see
regularly, 69% report getting to know students at their school
better, and 57% make new friends. [14]
5.
media had an average GPA of 3.06 while non-users had an
average GPA of 3.82 and students who used social
networking sites while studying scored 20% lower on tests.
[84] College students’ grades dropped 0.12 points for every
93 minutes above the average 106 minutes spent on
Facebook per day. [85] Two-thirds of teachers believe that
social media does more to distract students than to help
academically. [86] The Sep. 2, 2014 Learning Habit study
published in the American Journal of Family Therapy found
that grades began a steady decline after secondary school
students reached 30 minutes of daily screen time (time
spent using an electronic device such as a computer or
mobile phone). After four hours of screen time, average
GPAs dropped one full grade. [184]
4.
Social networking sites can lead to stress
and offline relationship problems. A University of
Edinburgh Business School study found the more Facebook
friends a person has, the more stressful the person finds
Facebook to use. [87] According to a Feb. 9, 2012 Pew
Internet report, 15% of adult social network users had an
experience on a social networking site that caused a
friendship to end, 12% of adult users had an experience
online that resulted in a face-to-face argument, and 3% of
adults reported a physical confrontation as the result of an
experience on a social networking site. [88]
Social media helps empower business
women. Being able to connect on social networking sites
gives business women a support group not readily found
offline where female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are
outnumbered by male CEOs 15 to 485. [15] Many social
media sites are dominated by women: 72% of Pinterest
users are women, 58% of Facebook users, 62% of
MySpace users, 60% of Yelp users, and 53% of Instagram
users. [16] Business women useTwitter chats to support
each other, give and receive peer knowledge, and have
guest "speakers" share expert knowledge. [17] One.org
helps African women entrepreneurs connect on social media
Students who are heavy social media users
tend to have lower grades. Students who use social
5.
Social networking sites entice people to
waste time. 40% of 8 to 18 year olds spend 54 minutes a
day on social media sites. [89] 36% of people surveyed listed
social networking as the "biggest waste of time," above
fantasy sports (25%), watching TV (23%), and shopping
(9%). [90] When alerted to a new social networking site
activity, like a new tweet or Facebook message, users take
20 to 25 minutes on average to return to the original task. In
to grow their businesses. [18]
6.
Social media sites help employers find
employees and job-seekers find work. 64% of
companies are on two or more social networks for recruiting
[19] because of the wider pool of applicants and more
efficient searching capabilities. 89% of job recruiters have
hired employees through LinkedIn, 26% through Facebook,
and 15% through Twitter. [20] One in six job-seekers credit
social media for helping find their current job. 52% of jobseekers use Facebook for the job search, 38% use
LinkedIn, and 34% use Twitter. [21]
7.
Being a part of a social networking site can
increase a person's quality of life and reduce
the risk of health problems. Social media can help
improve life satisfaction, stroke recovery, memory retention,
and overall well-being by providing users with a large social
group. Additionally, friends on social media can have a
"contagion" effect, promoting and helping with exercise,
dieting, and smoking cessation goals. [22]
8.
30% of cases, it took two hours to fully return attention to the
original task. [91] 42% of American Internet users play
games like Farmville or Mafia Wars on social networking
sites. [92]
6.
negative reactions to finding profanity (61%), poor spelling
or grammar (54%), illegal drugs (78%), sexual content
(66%), pictures of or with alcohol (47%), and religious
content (26%) on potential employees’ social media pages.
[21] Anthony Weiner, former US Representative, was forced
to resign after a Twitter sexting scandal in 2011. [93] Several
athletes were banned from the 2012 Olympics because of
their racist social media posts. [94]
7.
