social media has improved human communication essay

Social Media Has Improved Human Interactions

Social media has impacted various aspects of human life and it has a great influence on communication and human interactions. Social media refers to all internet sites and applications used to make and share different forms of content or engage others in social networking. The world is currently characterized by fast access to large quantities of information regardless of one’s location for those who can access the internet.

Interpersonal communication has changed to an extent where people depend on digital gadgets to access social media at the expense of face-to-face communication. In addition to personal use, social media plays a crucial role as a marketing tool. Companies depend on social media platforms to run targeted advertisements and collect information that can be used to improve customer experience.

Businesses utilize social media to appeal to wide audiences globally by spending less money compared to conventional methods such as print media and radio. A tweet by a government official about the need to get vaccinated can be reached by millions of people across the world provided that they have a smartphone to access Twitter. Knowledge and information spread by professionals, parents, and peers group enable constant and efficient communication between different people in all parts of the world. In addition to the positive influences of social media, users may encounter undesirable effects. Users may experience dejection, cyberbullying, and social anxiety (Hemsley et al., 2018).

They may become addicted to social media, while others may be victims of blackmailing or peer pressure. Social media benefits many people because millions of them use it for research, entertainment, and communication. The paper aims to explore how social media has improved human interactions with a special focus on positive and negative impacts.

Hemsley, J., Jacobson, J., Gruzd, A., & Mai, P. (2018). Social media for social good or evil: An introduction . Social Media + Society , 4 (3), 205630511878671. Web.

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Chapter 6: 21st-century media and issues

6.10.2 Social media and communication (research essay)

Lindsey Matier

English 102, April 2021

Communication is extremely important in today’s world, whether it be verbal or nonverbal. It can take place through many different forms such as through writing, speaking, listening and physical actions. These forms of communication evolve and continue to improve over time. As humans, we rely on communication for almost everything and it is a way of life. Communication has evolved from talking to writing letters to texting or talking over the phone. Every time a new form of communication is brought up and becomes more popular, we have to adapt and evolve to that new lifestyle. Throughout all the new forms of communication and ways of evolving, social media has been one of the most influential so far. Social media has allowed us to create new ways of communicating, such as texting or posting through different apps. It can connect us with people all over the world and give us a platform to express ourselves in ways that have not been possible before. While social media started off as a small form of technology, it has morphed into aspects of our everyday life. Now there are apps for everything from social media profiles to online shopping. While social media and technology itself has evolved, this has also affected our communication with each other and the world. Social media has created a fast track for information in a matter of seconds. It can give people a platform with millions of followers overnight for doing practically anything. It can help people express themselves in new ways and connect with people who have similar interests. The end goal of social media is to make people happy and ultimately make lives easier.

Introduction

With all this being said, it is evident that social media is in our everyday lives and will continue to change. It has a very strong grip on society as social media usage continues to rise throughout the years. Generalizing social media, we are exposed to forms of media at almost all times of the day. Answering the question of what media is will help give a better understanding of social media as a whole. Media can be defined as a way of mass communication. This could include siting in the car listening to ads on the radio all the way to scrolling on twitter. We are exposed to social media less often than generalized media, but it tends to come in greater quantities when exposed. For example, for people that wake up and check twitter it is an instant flood of information with every scroll. Everything from politics to sports to celebrity news is available at the fingertips. The concern is not all focused on the overwhelming information, but also the overwhelming number of comments and opinions. If we wanted to debate or talk about something before social media it had to be done in person, face to face. Now with social media, we are able to fight with people in comment sections on a backup account with a different name and no connection to who we really are. This new form of communication takes away the vulnerability of speaking to people and having genuine conversation, and makes up for it in internet trolls. Overall, social media is impacting the way we communicate with each other and the real questions are: Is social media impacting us in a positive or negative way? Do the positive aspects outweigh the negative aspects? Is social media hindering the way we communicate in person with each other? Is their more room for improvement when it comes to dealing with communication in the social media spectrum? How is social media impacting younger generation’s communication versus older generation’s communication? How can we help improve our communication skills on social media and in real life?

Personal Research 

Along with the other studies that I found from the sources I chose, I also conducted my own study to determine more accurate and recent data. I asked students mostly within high school and college range questions relating to social media and communication. I tried to get a wide range of data dealing with social media apps, screen time, and overall communication as a result of social media. I expected to see almost all negative responses about social media and communication. I figured that most people would respond saying that it has affected them negatively rather than positively, but the results were different compared to what I expected.

