Online social networking site is a very common tool for communicating and socializing with each other. Nowadays, most of the adolescent like to use Facebook. There is a rapid growth of the number of user of social networking sites. According the recent research, Kreutz (2009) stated that “starting from 1997 to 2010 there are some 1.5 billion users of social networking websites” (p.222). This shows that how popular the social networking site is. Although many parents think that there are many existing dangers in social networking sites, it is good for both education and interpersonal relationship for the teenagers. This essay will discuss the benefits and negative effects of using social networking sites for young people: enlarge and maintain the relationship, develop greater awareness of social issues and attract the online predators to conduct their criminal activities.
One of the advantage is the teenagers can enlarge the friendship and maintain the existing relationship by using social networking sites. Social networking sites provide a platform for connecting with the friends. For maintaining the old relationship, social networking site is very convenient for teenagers to have conversation with friends, share their photos, videos and view others’ status. Dunne, Lawlor and Rowley (2010) pointed out that the purpose of most of the users that using SNS is to see what is new in their friends’ status (p.53). In Facebook, one of the social networking sites, friend will share their current situation and their recent activities by uploading the new photos, videos and new comments in their profile pages. To the sum up, these sites provide an invaluable connection to our old life we had left. Although you go very far away, friends also know what you are doing by seeing your status. Apart from all this, these sites also have another important function. You can expand your social circle effectively. Before the appearance of the Internet, people