Social networking sites increase voter
participation. Facebook users reported they are more
social networking use) is associated with feelings of
loneliness, depression, anxiety and general distress. [95] The
2013 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(DSM) is evaluating "Internet Addiction Disorder" for
inclusion. A 2008 UCLA study revealed web users had
fundamentally altered prefrontal cortexes [96] due, in part, to
the fast pace of social networking sites rewiring the brain
with repeated exposure. [97]
8.
likely to vote if they see on social networking sites that their
friends did. [25] During the Nov. 2010 elections, Facebook
users who visit the site more than once a day were 2.5 times
more likely to attend a political rally or meeting, 57% more
likely to persuade someone about a vote, and 43% more
likely to say they will vote. [26] During the 2012 presidential
election, 22% of registered voters posted about how they
voted on Facebook or Twitter, 30% were encouraged to vote
by posts on social media, and 20% encouraged others to
vote via social networking sites. [27]
Social media facilitates political change. Social
networking sites give social movements a quick, no-cost
method to organize, disseminate information, and mobilize
people. [28] The 2011 Egyptian uprising (part of the Arab
Spring), organized largely via social media, motivated tens
of thousands of protestors for eighteen days of
demonstrations and, ultimately led to the resignation of
Egyptian President Mubarak on Feb. 11, 2011. [29] A July 4,
2011 tweet from @Adbusters with the hashtag
#occupywallstreet started the American Occupy movement,
which gained traction in Sep. 2011 when protesters gathered
at New York City's Zuccotti Park and remained there until
Nov. 15, 2011. [30]
11.
12.
10.
Social media can endanger the military and
journalists. The US Army notes that checking in with
location based services on social networking sites like
Foursquare or Facebook could expose sensitive
whereabouts and endanger military personnel and
operations. [104] In 2011 a Mexican journalist was murdered
by the Zetas drug cartel because she used Twitter to report
on cartel crime. [105] A blogger was found murdered by a
Mexican cartel in 2011 with the note "this happened to me
for not understanding that I shouldn’t report things on the
social networks." [106] [140]
11.
Social networking sites harm employees'
productivity. 51% of people aged 25-34 accessed social
media while at work. [147] Two-thirds of US workers with
Facebook accounts access the site during work hours [107]
Even spending just 30 minutes a day on social media while
at work would cost a 50-person company 6,500 hours of
productivity a year. [108] 51% of American workers think
work productivity suffers because of social media. [109]
Social media sites empower individuals to
make social change and do social good on a
community level. Social media shares popularized
nine-year old Scottish student, Martha Payne, and her blog,
"Never Seconds," which exposed the state of her school’s
Criminals use social media to commit and
promote crimes. Gangs use the sites to recruit younger
members, coordinate violent crimes, and threaten other
gangs. [101] Offline crime, like home robberies, may result
from posting personal information such as vacation plans
[102] or stalkers gaining information about a victim’s
whereabouts from posts, photos, or location tagging
services. [103]
Social networking is good for the economy.
Social media sites have created a new industry and
thousands of jobs in addition to providing new income and
sales. [31] A McKinsey Global Institute study projects that the
communication and collaboration from social media could
add $900 billion to $1.3 trillion to the economy through
added productivity and improved customer service. [32]
Facebook posted $1.26 billion for third quarter 2012
revenue, up from $954 million for third quarter 2011
earnings. [33] Twitter, a private company, earned an
estimated $350 million in 2012 revenue. [34]
Social media causes people to spend less
time interacting face-to-face. A Jan. 2012 Center
for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School study
found that the percentage of people reporting less face-toface time with family in their homes rose from 8% in 2000 to
34% in 2011. [98] 32% reported using social media or texting
during meals (47% of 18-34 year olds) [99] instead of talking
with family and friends. 10% of people younger than 25
years old respond to social media and text messages during
sex. [100] [173]
9.
10.
The use of social networking sites is
correlated with personality and brain
disorders, such as the inability to have inperson conversations, a need for instant
gratification, ADHD, and self-centered
personalities, as well as addictive behaviors.
[81] Pathological Internet Use (caused or exacerbated by
Social networking sites facilitate face-to-face
interaction. People use social media to network at inperson events and get to know people before personal,
business, and other meetings. [23] Pew Research Center's
Internet and American Life Project found that messaging on
social media leads to face-to-face interactions when plans
are made via the sites and social media users messaged
close friends an average of 39 days each year while seeing
close friends in person 210 days each year. [24]
9.
