Abstract
Social networking sites were first established in 1995. Its purpose was focused on bringing people together to interact with each other through chat rooms and share personal information and ideas around any topics through personal homepage publishing tools. Today, social networking sites are taking the internet by storm and are causing dramatic change in the way society connects and interacts with each other. Daily new sites are being created and are capturing the attention of people and businesses worldwide.
Method: The research was conducted through survey questionnaires administered online to three populations: Young people 18+, Adult-parents- employees and Employers. The survey was aimed to determine the influence of social networking websites on the overall society. The research questions were evaluated through the views and experiences of these three sectors.
Conclusion: It was found that for the young respondents online social networking had become more than just a hobby or a means of staying in touch with friends. The length of time spent on these websites was lesser in adults who were parents. The responses from this sector also revealed concerns about giving out private information. The responses to the third employer section suggested that social networking websites were good means for recruiting and evaluating potential employees. It was found that many employers surveyed various networking websites for comments about regarding their company as negative forums can be damaging to the reputation of the business.
Table of Contents Page
Abstract 2
Table of Contents Page 3
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 6
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 15
CHAPTER 4: DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 49
CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS 56
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION 58
List of References 60
Appendix 62
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
The broad appeal of social-networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook seems to have its roots in a successful twist on the
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