The first questions I asked had to do with social media itself. I asked questions about their most used social media apps, screen time, what age they were allowed to start using social media, and whether or not they think social media has had a negative or positive impact on them. As expected, most of the social media apps were some of the most popular ones like Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok. Overall, the average screen time for all apps was evenly split between 4-6 and 6-8 hours, which I also expected. Something that did surprise me was the amount of time spent on certain social media apps. The data was split pretty evenly three ways and all between 1-4 hours. The next two questions dealt with when they group surveyed started using social media. I asked these questions because a lot of the points I want to discuss later in my paper have to deal with age and whether younger generations are suffering when it comes to communication. More than half the people surveyed said that they wished that they had waited to get social media until they were older. Some said that it is not appropriate for younger kids and that it is just toxic in general. Something that I really like that a couple people mentioned was that in reality, social media at a young age is stupid and useless. A lot of people said they wish they would have enjoyed their childhood more and they would be more extroverted now if they had not been exposed that early. The last question of this section that I asked was if they thought social media has had a more positive or negative impact on them. Overall, the data was split but leaning slightly towards the more positive side. The positive answers mostly dealt with being able to talk to stay in contact with people and meeting new friends. The negative answers all related to mental health and feeling bad about themselves. A lot of people said it is toxic and very controlling and takes up too much of our time.

The next set of questions I asked had to do more with communication and interaction with and without social media. I asked questions like how they feel about social media and how it has impacted their communication, their mental health, and if it has made our lives easier. I decided to ask questions like these because I figured I would get a wide range of responses and a lot of people’s different opinions. I started off by asking if people are an introvert or an extrovert to get an idea of what the responses would be like, and 66% said somewhere in between the two. The response for the next question really shocked me because I received such a one-side response. I asked if they think social media has impacted their communication and the way they interact with others and 75% (18/24 people) said yes. This is the information that I was looking for along with the next two questions. The next question asked if they think social media has negatively impacted their mental health and 50% said yes. I also plan on using this as a research question to show that social media can affect our mental health and therefore affect the way we interact with and around other people. The last two questions are similar but the responses were both very good. Almost everyone answered yes to the question asking if social media has made our lives easier. Everyone that answered yes said they think so because it helps them talk to friends, stay in touch with people they do not see as much, and meet new people that they are comfortable talking to. The people that said no also made good points such as it takes over our lives and it is filled with too much hate and cancel culture. I agree with both sides and am very happy that people can feel a positive response especially when it comes to communicating with other people online. The last question I asked was used to wrap up the whole survey and topic. I asked if they think social media has made our generation’s communication improve or worsen. The data was pretty evenly split, and most people gave a positive and a negative. The people that said improve gave that answer because they said it broadens our communication and allows us to talk to people at a wider range. The people who said it has made it worse all said that it is ruining our face-to-face interaction and causing us to lose emotion. They said that some people do not even know how to have a proper in person conversation and that they are too dependent on their phones. Overall, I agree with both arguments that people made but I do think that the positives outweigh the negatives in most of these situations and questions.

Research Questions

The first question I want to ask has to deal with the overall social media and communication connection and has multiple other questions I would like to cover within it. The main question is: Is social media hindering the way we communicate with each other? I also want to touch on questions like: Is social media impacting us in a positive or negative way? Do the positives outweigh the negatives? The second set of research questions I have is: Is their more room for improvement when it comes to dealing with communication in the social media spectrum? How can we help improve our communication skills on social media and in real life? How is social media impacting younger generation’s communication versus older generation’s communication?