Using social media can harm job stability and
employment prospects. Job recruiters reported
12.
Social networking sites facilitate
cyberbullying. 49.5% of students reported being the
lunch program prompting international attention that resulted
in changes to her school and the formation of "Friends of
Never Seconds" charity to feed children globally. [35] [141]
Jeannette Van Houten uses social media to find owners of
photographs and mementos strewn from houses by
Hurricane Sandy. [36] Hillsborough, CA freshman varsity
soccer goalie Daniel Cui was blamed for and bullied about a
losing season until over 100 of his teammates and
classmates changed their Facebook profile photos to one of
Cui making a save, silencing the bullies and building Cui's
confidence. [37] [38]
victims of bullying online and 33.7% reported committing
bullying behavior online. [110] 800,000 minors were harassed
or cyberbullied on Facebook according to a June 2012
Consumer Reports survey. [81] Middle school children who
were victims of cyberbullying were almost twice as likely to
attempt suicide. [46] Adults can also be victims of
cyberbullying, from social, familial, or workplace aggression
being displayed on social media. [111]
13.
13.
Social networking sites help senior citizens
feel more connected to society. [39] [40] According
Once restricted to cell phone texts, "sexting" has moved to
social media with teens posting, or sending via messaging,
risqué photos of themselves or others. In 2008 and 2009,
US law enforcement agencies saw 3,477 cases of youthproduced sexual images with 2,291 agencies seeing at least
one case. [112] As a result, teens and adults are being
charged with possessing and distributing child pornography,
even if the teen took and distributed a photo of him/herself.
[113] 88% of private self-produced sexual images posted to
social media are stolen by pornography websites and
disseminated to the public, often without the subject's
knowledge. [114]
to a 2010 Pew Internet & American Life Project study, the
74-year old and older age group is the fastest growing
demographic on social media sites with the percentage
quadrupling from 2008 to 2010, from 4% to 16%. [41]
Seniors report feeling happier due to online contact with
family and access to information like church bulletins that
have moved online and out of print. [39]
14.
Social networking sites help people who are
socially isolated or shy connect with other
people. [42] More than 25% of teens report that social
networking makes them feel less shy, 28% report feeling
more outgoing, and 20% report feeling more confident (53%
of teens identified as somewhat shy or "a lot" shy in
general). [14] Youth who are "less socially adept" report that
social networks give them a place to make friends [43] and
typically quiet students can feel more comfortable being
vocal through a social media platform used in class. [44] Shy
adults also cite social media as a comfortable place to
interact with others. [45]
15.
Social media allows for quick, easy
dissemination of public health and safety
information from reputable sources. The US
14.
15.
[118]
16.
"Crowdsourcing" and "crowdfunding" on
social media allows people to collectively
accomplish a goal. A mother was able to find a kidney
donor for her sick child by posting a video on her Facebook
page. [54] Planethunters.org, a science social media site,
discovered a planet on Oct. 16, 2012 via crowdsourcing. [55]
Crowdwise, a social network devoted to crowdsourcing
volunteers and crowdfunding charity projects, raised
$845,989 (as of Nov. 20, 2012) for Hurricane Sandy victims.
[56] [57] Followers of Pencils of Promise on social media
have helped the non-profit build 74 schools (with 26 more in
progress and 7 more planned as of Nov. 19, 2012) and
educate 4,500 children. [58]
Social media aids the spread of hate groups.
A Summer 2012 Baylor University study examined
Facebook hate groups focused on President Barack Obama
and found a resurgence of racial slurs and stereotypes not
seen in mainstream media in decades like blackface images
and comparisons of President Obama to apes. [119] Social
networking sites allow hate groups to recruit youth and to
redistribute their propaganda. [120] According to the
Southern Poverty Law Center the Christian Identity religion,
a splinter faction of the white supremacist group Aryan
Nations, uses social media to recruit members. [121]
[53]
17.
