Effect of Facebook

The Effect of Facebook and Social Media on a Society

There is always a lot of talk about whether Facebook and other social media have a positive or a negative impact on a society. In order to make a statement I decided to find the meaning of social media in the dictionary. According to Wikipedia.org social media include web-based and mobile based technologies which are used to turn communication into interactive dialogue among organizations, communities, and individuals. Wikipedia.org also gives some classifications of social media, there are: Internet forums, social blogs, podcasts, and social networking (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) According to the dictionary interpretation there is no doubt that social media together with Facebook have a tremendous influence on people’s lives. However, it is not right to state that the influence on the society is only positive or negative, it is both.
There are a lot of people registered on Facebook. All of them pursue different goals. First of all, social networking helps to maintain the relationship between people. For example, having an account on Facebook, or Twitter gives a great opportunity to keep in touch with relatives who live abroad, or friends who move to another city, or state. There are a lot of circumstances such as job, school, or family, due to which we do not have an opportunity to meet with the friends. In this case social network becomes an important link that connects people.
Secondly, social media and networking help to obtain relevant information fast. Due to the dictionary social media used to turn communication into a dialogue among the organizations. Owing to the network mobility there are no such problems as receiving important mail late, or losing it.
Finally, social media have a great impact on educational process. For example, emailing to a professor gives a student an opportunity to receive an additional material about an assignment. Students use material from YouTube for their projects. Teachers also use many online tools while explaining the material. Christine Greenhowan, the author of an article Social networking at Schools states: “ By understanding how students may be positively using these networking technologies in their daily lives and where the as-yet-unrecognized educational opportunities are, we can help make schools even more relevant, connected, and meaningful to kids."
However, despite all the positive sides Facebook and social media have a negative influence also. For instance, teenagers may have hundreds of friends on Facebook. They talk with each other every day, share interesting blogs on each other’s pages. Nevertheless, the necessity of face to face communication can be lost. Due to being busy at work some parents use video-games or cartoons as babysitters for their kids. But a lot of them are not meant for children. Because of the video-games’ graphic kids may lose their life values and a sense of reality. For example, there is a character named Kenny in South Park cartoon gets killed almost in every episode, due to that death is a temporary phenomenon for some children.
All in all, Facebook and social media may have both positive and negative impacts on the society. People should realize that time they spend while chatting on Facebook, or playing internet games could be used differently. Moments that we share with our loved ones can be unforgettable.