Research Question One

Social media and communication have a direct connection to each other and both have a strong impact on the outcome of the other. My first research question has to do with that. My questions center around how social media has impacted our communication, and whether or not it is positive or negative. First, I think it is important to note the changes and different characteristics that come into play when talking about this. Things like age and problems going on in our world can affect our social media usage and communication. While we connect to people on a deeper level when talking to the in person, social media has also given us a newer and more broad way of communicating. The article “How Social Media Affects Our Ability to Communicate” by Stacey Hanke, talks about different ways social media has impacted our communication. Social media has become so relevant in our day to day lives and Hanke describes it in a couple different ways. She describes it as information binging and the fear of missing out, social graces and conversational boredom. Within these, she explains how social media has become an excuse and escape to talk to people face to face. Hanke also talks about how even though it is limiting our in person communication, it can sometimes make communicating in general easier, by being able to talk to each other in just a few words (Hanke 1). In another article by Ryan J. Fuller titled “The Impact of Social Media Use on Our Social Skills”, he discusses similar topics to Hanke’s article but also brings up more positive attributes of social media. Fuller starts of his article by giving some statistics, stating that 75% of teens own cellphones and 25% of them using it for social media, and also says that they use 7.5 hours a day using it (Fuller 1). I am glad that this was brought up because it is important to know how much time is spent on social media, scrolling through feed. Next, Fuller starts to discuss some of the benefits of social media. He briefly explains how social media is beneficial because we are able to stay in touch with our friends and family, and share important parts of our lives with them. He also explains how it helps people reach out to new friends and provide themselves with more opportunities (Fuller 1). Overall, I really like that he mentioned these because it is important to keep in mind the vast majority of social media and communication. While some use it for more simpler purposes likes just keeping up to date with what is going on in the world, others use it to make new friends, find new job opportunities, and stay in touch with people. Another topic I find important when it comes to answering this research question is how Covid affected everything. With the pandemic, we were left inside with nothing to do but what was at our fingertips. This pandemic increased social media usage drastically. The article “Social Media Insights Into US Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Analysis of Twitter Data” by Danny Valdez et al, shows extensive research into determining just how much social media usage in the United States increased during the pandemic. They did experiments and surveys to determine multiple responses to research questions and show how much we rely on social media to communicate with each other. During the pandemic, everyone spent more time on their social media and their phone in general, probably more than they would like to admit. The article helps give more insight into this claim. There is the idea that social media was meant as an addition to our lives. For some people, it has become an addiction and a new piece of their life. The article focuses on how social media could be a toxic place and have a negative effect on our mental health. The time period for this information focuses around the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from Twitter, Valdez created a study to determine the mood of people during the pandemic and the usage throughout (Valdez et al 2). Collecting tweets with certain hashtags and during time periods, the goal was to determine how much the pandemic affected people’s moods, and how much they put out and shared on social media. They used hashtags, timeline data, and tweets from different periods such as the first lockdown, different stay at home orders, etc. Given the responses to the data, they were able to determine the increase in social media usage. We cannot determine if this had a positive or negative effect on the people who were using Twitter, but we can infer that social media is becoming a key part of our lives. Not being able to talk to people as much in person during the first few months of the pandemic greatly affected communication, in positive and negative ways. Communication over the phone increased due to the amount of free time that people had and were able to spend talking to others. Contrary to that, in person communication also decreased given that people were not really allowed to leave the house. The next article by Tayebi et al, “The Role of Information Systems in Communication Through Social Media” focuses a lot about how we have evolved over time with social media and communication. They start off by talking about how social networks are like social media societies. They explain it by resembling it to a human society, as it is filled with people communicating, regardless of time or place. They also exemplify other aspects such as emotional support, information, emotions (Tayebi 2). Social media is constantly looked at through such a negative light due to some of the major bad events that have taken place. While it can be difficult at times to look past the negatives, it is important to recognize and acknowledge the positives. The growth of scientific research would not be possible without the amount of information received from the media (Tayebi 3). Without social media and media in general, we would not be where we are today as a society. As mentioned earlier, it is so easy to get lost in the negative aspects of social media and discard the positive ones. Positive parts of social media such as widespread communication and unlimited access to information makes it all worth it. Staying on topic with positive aspects of social media and communication, social media in the workplace has also broken down barriers for communication. The article “A Guide to the Successful Use of Social Media in the Workplace” by Clark Boyd gives insight into how social media has improved the workplace, and ultimately communication and interaction as a whole. Companies can use social media as a form of branding and way to communicate their products (Boyd 4). Boyd states, “Harvard Business Review finds that 82% of employees believe social media improves work relationships. Left to their own devices, your teams will connect and communicate on social networks, both inside and outside the office.” This directly relates to the research question asking whether social media hinders our communication with each other. Social media also helps when it comes to dealing with complaints placed online. By seeing these through social media, it can help the company communicate either with the person or their company the concerns that are being stated (Boyd 9). Overall, it is safe to say that social media has directly affected communication throughout different aspects of our lives.