Social networking sites encourage amateur
advice and self-diagnosis for health problems
which can lead to harmful or life-threatening
results. One in five Americans uses social media for
health care information. [116] An American Journal of Public
Health study revealed that, "Social media may also pose a
hazard to vulnerable people through the formation and
influence of ‘extreme communities'—online groups that
promote and provide support for beliefs and behaviors
normally unacceptable by the social mainstream such as
anorexia, suicide, and deliberate amputation." [46] A North
Carolina blogger was criminally charged with "practicing
dietetics or nutrition without a license" for offering potentially
dangerous nutritional advice about the Paleo diet while
posing as an expert. [117] Jeffrey Benabio, MD, searched for
"eczema" on Twitter and found, in the first 100 results, 84
were spam and other gave harmful and sometimes bizarre
advice like using toothless fish to eat eczema affected skin.
Social media can help disarm social stigmas.
The Sticks and Stones campaign uses Twitter to reduce
stigmas surrounding mental health and learning disabilities.
[49] The Stigma Project uses Facebook to "lower the HIV
infection rate and neutralize stigma through education via
social media and advertising." [50] Gay people speaking
openly on social networking sites, like Facebook site Wipe
Out Homophobia, help achieve a greater social acceptance
of homosexuality. [51] [52] Jenny Lawson, author of the blog
"The Bloggess" and New York Times bestseller Let’s
Pretend This Never Happened, has made public her
struggles with OCD, depression, and anxiety disorders,
which has lessened the stigma of the diseases for others.
People who use social networking sites are
prone to social isolation. Social networking can
exacerbate feelings of disconnect (especially for youth with
disabilities), and put children at higher risk for depression,
low self-esteem, and eating disorders. [42] The "passive
consumption" of social media (scanning posts without
commenting) is related to loneliness. [115]
military and Department of Veterans Affairs use social
networking to help prevent suicide. [46] The World Health
Organization (WHO) uses social media to "disseminate
health information and counter rumours," which was
especially helpful after the Mar. 2011 Japanese earthquake
and nuclear disaster when false information spread about
ingesting salt to combat radiation. [47] The Boston Health
Commission used social media to get information to its
4,500 Twitter followers about clinic locations and wait times
for vaccines during the H1N1 outbreak. [48]
16.
Social networking sites enable "sexting,"
which can lead to criminal charges and the
unexpected proliferation of personal images.
17.
Children may endanger themselves by not
understanding the public and viral nature of
social networking sites. The 2012 film Project X,
about an out of control high school house party due to social
media promotion, prompted copycat parties across the US
resulting in arrests for vandalism, criminal trespassing, and
other offenses. [122] Up to 600 Dutch riot police had to be
called in to break up a teen's birthday party to which about
30,000 people were accidentally invited after a Facebook
post thought to be private went viral (quickly moving on to
Twitter and YouTube as well). As a result, at least three
18.
Social networking provides academic
research to a wider audience, allowing many
people access to previously unavailable
educational resources. Information previously
restricted to academia's "ivory tower" can now be shared
with the public who do not have access to restricted journals
or costly databases. Researchers from a wide variety of
fields are sharing photos, providing status updates,
collaborating with distant colleagues, and finding a wider
variety of subjects via social media, making the research
process and results more transparent and accessible to a
larger public. [59] [139]
19.
19.
20.
21.
