Research Paper on Social Networking and the Society

Social Networking is increasingly becoming a constant feature in the modern society. In the society today, individuals and groups are either using social networks as a tool to accomplish their diverse objectives or as toy whenever they are bored. Social networking is defined by its virtual interactivity and room for user-generated content. The impact of social networking in the society is perhaps felt most by peer groups and business entities since it allows them to interact beyond physical barriers and exchange ideas, information, messages, images, and videos from wherever they are in the world. The same is also evident among social development agencies that depend on platforms created by social networking sites to pursue their agenda (Tsai et al. 2016, p. 2). Due to this and many other developments that surround the use of social networks, different members and sections of the society continue to perceive resulting impacts differently. This diversity is mainly because the resulting social media has changed the way people see themselves and others in the society. The truth of the matter, as will be discussed, is that social networking has had and continues to have positive and negative implications on the society (Hutchinson 2017, p. 13). Despite the existence of several negative effects, the positives of social networking on the society continue to outweigh the negatives.

Positives of Social Networking on the Society

Social networking continues to have a tremendous impact on how people interact and keep at par with issues and developments that are ongoing. For this reason, social networking has affected the political life positively (Diehl et al. 2016, p. 1876).With current advancements in information and communication technology, information availed on social networks is being used to shape ideologies. The recent 2016 United States' general election is witness to this fact; this is evidenced by the magnitude of political exchange on social media platforms like twitter and face book. Given that the country is one of the most renowned for embracing democracy and freedom of speech, journalists took the opportunity to increase citizen participation by bringing them news they liked to hear (Diehl et al. 2016, p. 1880). This observation demonstrates the importance of social networking in influencing public opinion. For instance, most political analysts argue that Donald Trump's controversial posts on social media enabled him to gain popular votes. Others believe the platforms enabled the president to raise issues that fell within the range of the majority's interest at that time. The positive implication of social networking on the society is that it enables political leaders to rally their people to a definite cause.

The emergence of social networking revolutionized how people conducted business in the past. Small and substantial business entities are increasingly using the social media to advertise and sell the products and services to consumers at virtually any place around the globe. This observation means that customer loyalty and perceptions regarding a product's superiority can be manipulated using social media platforms. For instance, social networks provide business entities with opportunities to conduct their businesses through what is known as e-commerce (Perse and Lambe 2016, p. 1). E-commerce is a virtual network for doing business that connects business owners to consumers and producers. Unlike traditional marketing practices, which required companies to make physical deliveries to consumer's door steps, e-commerce enables businesses to engage with consumers directly, collect feedback, initiate transactions, monitor progress and distribution, and make payment transactions (Hutchinson 2017, p. 19).

Findings from a 2017 survey conducted in the United States illustrate the important of social networking to businesses. The study had targeted 1,164 enterprises among which 34% reported to have mainly relied on e-commerce to sell their products and services, 25% said Facebook was their primary point of sale platform, while 16% identified Amazon as their choice. These findings illustrate the direction towards which modern business practices are headed. Social networking also enables businesses and consumers to engage in interactions that yield a better understanding of the market. As such, business owners are left in a better position to fine-tune their service and products depending on consumer behavior patterns as observed on social networks (Hutchinson 2017, p. 30). It is worth noting that social networks provide businesses with better opportunities as compared to televised advertisements which are costly and less convenient. Social networking platforms are cheaper and laden with tools for enhancing brand image, popularity, and consumer feedback gathering.

Another significant implication from social networking and that is positive to the society is socialization. It is in no doubt that social networking has taken socialization to a whole new level. It is due to social networking and various applications that todays world is referred to as a global village. These advancements are because social networking enables people to interact beyond physical barriers. With current advancements in information and communication technology, social networking platforms are allowing people to share images, video, and text content in a timely fashion (Perse and Lambe 2016, p. 1). Video chatting and teleconferencing are an example of such new developments. These developments are confident because they enable people to make new friends every time without living their homes. In fact, social networking is responsible for emerging job opportunities at home, an example of such jobs is freelancing and online marketing. Of more significance in today's world is LinkedIn which provides professionals with the opportunity to create their profiles through social media (Tsai et al. 2016, p. 1). This observation may also be made in learning where students are now using social networks to collaborate with peer groups to better their communication skills and proficiency in academics.