Research Question Two

My second set of research questions has a lot to do with the future and how we can improve. Questions such as: Is their more room for improvement when it comes to dealing with communication in the social media spectrum? How can we help improve our communication skills on social media and in real life? How is social media impacting younger generation’s communication versus older generation’s communication? The article “What is Literacy” by James Paul Gee talks a lot about the basics of communication. I find this an important article to talk about before I go into more detail with this second research question. Gee explains discourse as a socially accepted way of speaking, thinking, and acting (Gee 1). It is important to note this because social media has changed that discourse for us. We no longer communicate and interact the same way in which we use to therefore almost giving us a new discourse. Another thing Gee discusses is identity kits. Gee explains identity kits as “appropriate costumes and instructions on how to act and talk” (Gee 2). This relates to social media because there is a certain way we communicate online that we wouldn’t do in person. For example, we use emojis and abbreviations to communicate on social media or over text, but this is something we would not do when communicating face-to-face. There are also some basic well-known rules of social media that follow along the lines of an identity kit. Such as, for Instagram it is a common idea not to like people’s pictures from too long ago. When you say this aloud it sounds like it is not a big deal and silly almost, but for people that use social media it is something that makes sense. The next article is going to focus more on the question that has to do with room for improvement of communication. The article “The Positive Effect of Not Following Others on Social Media” by Francesca Valsesia, Davide Proserpio, and Joseph C. Nunes involves how we deal with social media and how we react to it. The article has a lot to do with pyramid schemes and marketing schemes on social media, simply due to follower count. Social media has a lot of power over us and the content we see. Influencers have too much impact on what we see every day and this overall effects our communication (Valsesia 1). Social media feeds us information at our fingertips, whether it be true or false. Valsesia is trying to get the point across that social media has no impact on our lives without the phone and therefore, having a smaller follower count is better for our communication and overall wellbeing in the first place. Leading into my next article, social media can have a huge impact on the younger generation. This leads into part of my second research question dealing with the younger generation and their communication. The article “The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities” by Jacqueline Nesi shows how social media is a very complex brand of information and makes it complicated for everyone. Younger kids having access to it and multiple devices like computers and phones makes it that much more difficult. There are a lot of positives and negatives for younger kids having access to social media and the internet in general. It has an impact on their mental health and studies show it leads to signs of depression, body dysmorphia, eating disorders (Nesi 2). It can also affect their communication and outward identity due to things such as bullying, internet drama, and behavioral problems. While it does have serious negative risks, social media also can bring a lot of new positive ones. Things like creative ideas, humor and entertainment, and being able to explore their identity are all really great positives that social media gives us (Nesi 4). Most of them using it as a way to connect with friends and family and help them feel a sense of acceptance and belonging (Nesi 4). Similarly to this, social media has given a great outlet for kids and young adults to speak out on issues going on in the world. The article “Building Bridges: Exploring the Communication Trends and Perceived Sociopolitical Benefits of Adolescents Engaging in Online Social Justice Efforts” by Mariah Elsa Kornbluh goes into detail about the racial injustices in the world and how they are communicated through social media. Social media networks can help connect kids to different backgrounds and aspects of their lives (Kornbluh 1). Kornbluh expresses how a society only can flourish under civic engagement and being able to express ourselves, and social media is helping us do that. It is helping the younger generation prepare for the civic role that they will undergo (Kornbluh 2). Social media helps play a major role in participating in political movements and bringing awareness to topics (Kornbluh 3). This all is done by the younger generation and would not be possible without them. So, while it is easy to look at the negative parts of social media and how it effects the younger generation, it also brings great awareness to real life problems in our world. This last article I wanted to go over dealing with this research question has to do with the pandemic. The article “Responses to COVID-19 in Higher Education: Social Media Usage for Sustaining Formal Academic Communication in Developing Countries” by Abu Elnasr E. Sobaih, Ahmed M. Hasanein and Ahmed E. Abu Elnasr briefly talks about communication with social media in higher education systems. Education systems had to switch from in person learning and communication to online learning, which was a struggle for everyone. Throughout the time that this took place, results showed that social media had a positive effect on students dealing with this (Sobaih 1). Students used social media to build a community and help support each other through this rough time. Through these results, proper usage of social media can be shown as a positive result for a new era of learning (Sobaih 1). This is just one more reason why social media can help us improve our future.

After answering my research questions, it has become clear to me that while social media does have negative aspects, the positive aspects outweigh them. Between the articles and my own research, I have enough evidence to prove that social media does effect communication, but in a more positive way. The way we act and present ourselves is heavily influenced by social media and communication between generations are different and can be seen that way. It is important to note the accomplishments we have made as a society with social media and the media in general. It has helped connect families, provide support groups, and provide entertainment in desperate times. Our communication has changed because of social media but has changed and helped us for the better in the long run. Keeping social media a positive place and staying away from the toxic people on it will only help us grow and learn new things about ourselves.

Works Cited

Boyd, Clark. “A Guide to Using Social Media in the Workplace in 2021.”  The Blueprint , The Blueprint, 13 May 2020, www.fool.com/the-blueprint/social-media-in-the-workplace/.

https://www.fool.com/the-blueprint/social-media-in-the-workplace/

D, Valdez, et al. “Social Media Insights Into US Mental Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Analysis of Twitter Data.”  Journal of Medical Internet Research  , vol. 22, no. 12, 14 Dec. 2020, pp. 1438–8871.

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J, Nesi. “The Impact of Social Media on Youth Health: Challenges and Opportunities.”  North Carolina Medical Journal , vol. 81, no. 2, 2020, pp. 116–121.

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Gee, James Paul. “What is literacy.”  Negotiating academic literacies: Teaching and learning  across languages and cultures  (1998): 51-59.

https://academic.jamespaulgee.com/pdfs/Gee%20What%20is%20Literacy.pdf

Hanke, Stacey. “How Social Media Affects Our Ability to Communicate.”  Thrive Global , 13  Sept. 2018, thriveglobal.com/stories/how-social-media-affects-our-ability-to-communicate/.