Unauthorized sharing on social networking
sites exposes artists to copyright
infringement, loss of intellectual property,
and loss of income. Social media sites have copyright
regulations but they can be difficult to enforce. [131] Pinterest
relies upon the re-publication of images from the web and, if
users do not use the site conscientiously, artists’ content can
be posted without license, attribution, or payment. [132]
Vogue Spain was accused of stealing New York street
photographer Sion Fullana's Instagram photos and posting
them to their own Instagram feed without acknowledging the
source. [133]
Colleges and universities use social media to
recruit and retain students. 96.6% of four-year
institutions use Facebook to recruit students, 83.4% use
Twitter, and 79.3% use YouTube. [183] Colleges and
universities use Facebook apps and other social media tools
to increase student retention. [77] Social networking sites are
also being used to give students a support system at
community colleges that consist mostly of commuter
students. [78]
Social media can facilitate inappropriate
student-teacher relationships. The Texas
Education Agency (TEA) opened 179 cases about
"inappropriate relationships" between educators and
students in the 2014 school year; 86 cases were reported in
2007-2008 and education experts blame the rise of social
media for the increase in cases. [129] [187] [188] Social media
allows for unsupervised interactions between students and
teachers, which can easily escalate into sexual or otherwise
inappropriate relationships. Pamela Casey, a District
Attorney in Alabama who has prosecuted teachers who had
relationships with students, says that social media adds to
the problem: "We say and do things on social media and cell
phones that we wouldn't say and do in person... As a result,
there's a wall that's been removed." [130] [186]
[70] 64% of teenagers listen to music on YouTube, making it
22.
Social networking sites' advertising practices
may constitute an invasion of privacy. An
ExactTarget marketing report tells companies, "When a user
clicks on a [Facebook] like button belonging to your brand,
you’re immediately granted access to additional information
about this customer, from school affiliation and workplace
information to their birthdate and other things they like…
[M]arketers can access and leverage data in ways that will
truly alarm customers." [127] From social media sites, simple
algorithms can determine where you live, sexual orientation,
personality traits, signs of depression, and alma maters
among other information, even if users put none of those
data on their social networking profiles. [128]
Social networking sites offer a way for
musicians and artists to build audiences
even if they don’t have a corporate contract.
the "hit-maker" for songs rather than radio (56%) or CDs
(50%). [71] [72] For example, pop star Justin Bieber was
discovered on YouTube when he was 12 years old, and, in
2012 at 18 years old, Bieber’s net worth was estimated at
$80 million. [73] [74] The National Endowment for the Arts
found that people who interact with the arts online through
social media and other means are almost three times more
likely to attend a live event. [75]
Social networking enables cheating on
school assignments. Students in California, New York
City, and Houston posted photos of standardized tests to
social media sites, allowing students who had not yet taken
the tests to see the questions (and potentially find answers)
ahead of time. [82] The SAT has had similar problems with
students posting parts of the exam to social media. [125] [126]
In Mar. 2015, two students in Maryland were accused of
cheating on the 10th grade Common Core tests by posting
questions on Twitter. Pearson, a company that administers
standardized tests, identified 76 cases of students posting
test materials online spanning six states in the first three
months of 2015. [185]
Social networking sites offer teachers a
platform for collaboration with other teachers
and communication with students outside the
classroom. [63] [64] [65] More than 80% of US college and
university faculty use social media; more than 50% use it for
teaching; and 30% for communicating with students. [66]
Educators from around the world interact with each other
and bring guest teachers, librarians, authors, and experts
into class via social networks like Twitter and social
networking tools like Skype. [67] [68] Edmodo, an educationspecific social networking site designed for contact between
students, teachers, and parents, reached over 49 million
users in 2014. [69]
21.
18.
Corporations and small businesses use
social media to benefit themselves and
consumers. Small businesses benefit greatly from the
free platforms to connect with customers and increase
visibility of their products or services. [60] Almost 90% of big
companies using social media have reported "at least one
measurable business benefit." For example, large chain
restaurants are using social media to quickly disseminate
information to managers, train employees, and receive
immediate customer feedback on new items, allowing for
quick revision if needed. [61] 80% of companies are
expected to have customer service on social media by the
end of 2012. [62]
20.
people were hurt and 20 people were arrested for
vandalism, looting, setting cars on fire, and damaging
lampposts. [123] In 2012, a similar incident happened in Los
Angeles and resulted in the teen host beaten and
hospitalized. [124]
22.