Social networking has had a positive impact on education and on teaching and learning practices. As mentioned earlier, social media promotes interaction, connectivity, content creation and sharing, and instantaneous dissemination of information to multiple users at a go. This observation has created great utility for modern educational practitioners and students at large. Through social networking, for instance, educators can access more teaching resources from online libraries and websites that specialize in content creation (Hutchinson 2017, p. 13). Thus, teaching can progress and advance from different perspectives; this suits the diverse learner needs and pace of catching up. To a similar extent, social networking through socialization creates opportunities for students to learn from various sources and share educational materials with other students irrespective of where they are in the world (Tsai et al. 2016, p. 3). By looking at this from the student's perspective, it is evident that teaching and learning have become more exciting and fruitful in the end.

Social networking has made it easy for leaders and communities to promote their unity and collective development. As mentioned earlier, the nature of social media that allows information sourced from one point to be disseminated to multiple end users at a time can be used to further a common cause or voice of reason in a community. This significance is especially important in societies that depict religious and cultural diversity (Tsai et al. 2016, p. 2). Due to the tendency for today's society to value busy lives and work over socialization, such diversified communities are likely to lose their sense of collective unity or value and are thus prone to conflict and perpetual inequality (Perse and Lambe 2016, p. 2). Social networking is providing such societies with the opportunity to bridge such diversities through online communities where members can come together and exchange ideas to further their common good and interests. Through social networking platforms, societies can identify and troubleshoot common problems like crime, terrorism, epidemics, and food security.

Social networking is also responsible for the increasing and improved news cycle speed, this is evident in different societies around the globe where social networks have been embraced. Also, news organizations are slowly abandoning their traditional reliance on manual data gathering and verification (Diehl et al. 2016, p. 1875). The positive implication of this is that people have the opportunity to know what is going on anywhere in the world as soon as the news is generated. Most people are also finding social media platforms as better sources or as more reliable sources of breaking news. Individuals and news agencies are therefore able to get information to the attention of interest groups by merely clicking on a button (Diehl et al. 2016, p. 1882). Another positive implication of this development is related to civic education; News agencies are now able to keep people update on emerging issues, policies, and events that affect them as soon as such information is generated. For instance, data about unfavorable weather conditions like storms and hurricanes is disseminated over social media platforms more efficiently than over radio and television networks (Tsai et al. 2016, p. 2). This observation is evident in part of the news programs that aired information about the Texas and Houston floods this year (2017). Most people whose lives were saved got alerted over the social media before evacuating the various scenes.

In summary, social networking has positive implications on the society for as long as it helps in the accomplishment of shared goals and furthering of personal interests. Individuals and groups are increasingly relying on such networks to run their day to day activities and manage relationships. As such, social networking has seen a growth in knowledge and positive interactions that continue to impact the society positively (Perse and Lambe 2016, p. 1). However, it is still important to consider potential negative implications that social networking could have on the society. This knowledge could guide in the development of appropriate controls and guidelines on the responsible use of social networking platforms.

Negative Implications of Social Networking on the Society

Despite the fact that social networking has greatly benefited the society, there are negative implications associated with either, excessive usage of the social networks, or long-term use of the networks by individuals and the community at large. For instance, excessive usage of social networks has been related to addiction, which has been found to commonly affect teenagers and young adults (Perse and Lambe 2016, p. 1). This addiction is evident in the form of lengthy hours dedicated to social media accounts and websites. Most often than not, users of social networks tend to be isolated and detached from those immediately around them, this leads to a poor social life in the society.

Backlash is one significant negative effect of social networking on the society; it is characterized by the tendency of users to overshare content online. As a result, users may often get feedback that is overwhelmingly brutal leading to instances of depressions or stress especially among peer groups (Tsai et al. 2016, p. 2). The same has also been found to ruin careers as people may get feedback that haunts them for a long time like when political or moral implications are concerned. Nowadays, organizations are looking at social media accounts from applicants before making rec...