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Kornbluh, Mariah Elsa. “Building Bridges.”  Youth & Society , vol. 51, no. 8, 2017, pp. 1104–1126., doi:10.1177/0044118×17723656.

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Retchin, Sarah, et al. “The Impact of Social Media Use on Social Skills.”  New York Behavioral Health , 1 Dec. 2020, newyorkbehavioralhealth.com/the-impact-of-social-media-use-on-social-skills/.

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Sobaih, Abu Elnasr E., et al. “Responses to COVID-19 in Higher Education: Social Media Usage for Sustaining Formal Academic Communication in Developing Countries.”  MDPI , Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 12 Aug. 2020, www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6520/htm.

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Tayeb, Seyed Mohammad, et al. “The Role of Information Systems in Communication through Social Media.”  International Journal of Data and Network Science , vol. 3, no. 3, 2019, pp. 245–268., doi:10.5267/j.ijdns.2019.2.002.

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Valsesia, Francesca, et al. “The Positive Effect of Not Following Others on Social Media .”  Journal of Marketing Research  , vol. 57, no. 6, Dec. 2020, pp. 1152–1168.

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Understanding Literacy in Our Lives by Lindsey Matier is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Essay on Social Media Has Improved Human Communication

Students are often asked to write an essay on Social Media Has Improved Human Communication in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Social Media Has Improved Human Communication

Introduction.

Social media has revolutionized the way we communicate. It has connected people from different corners of the world, allowing us to share ideas and experiences instantly.

Global Connection

Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have brought us closer than ever. We can communicate with people thousands of miles away, breaking geographical barriers.

Instant Sharing

Social media allows immediate sharing of thoughts, images, and videos. This instant communication has made our lives more vibrant and connected.

In conclusion, social media has improved human communication, making the world a smaller, more connected place.

250 Words Essay on Social Media Has Improved Human Communication

The advent of social media.

Social media has revolutionized the landscape of communication. It has not only made it easier for individuals to connect with each other, but also facilitated a more efficient exchange of ideas.

Enhanced Accessibility

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have made it possible for people to communicate across geographical boundaries. This accessibility has fostered global connections, enabling people from different cultures to interact and share their perspectives.

Information Dissemination

Social media has also become a critical tool for information dissemination. It allows for the rapid spread of news and updates, making it an efficient medium for awareness and education. It is also a platform for advocacy, where individuals can voice their opinions on various issues.

Facilitating Collaboration

Moreover, social media facilitates collaboration. Platforms like LinkedIn and Slack have transformed the way teams work together, enabling real-time communication and collaborative problem-solving.

The Flip Side

However, it’s important to mention the flip side. While social media has enhanced communication, it has also led to issues like misinformation and privacy concerns. Therefore, it’s crucial to use these platforms responsibly.

In conclusion, social media has indeed improved human communication by making it more accessible, efficient, and collaborative. It has transformed the way we connect, share information, and work together. However, the onus is on us to leverage these platforms responsibly and effectively.

500 Words Essay on Social Media Has Improved Human Communication

The advent of social media platforms has revolutionized human communication, transcending geographical boundaries and time zones. Today, we can connect with people across the globe in an instant, exchange ideas, and share experiences, all thanks to social media. This essay explores how social media has improved human communication.

Enhancing Connectivity

One of the paramount ways social media has improved human communication is by enhancing connectivity. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have made it easier for people to stay in touch, regardless of their location. This has led to the creation of global communities where people can share their experiences, exchange ideas, and learn from each other. This global connectivity has not only improved personal relationships but also fostered international collaborations in various fields like business, science, and arts.

Facilitating Real-Time Communication

Social media platforms offer real-time communication, a feature that has significantly improved human interaction. Through tools like instant messaging and live video chats, people can communicate in real-time, leading to quicker decision-making and problem-solving. This immediacy has also made it possible for people to share and receive updates on important events happening around the world, fostering a sense of global community.

Democratizing Information

Social media has democratized information, making it accessible to everyone with an internet connection. This has improved human communication by encouraging more informed discussions and debates. People can now access a plethora of information, opinions, and perspectives, which they can use to enrich their conversations and broaden their understanding of various topics.

Promoting Freedom of Expression

Social media platforms have given a voice to the voiceless, promoting freedom of expression. Individuals can now express their thoughts, ideas, and opinions freely, leading to a more inclusive and diverse dialogue. This has improved human communication by creating an environment where everyone’s voice can be heard, fostering mutual respect and understanding.