Using social media can harm students'
chances for college admission. College
administrators scan Facebook profiles for evidence of illegal
behavior by students. [134] [135] A 2014 Kaplan Test Prep
survey found that 35% of college admissions officers
checked an applicant's social media to learn more about
them, up from 10% in 2008. 16% of admissions officers
discovered information that "negatively impacted
prospective students' admission chances." Only 3% of
students surveyed believed the content of their social media
presence could hurt their prospects of admission. [76]
23.
Social media posts cannot be completely
deleted and all information posted can have
unintended consequences. The Library of
Congress has been archiving all public tweets from Twitter's
Mar. 2006 inception forward. [136] Information about an affair
posted on Facebook, for example, can lead to and be used
against someone in divorce proceedings because the
information, once posted, can never be completely deleted.
Facebook was named as a source of information in onethird of all divorces filed in 2011. [137]
24.
Social networking site users are vulnerable to
security attacks such as hacking, identity
theft, and viruses. Social networks do not scan
messages for viruses or phishing scams, leading to largescale problems like the 2012 virus Steckt.Evl spread from
Facebook's chat window. [138] 68% of social media users
share their birth date publicly, 63% share their high school
name, 18% share their phone number, 12% share a pet's
name; each of those pieces of information is frequently used
for account security verification and can be used for identity
theft. [103]
Comment
Comment
Background: "Are Social Networking Sites Good for Our Society?"
74% of American adults online use social networking sites such as Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, as of Jan. 2014, up from 26% in
2008. [26] [174] On social media sites like these, users may develop biographical
profiles, communicate with friends and strangers, do research, and share
thoughts, photos, music, links, and more.
Proponents of social networking sites say that the online communities promote
increased interaction with friends and family; offer teachers, librarians, and
students valuable access to educational support and materials; facilitate social
and political change; and disseminate useful information rapidly.
(Click to enlarge image)
Map of the world showing the most popular social
networking site in each country.
Source: Vincenzo Cosenza, "The World Map of Social
Networks," Vincos Blog, www.vincos.it, Dec. 2014
Opponents of social networking say that the sites prevent face-to-face
communication; waste time on frivolous activity; alter children’s brains and
behavior making them more prone to ADHD; expose users to predators like
pedophiles and burglars; and spread false and potentially dangerous
information.
History of Social Networking Sites
SixDegrees.com, which existed from 1997-2001, is considered the first social
networking site because it allowed users to create personal spaces and connect to friends online. Friendster, created in 2002,
popularized social networking in the United States but was quickly outpaced by other social networking sites such as MySpace (2003),
Facebook (2004), Twitter (2006), Pinterest (2009), and Google+ (2012).
Facebook reached one billion monthly users worldwide on October 4, 2012, making it the most popular social networking site with one in
seven people on the planet as members. [142] 71% of online adults in the United States use Facebook. Every day, Facebook manages
4.5 billion "Likes," 4.75 billion content shares, and over 300 million photo uploads. [175] [176] As of Sep. 2014, 51% of US adults use
YouTube, 28% use Pinterest, 28% use LinkedIn, 26% use Instagram, and 23% use Twitter. [177] Twitter has 288 million monthly active
users and over 500 million tweets are sent daily. [178] Among online adults, use of more than one social networking site increased from
42% in 2013 to 52% in 2014. [26] [174]
User and Advertiser Demographics
As the sites have become increasingly popular, the user base has expanded from teenagers and young adults to include more people
over the age of 50. Although Facebook began in 2004 as a site for college students with log-ins restricted to those with .edu e-mail
addresses, in Sep. 2006 it opened registration to everyone and as of Jan. 15, 2014, 23.3% of users were 18-24 years old, 24.4% were
15-34 years old, 31.1% were 35-54, and 15.6% were 55 and older. [26] [179] [180] According to a Dec. 2012 Nielsen "Social Media
Report," 20% of time spent on a home computer is on social media while 30% of mobile Internet time is spent on social networking sites.
