Social Site Keeping In Touch By Net - Essay Example

Social Site Keeping In Touch By Net Introduction: In the modern era, the way of communication has been evolved drastically with the innovation of science and technology. In the past, the way of communication was very much restricted as people used to rely on postal communication or telephonic conversation.If one considers the status of communication of ten years back, before technical advancement and development of various social media, smartphones, and availability of internet connection in most homes, there were very limited options available for the people of the world regarding how easily they could interact with their friends and family members when they are away from home. But, today keeping in touch with near and dear ones at home is far easier and hassle-free with the invention of social media and online chatting facilities. In this paper, the main focus is one analyzing the importance of social sites to make effective communication with the people across the globe. Social media-keeping in Touch by Net: All over the globe, in almost every country, the availability of internet and use of social media is increasing rapidly. Social media has become nearly a compulsion for mainly the young generation across the globe, in today's world. As a matter of fact, it has become so significant and progressed so much; almost entire young generation carries social media with them throughout the day in mobile phones. Social media can be defined as "Web sites and other online means of communication that are used by large groups of people to share information and to develop social and professional contacts." (Glenn, 2013). There are various ways by which people can keep the connection with their family members and friends with the use of the internet. FaceTime, Skype or Google hangouts are three most popular ways to which people prefer doing video chat with near and dear ones back home. Out of the above-mentioned three applications, the face time is restricted for those who are using the Apple iPhones or iPads. From price perspective in the 2nd and 3rd world countries, middle-class people might find it difficult as Apple iPhones or iPads are comparatively costlier in comparison to other touch screens, android or windows mobile. From that point of view, Skype or Google hangouts are perfect for them to keep communication going with their family and friends. The popularity of Skype as a video chat application is growing rapidly and the number of registered users in Skype is now over 299 million. Like all these video chat applications, various social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Google +- all are great platforms for communication for the people who are away from home. With instant messaging, photo/video sharing and status updates to name a few of the features that these platforms offer, one could easily communicate what he or she is up to and how he or she is doing away from home.(Harrison, 2014). There was a common belief that various chatting sites like yahoo messenger or Google-talk, all these were initially popular among the young generation to keep in touch with their friends after school and college time. But the innovation of Facebook, WhatsApp has changed this idea completely. Nowadays middle age and people aged 60+ are also joining this social website not only to communicate with their family members who are away from home but at the same time to express their views and opinions about several matters going around them. These social networking sites are not only the medium of communication but at the same time is a platform of sharing views and opinions. Sparkes (2013) in his review has mentioned that “Facebook is technically better than Twitter or Instagram. It is more integrated, better for photo albums, organizing parties and more effective for observing people’s relationships.”(Sparkes, 2013). But in recent times, WhatsApp has overhauled Facebook as the number one way to send messages while Snapchat has increased in reputation recent times by permitting users to send pictures on the recipient's phone in order to maintain privacy. Researchers have shown the fact that "close friends were using Snapchat to communicate, while WhatsApp was used with acquaintances and Twitter broadcasted indiscriminately to anyone who chose to follow that person." (Sparkes, 2013). Let now discuss why the young generation and at the same time people of different age group rely more heavily on various forms of social media to get connected with one another. First and most importantly, it is very easy to operate. “It is entirely acceptable to just read, watch or listen before starting to post, and many people never post anything at all.” (Osterrieder, 2013). Social media users connect with others by following their updates, responding and commenting on them and by favoriting or amplifying content. The exception of some websites, like Facebook or LinkedIn, it is generally not necessary to know or contact users with public accounts before subscribing to their updates. Social sites not only help to communicate between the family members and friends, but it is also helpful to get in touch with the like-minded people, share views and opinions about various incidents happening across the globe. Social media helps the young generation to establish professional contacts as well and in recent times finding the new job opportunity, getting the better offer from other professional organizations, getting referred to top organization-all these professional works are also initiated through various social networking sites. Like various positives of using social media to establish new contacts and keeping in touch with family members, social media also throwing new challenges for the people across the globe. Generally, the influence of social media lies in its interactivity and its power to intensify the spread of content. At the same time, social media and its worldwide access also have the potential to rapidly turn into a danger. As making an account in various social media is free so while keeping in touch with family, young generation may also come across with the various unsocial organization, terrorist groups, and people with criminal and anti-social mentality. In countries like Iraq, Afghanistan various terrorist groups often use this social media as a medium to reach out to more people. Social media generally attract the young generation more, it can influence the thought process of the young generation very easily. So various terrorist organizations are now using this website to their advantage to communicate their views to the people. It is therefore vital to be conscious of the elementary rules and guidelines associated with the usage of social media. "Some of these are included in the rules of ‘netiquette' and general professional conducts of behavior. Others depend on the type of content posted and revolve around copyright, intellectual property or confidentiality issues." (Osterrieder, 2013). It is the matter of fact that, for any normal human being 7% of the communication is based on words and rests 93% is associated with nonverbal body language, Sometimes chat or communication through Facebook or any other non-visual chatting sites can create a false impression about how one is doing away from home. Tardanico (2012) in her report has mentioned that "it's only when we can hear a tone of voice or look into someone's eyes that we're able to know when "I'm fine" doesn't mean they're fine at all, or when "I'm in" doesn't mean they're brought in at all”. (Tardanico, 2012). This is where the internet or social websites get dicey. With the help of technology, any one can hide is true emotion behind the words, through Facebook, e-mail or Twitter one can easily create an illusion of their choice. Conclusion: There are various positives which one can take away with the development of social technology. The word distance is now almost irrelevant as anyone can communicate whenever he or she wants with their family, friends and loved ones with just a few clicks. Social sites help the mankind immensely to communicate their feeling in front of the world where they can communicate and exchange their views with people across the globe. Tardanico (2012) in her review has mentioned that "Social technologies have broken the barriers of space and time, enabling us to interact 24/7 with more people than ever before." (Tardanico, 2012). A bit like every other great innovation it also has some negatives and the biggest one is the threat of artificialness associated with the social networking. Now the focus is on the quantity of communication rather than the quality; superficiality versus authenticity. So one can conclude that although it is a great medium communication with the people who are away from their families, but the social media in most ironic twist has the power to make human being less social, make them more artificial and forced them to forget almost every emotional touch which is there associated with every relationship. References 1. Glenn, D. (2013), Importance of Staying Connected through Social Media; Business 2 Community; retrieved on 24.6.2014 from http://www.business2community.com/social-media/importance-staying-connected-social-media-0600521#!2YMr1 2. Harrison, L. (2014), How to Keep in Touch with Family and Friends When you Move Away; Socialnomics; retrieved on 24.06.2014 from http://www.socialnomics.net/2014/01/14/how-to-keep-in-touch-with-family-and-friends-when-you-move-away/ 3. Osterrieder, A. (2013), The value and use of social media as communication tool in the plant sciences; Plant Methods; retrieved on 24.6.2014 from http://www.plantmethods.com/content/9/1/26 4. Sparkes, M. (2013), Young users see Facebook as 'dead and buried'; The Telegraph; retrieved on 24.6.2014 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/10539274/Young-users-see-Facebook-as-dead-and-buried.html 5. Tardanico, S. (2012), Is Social Media Sabotaging Real Communication? Forbes, retrieved on 24.6.2014 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/susantardanico/2012/04/30/is-social-media-sabotaging-real-communication/ Read More