In conclusion, social media has significantly improved human communication. It has enhanced global connectivity, facilitated real-time communication, democratized information, and promoted freedom of expression. However, it is crucial to use these platforms responsibly to ensure that they continue to serve as effective tools for improving human communication. As we move towards an increasingly digital future, social media will undoubtedly continue to play a pivotal role in shaping human communication.

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If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

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How Has Social Media Affected Communication: Facts that Surprise!

Updated: February 28, 2024

Published: April 4, 2020

It’s no surprise that the widespread use of social media for communicating ideas, personal and professional stories and experiences has had a profound effect on the overall way people communicate today. Just how has social media affected communication, you ask? In more ways than you may think! But not all are bad — just look at our list of social media effects on communication.

What is Social Media?

Social media can be described as the collection of online platforms that involve sharing and collaborating with an online community by posting, commenting, and interacting with one another. The most commonly used social media platforms today are Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Snapchat.

Photo by  Tracy Le Blanc  from  Pexels

Social media effects on communication.

Around 3 billion people use social media today, which means that 40% of the world uses social media for communication. It’s no surprise that this widespread use has social media effects on communication.

11% of adults reported preferring staying home on Facebook than going out on the weekend. Communication is affected in ways such as personal expression, our expectations of others, and the way companies communicate with customers.

Exposure to Messaging

Information overload.

Many people tend to binge on social media, spending hours and hours scrolling though sites. Ultimately, this may lead to a constant craving of more internet and more social media consumption. The more people get, the more they want — and it’s hard to stop the cycle.

Photo by  Kaboompics .com  from  Pexels

Young people read news.

Social media has made reading the news cool again. According to Wibbitz, 23% of young users get news from social media , and a whopping 61% get political news from Facebook . On social media, people share interesting news they read, and they can follow various news sources’ pages.

Getting the Full Picture

Stories — a part of Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook — mean that people get the full picture of an event, activity, or occurrence in someone’s life. We no longer just get a snapshot of a home-cooked meal, we might see the entire process from start to finish.

This has changed the way people think about what to post — there is much less thought put into a post when it is a story that will be erased after 24 hours.

Boredom in Conversation

Here’s a sad social media effect on communication. We are becoming bored when we have real, in-person conversations. People have such a need for social media consumption and that instant, colorful feedback only social media can give, they will often become bored during real conversations, resorting to their phones. This can lead to a decrease in the quality and number of meaningful conversations.

Reactions to Non-Verbal, Emotional, and Social Cues

In-person reactions to non-verbal, emotional, or social cues are changing in that people don’t need to respond to these types of communication when they are online. This leads to less experience and awareness of others’ needs based on these types of cues that can only be received from in-person communication.

Self Expression

Sense of urgency.

No one has to wait for longer than a few hours for a response, and people have come to expect that timeline for conversations. There is so much of a sense of urgency that people are often anxious if they haven’t heard back from a family member, friend, or partner in a number of hours.

Photo by  Cristian Dina  from  Pexels

Need to share.

Social media has created a feeling among users that they must share whatever they are doing — from restaurant orders, to concerts, to the books they are reading. This can be a social media positive effect because people are getting more exposure to things they might not otherwise, such as new reads. But it can also be a negative effect as it can urge people to become dependent on posting anything occurring in their own lives and painting those occurrences as rosier than they truly are.

Photo by  Vinicius Wiesehofer  from  Pexels

How we value ourselves.

When people see others having a wonderful life, as represented on social media, they tend to have a negative self-image, and start to devalue their own ways of life. In addition, there is a feeling of needing to paint an inaccurately positive and ‘fun’ version of one’s own life which leads to feelings of negativity about one’s ‘real’ life.

Inside Perspective of Afar

One of the positive effects of social media is the ability to get an intimate view of other cultures and places. With social media, especially on Instagram, users are able to see what others are doing around the world. People are exposed to travel ideas, new cultures, and ways of life unlike before.

Broadcasting Live

Broadcasting live started as a fun, innocent idea to share life’s moments, but it’s transformed to become a large part of political movements, sharing some dark aspects of today’s society. The option to post live videos has created an important platform for serious issues that need to be spoken about.

Personalized Digital Messages

Both Instagram and Snapchat have popularized the highly personalized message. People can now completely change their own faces with selfie filters, or draw pictures to send to friends, and more. Creativity soars, which is a great thing, but people can start to spend too much time personalizing picture messages.

Communication Style

1. summarized writing.

Starting with the limited character text messaging of the 2000s, and nowadays with the 140-character tweet, messages have been getting shorter and more concise. Other areas of communication have adapted for summarized writing as well, such as in shortened work memos, shortened academic communication between students and professors, and shortened messages in advertising.

