sociology

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Social Networking
Social networking mainly involves social interactions among different people from various parts of the world through an established platform of social networks. Mostly, social relations is based on people who, for instance, share beliefs, interests, backgrounds, activities or real life connections. Social networking is primarily web-based; therefore, users interact over the internet by use of instant messaging, emails, facebook, twitter and many other social web sites. Social networking is central to interactions, both business and social, in today’s world with many people converging on social network sites. It facilitates interaction of people, exchange of ideas and promotion of products; but such simple, casual relation in an electronic environment also has its drawbacks such as lack of privacy, moral degradation of teenagers, cyber-bullying, decreased productivity, spearheading of crime, and conveyance of false information. In this excerpt, I am going to discuss about these negative effects of social networking.
Social networking sites tend to encourage most people to be public regarding their personal lives which ultimately lead to lose of privacy. Most of information on social networking sites is public meaning anyone with an internet connection can access it. Social networking sites often require one to submit personal information such as name, location, age, gender, images or photos and contact details. In some of the sites, people share information about with whom, where and what they are doing. Publicizing such information is risky considering one cannot know whether it falls into the wrong hands or not. This lack of anonymity exposes one to countless risks and breaches a person’s privacy. As one is a friend, who also has a network of friends, a person’s information and uploads can be shared and re-shared with strangers, not the initial recipients. Nothing posted on social networks is private, and if one is not careful, it can lead to austere consequences. While most sites consent to their users controlling who sees the stuff they 've posted, such limits are often forgotten, therefore posing difficulty to control or fails to work as previously advertised. In spite of being dangerous in revealing ones identity or disregarding privacy as in the social networking, it is pivotal in re-connection with lost family members and friends, furthermore it helps people learn more about you particularly if you are an upcoming celebrity or the market promotion of your products (John 54). Many organizations deem a social media presence very important and invaluable to the company. People also further their courses by spreading their thoughts to people in social networking sites and rally their support. Some countries revolutions are examples of how social networking can be used to rally people together.
Social networking to some extent contributes to decreased productivity in various industries and business organizations. People on social networking sites spend a lot time online. Being real time, by nature social networking sites requires a person’s consistent attention, most people not wanting to miss a thing or get distracted by events on these sites. The time spent on these sites can be put to good use. Employers complain about reduction of productivity amongst workers who spend working hours on the social networking sites. For example, Wired.com revealed two studies which confirmed damage to productivity compelled by massive use of social networking; Nucleus Research highlighted that Facebook alone shaves 1.5% of office productivity; in addition Morse reported that some of the British companies lost 2.2 billion per year to the social networking phenomenon. New technological products have been created that allow social networking sites to be jammed, but they are not that much effective (john 86). Time spent on these sites is wasted especially when one fails to prioritize his or her work. Many employers have to enact policies that discourage social networking during office hours with some having to take strict measures (Hunter 12). To some business organizations, in fact social net working is a significant tool in increasing their productivity as such they rely on it in contacting their clients as well as posting their new products with a view of attracting more customers. This is mostly done by internet oriented businesses.
Online harassment and scams are one of the negatives of social networking. People create fake identities online and use these identities to mask illegal activities. Using these fake identities by some people fool others into giving sensitive information such as bank details. Security of one’s sensitive information is not guaranteed on social networking sites. Unscrupulous individuals gain access to this information and use to blackmail or harass others. Cyber bullying is also prevalent where a person is openly mocked, made fun of and taunted by their peers. Derogatory remarks and humiliating photographs and information made by that person’s peers relayed throughout the internet. Victims of cyber bullying end up having severe emotional distress some to the point of committing suicide. Despite this being strictly condemned, to others is a source of living as such activities come with a reward.
Other social negative effects to the society include enhancing of aptitude of youths at adolescent stage, to connect unconsciously regardless of the habitat or the distance. Most of these social websites are so popular that when combined with their potential to bridge the gap between online and offline connections create change the nature of adolescent socialization (Ryan 7). The nature of adolescent self-esteem has high ability to be affected by the extent of the information and feedback they receive through social networks hence degrading their moral obligations. At their age, the teenagers develop emotional relationships and while at the exposal of social websites, they experience a lot of thing that are associated with the relationships between adults. These teenagers will tend to practice and experiment the social behaviors they learn and change from their emotional relationships to mature relationships as for the adults. The affairs adopted by the teenagers from social networks that emanate from the social networks are romantic relationships, sexuality, depression and self-expression. Despite this negative impact of social websites, the teenagers obtain other useful information that can be applied in daily life and in schools.
Through social networks, criminals promote and commit crimes. The gangs use these sites with the agenda to recruit new members who are mostly youths who are prone to the use of social websites. They organize and coordinate violent crimes as well as threatening the lives of innocent users of the websites. Contrary to this, for investigation departments to get this thugs and gangs by tracking their IP addresses of network, they may use the social media (Ryan 4).
Lastly, social network is fond of conveying rumors and false information to the users and the public. This was witnessed in Mexico on September 5, 2012 when rumors of shootouts and fires were all over because of social media. National media despite it being false then picked the rumor. This false information caused panic in the public among other effects; even though some of the information is essential in communicating important messages.
In as much as social networking has positive impacts we cannot disregard the negative impacts associated with it. It allows people to be interconnected and interact on various level platforms. Through this interaction, people are able to share ideas and knowledge, get to know and associate with people of interest to them and build solid valuable networks between them. On the other hand, social networking has also brought about some negatives effects. People hide behind fake identities to mask their evil motives such as internet crimes and cyber-bullying.

Works Cited
Hunter, Nick. Social Networking: Big Business on Your Computer: The Rosen Publishing House, New York. 2012. Print
Ryan, Peter. K. Social Networking. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2011. Print
Lenkart, John J. The Vulnerability of Social Networking Media and the Insider Threat: New Eyes for Bad Guys. Monterey, Calif: Naval Postgraduate School, 2011. Print.

Cited: Hunter, Nick. Social Networking: Big Business on Your Computer: The Rosen Publishing House, New York. 2012. Print Ryan, Peter. K. Social Networking. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2011. Print Lenkart, John J. The Vulnerability of Social Networking Media and the Insider Threat: New Eyes for Bad Guys. Monterey, Calif: Naval Postgraduate School, 2011. Print.