Total time spent on social media via mobile and home devices totalled 121 billion minutes in July 2012 (compared to 88 billion minutes in
July 2011). In July 2012 Americans spent 74.0 billion minutes on social media via a home computer, 40.8 billion minutes via apps, and
5.7 billion minutes via mobile web browser for a total of 121.1 billion minutes on social networking sites. As of Feb. 2014, nearly twothirds of social media users accessed sites from their computers once a day and nearly half of smartphone owners visited a social
networking site every day. Two in five Americans have used social media at work, while one in five admits to having logged into social
media while in the bathroom. [147] [181]
Social media's largest source of revenue is advertising. Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook profit
from advertising while LinkedIn profits from ads, subscribers, and selling data to third parties.
[148] Social media ad revenue is expected to reach $8.8 billion in 2012, an increase of 43%
from 2011. [149] Gaming also accounts for a large portion of social networking revenue, with
an expected $6.2 billion in 2012. Predictions place overall social media revenue at about $34
billion by 2016, an increase from $11.8 billion in 2011 and the projected $16.9 billion in 2012.
[150]
Role of Social Networking in Politics and Social Change
Social networking sites play a large role in shaping the political landscape. More than a
quarter of US voters younger than 30 (including 37% of those 18-24 years old) reported that
they obtained information about the 2008 Presidential campaign from social media. [151] On
Nov. 3, 2008, the day before the US Presidential election, Democratic candidate Barack
Obama had 2,379,102 Facebook supporters, 38% more than Republican candidate John
McCain who had 620,359 supporters. [152]
On June 12, 2009, the White House announced, via the White House Blog, that it was joining
Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Flickr in order to "create… unprecedented
opportunity to connect you to your government in order to obtain information and services and
to participate in policymaking.” [153] Joining the social media sites was part of the
administration’s efforts to meet President Obama’s call to "reform our government so that it is
more efficient, more transparent, and more creative." [154] On Sep. 16, 2009, The Washington
Times broke a story that the White House had begun collecting and storing comments and
videos posted on social networking sites, bringing invasion of privacy criticism. Defenders
stated that the White House was simply complying with the Presidential Records Act, which
requires the preservation of all presidential records. [155]
(Click to enlarge image)
Facebook profile of Mark Zuckerberg,
Founder and CEO of Facebook.
Source: www.facebook.com/zuck
(accessed Nov. 9, 2012)
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo dubbed the 2012 election the "Twitter election." [156] All of
the main 2012 presidential candidates had Facebook and Twitter accounts. Barack
Obama and Mitt Romney maintained MySpace accounts, and Obama also has a
Pinterest account. As of Sep. 8, 2011, 35 global heads of state had Twitter accounts;
every US federal Cabinet agency and 84% of state governors were active on Twitter;
and more than 40% of global religious leaders like the Dalai Lama and the Pope
were on Twitter. [157] The 2012 presidential election set the record for most-tweeted
event with more than 327,00 tweets per minute being sent when Barack Obama was
announced the winner. The image of him and his wife that Obama posted upon his
reelection with "Four more years" became the most re-tweeted tweet with over
816,883 re-tweets as of Nov. 19, 2012 (breaking Justin Beiber’s record of over
200,000 re-tweets). [158] [159]
(Click to enlarge image)
"Election 2012 Social Media Rankings: How the 2012
Presidential Candidates Stack Up in the World of
Social Media"
Source: Overdrive Interactive, www.ovrdrv.com, Jan. 3,
2012
The protests in Tunisia, which spawned the Arab Spring, were fueled and organized
by social media [160] as were protests in Egypt and Iran. The governments of those
countries censored and attempted to shut down the social media sites. [160] [161] In
response to the censorship, Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, said, "The United
States believes passionately and strongly in the basic principle of free expression...