2. Abbreviations

The abbreviated style of communicating that became popular when text messaging started in the 00’s has continued into online conversations. It has also made its way into traditionally non-abbreviated forms of communication such as spoken language, email communication, and even academic forms of writing. This has caused concern among some academics, citing studies that show a causation between “textese” and negative effects on literacy skills such as writing skills and reading accuracy. Other studies show that using “textese” has no effect on spelling ability, or correct grammar use. For a full review of related studies, see this meta-analysis .

3. Unfiltered Interactions

Social media and internet interactions offer a veil between the person sending and the person receiving the message. These interactions are no longer face to face, and this can lead to some unfiltered conversations as people feel they can say anything with no repercussions.

4. GIFs and Emojis

5. Viral Messages

That quick and easy “share” button on so many social media platforms has led to the phenomenon of “going viral.” Messages, videos, and other content can be easily shared between platforms with millions of people in a matter of days.

In Business

1. building a community.

By utilizing social media, brands are able to create an entire community based on their products or services. The use of a particular brand can be integral to being a part of a certain lifestyle, and social media perpetuates that idea. By being involved with the right communities, or making your own community out of a brand (such as Disney), companies are creating the most loyal of customers.

2. Brands Are Speaking Directly to Audiences

Companies no longer need to go through media such as TV stations, magazines, or newspapers to reach consumers. Brands now have direct access to customers by way of social media — they can now find out exactly the needs of the customer much faster and respond accordingly.

3. Social Media is Changing Traditional Media

Traditional media was such that a brand would just post an article and it would reach audiences. With social media and the way information reaches consumers today makes it so that it’s important who is posting or writing about a product. Influencers, bloggers, and Youtube celebrities can all have a much bigger impact on getting a product successful in the market.

4. Brands Can Have a More Personal Connection with the Media

With social media, brands have a more personal and long-term connection with journalists. Instead of a one-time phone call or email for a story or new product information, brands can create relationships with journalists and get them interested in sharing their stories.

5. There’s an Opportunity to Coordinate with PR Efforts

Brands can create some important PR campaigns through social media. Through social media, companies have an easier time finding influencers to work with, other brands to collaborate with, and news sources to feed stories to.

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At University of the People , we love to create online relationships with our students and supporters through social media. We are active on Facebook , Instagram , and Twitter — follow us to keep up to date with what we’re up to!

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Redefining Communication: The Transformational Impact of Social Media on Human Interaction

by Danny Ballan | Mar 23, 2023 | Science Spotlights

Introduction

In today’s fast-paced digital era, technology and innovation have undeniably transformed the way we communicate. Among the many groundbreaking inventions, social media has emerged as a powerful force shaping our interactions and driving our desire to stay connected. The rise of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn has not only revolutionized how we engage with each other but also how we access and share information. In this article, we will delve deep into the transformative impact of social media on human communication and explore how it has redefined our lives.

The Evolution of Social Media

Social media has come a long way since its inception. Early platforms like SixDegrees.com and Friendster paved the way for modern-day giants like Facebook and Twitter. Launched in 2004, Facebook quickly became a global phenomenon, reaching a staggering 2.91 billion monthly active users by 2021. Twitter followed suit, creating a platform for real-time communication and reshaping how we consume news and share our thoughts.

The rapid growth of social media platforms has resulted in a shift from traditional forms of communication, like face-to-face conversations and telephone calls, to digital interactions. This shift has altered the way we connect with others, forge relationships, and express ourselves.

Breaking Geographical Barriers

One of the most significant impacts of social media on communication is its ability to break down geographical barriers. People from different corners of the world can now connect and communicate with ease, fostering global conversations and cultural exchange. Social media platforms have made it possible for users to engage with diverse communities, sharing their experiences, ideas, and perspectives, thereby enriching our understanding of the world.

Instant Communication and Real-Time Updates

Social media has introduced us to the world of instant communication. Gone are the days when we had to wait for a letter or an email to reach its recipient. Today, messages can be sent and received in real-time, allowing for seamless and uninterrupted conversations. This immediacy has also changed how we consume news and stay informed. Platforms like Twitter have emerged as reliable sources of real-time updates on events happening around the world, enabling users to access information at their fingertips.

The Democratization of Information

Social media has democratized information, providing everyone with the opportunity to share their voice, irrespective of their social or economic background. This shift has created a more inclusive space for communication, where diverse opinions can be heard and debated. Additionally, social media has empowered users to challenge traditional media narratives and hold powerful entities accountable, fostering greater transparency and accountability in society.

The Rise of Visual Communication

The adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” rings true in the realm of social media. Platforms like Instagram and Snapchat have popularized visual communication, allowing users to express themselves through images and videos. This shift has led to the rise of new storytelling techniques and creative ways to share experiences, emotions, and ideas. The visual nature of these platforms has also changed the way brands and organizations engage with their audiences, leveraging visual content to create a more immersive and engaging experience.