And it is the case that one of the means of expression, the use of Twitter is a very
important one, not only to the Iranian people but now increasingly to people around
the world, and most particularly to young people..." [162]
Social media site growth has sometimes outpaced the development of rules, laws, and etiquette regarding their use. For example, in
Feb. 2009 Congressman Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) tweeted his whereabouts as he traversed war zones in Iraq, which gave rise to security
concerns about the use of social media to post real-time locations. [163]
Loss of Productivity and Security Concerns
Companies worldwide struggle to balance employee social network access at work for
business purposes, which could raise revenue and the company image, versus
employee access for personal use, which could lead to lost revenue from decreased
productivity and security breaches. In 2012, 64% of employees reported visiting nonwork related websites, 41% visited Facebook, 37% visited LinkedIn, 28% visited
Google+, and 8% visited Twitter. [164] Two-thirds of businesses fear that social media
endangers corporate security and one in four social networking site users unwittingly
exposes him/herself to crime by revealing personal details. Seven million households
that use Facebook reported problems in 2012, ranging from someone using a log-in
without permission to being threatened online or in person, a 30% increase from 2011.
Phishing, the act of attempting to acquire personal information for identity theft,
increased 240% on social networking sites from 2008 to 2009. [81]
(Click to enlarge image)
Twitter page of Jack Dorsey, Creator, Co-founder,
and Chairman of Twitter.
Source: www.twitter.com/jack (accessed Nov. 19,
2012)
Illinois passed a law in Aug. 2009 banning registered sex offenders from using social
networking sites. [165] However, a Dec. 31, 2008 Internet Safety Technical Task Force
report presented to the US State Attorneys General found that adults lying about their
ages to initiate relationships with minors are a rare occurrence; 43% of online sexual predators were identified as minors, 30% were
adults between the ages of 18 and 21, and 9% were adults over the age of 21. [166]
On May 2, 2012, Maryland became the first state to pass a law prohibiting employers from asking current or prospective employees for
their user names or passwords for social networking sites. [167] [168] Governor Jerry Brown of California announced via Twitter on Sep.
27, 2012 that he signed two bills into law to prohibit employers and universities from demanding passwords. [169] Other states have
followed suit and have passed social media protection laws or have laws pending. [168] [170] [171]
A Jan. 2015 study published in the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology found that college freshman averaged over two hours a
day on Facebook, a habit that harmed their grades. Sophomores and juniors only experienced a negative impact on their GPAs when
they used Facebook while studying. By senior year, students were using Facebook less and had gotten better at multi-tasking, so the
time spent on social media was not impacting their grades. [182]
Social media is now pervasive in our world with existing social networks expanding, niche social networking sites being created for
educators, medical professionals, and other groups, and new social media sites popping up regularly, all accessible 24 hours a day via
computer, tablet, smart phone, and Internet-enabled devices.
Proponents of social media cheer on the benefits and possible advances to society, while dissenters worry the dangers and wasted time
far outweigh any benefit.
[Editor's Note: Chat rooms and instant messaging (IM) are excluded from this discussion because they lack key characteristics of social
networking sites, such as the ability to create profiles about backgrounds and interests, and to share thoughts, photos, Internet links,
music, and more.]
Video Gallery
Social Media Video 2013
Social media statistics and facts are presented for 2013.
Source: Erik Qualma, "Social Media Video 2013,"
youtube.com, Nov. 7, 2012
Daily Show explains Twitter, shows how legislators are
using it, and pokes fun at media coverage of social
networking.
Source: "Twitter Frenzy," dailyshow.com, Mar. 2, 2009
The Power of Social Media: Conne…
Toils of Social Networking
Video showing how social networking can connect people and
causes.
Source: The Case Foundation, "The Power of Social Media: Connecting
for Good," youtube.com, Feb. 13, 2013
CBS News reports on teens and their parents learning about the
drawbacks of social networking sites.
Source: "Toils of Social Networking," CBS News, cbsnews.com, Aug. 10,
2009
Notices for Social Networking and Other ProCon.org Information (archived after 30 days)
Archived Notices (archived after 30 days)
Last updated on 3/24/2015 5:23:36 PM PST
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