Enhanced Collaboration and Networking

Social media has enabled new forms of collaboration and networking among individuals and organizations. Platforms like LinkedIn have made it easier for professionals to connect, share ideas, and form partnerships. Similarly, social media has facilitated the growth of online communities, where people with shared interests can collaborate on projects, exchange information, and offer support. This enhanced connectivity has not only fostered innovation but also created new opportunities for personal and professional growth.

The Dark Side of Social Media Communication

Despite its numerous advantages, the rise of social media communication has also brought about some unintended consequences. The prevalence of cyberbullying, trolling, and the spread of misinformation have become pressing concerns. Furthermore, the addictive nature of social media platforms has led to increased instances of social isolation, anxiety, and depression, raising questions about the impact of these platforms on mental health and well-being.

Social media has undeniably transformed the way we communicate and interact with each other. It has broken geographical barriers, democratized information, and introduced new forms of visual communication, collaboration, and networking. While it is essential to acknowledge the challenges that come with this transformation, it is equally important to recognize the vast potential of social media as a force for positive change. As we continue to navigate this digital landscape, it is crucial to develop strategies and tools that promote responsible usage, ensure privacy, and foster healthy communication, so that we can fully harness the power of social media to improve our lives and create a more connected world.

• Social Media Communication : The act of communicating with others through social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
• Transformation : A significant change in the way things are done or in the way people interact with each other.
• Innovation : The introduction of new ideas, methods, or technologies that improve or change the way things are done.
• Interaction : The process of communicating or engaging with others, often involving a back-and-forth exchange of ideas, opinions, or information.
• Digital era : The current period in which technology and digital communication have become widespread and dominant in society.
• Facebook : A social media platform launched in 2004 that has become one of the most widely used and influential social media platforms in the world.
• Twitter : A social media platform that enables users to send and read short messages called “tweets” and has become an important tool for real-time communication and news sharing.
• Geographical barriers : Obstacles that prevent people from different parts of the world from communicating or connecting with each other.
• Real-time updates : Instantaneous and up-to-the-minute information on events, news, or other developments.
• Democratization : The process of making information or opportunities more accessible to a wider range of people.
• Visual communication : The act of communicating through visual media such as images, videos, or graphics.
• Networking : The process of making and maintaining professional or social connections for personal or professional gain.
• Cyberbullying : The act of using digital communication to bully or harass someone.
• Misinformation : False or misleading information that is spread intentionally or unintentionally.
• Social isolation : The feeling of being disconnected or separate from others, often as a result of spending excessive amounts of time on social media.
• Depression : A mental health condition characterized by feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and a lack of interest in daily activities.

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Why social media has changed the world — and how to fix it

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Are you on social media a lot? When is the last time you checked Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram? Last night? Before breakfast? Five minutes ago?

If so, you are not alone — which is the point, of course. Humans are highly social creatures. Our brains have become wired to process social information, and we usually feel better when we are connected. Social media taps into this tendency.

“Human brains have essentially evolved because of sociality more than any other thing,” says Sinan Aral, an MIT professor and expert in information technology and marketing. “When you develop a population-scale technology that delivers social signals to the tune of trillions per day in real-time, the rise of social media isn’t unexpected. It’s like tossing a lit match into a pool of gasoline.”

The numbers make this clear. In 2005, about 7 percent of American adults used social media. But by 2017, 80 percent of American adults used Facebook alone. About 3.5 billion people on the planet, out of 7.7 billion, are active social media participants. Globally, during a typical day, people post 500 million tweets, share over 10 billion pieces of Facebook content, and watch over a billion hours of YouTube video.

As social media platforms have grown, though, the once-prevalent, gauzy utopian vision of online community has disappeared. Along with the benefits of easy connectivity and increased information, social media has also become a vehicle for disinformation and political attacks from beyond sovereign borders.

“Social media disrupts our elections, our economy, and our health,” says Aral, who is the David Austin Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Now Aral has written a book about it. In “The Hype Machine,” published this month by Currency, a Random House imprint, Aral details why social media platforms have become so successful yet so problematic, and suggests ways to improve them.

As Aral notes, the book covers some of the same territory as “The Social Dilemma,” a documentary that is one of the most popular films on Netflix at the moment. But Aral’s book, as he puts it, "starts where ‘The Social Dilemma’ leaves off and goes one step further to ask: What can we do about it?”

“This machine exists in every facet of our lives,” Aral says. “And the question in the book is, what do we do? How do we achieve the promise of this machine and avoid the peril? We’re at a crossroads. What we do next is essential, so I want to equip people, policymakers, and platforms to help us achieve the good outcomes and avoid the bad outcomes.”

When “engagement” equals anger

“The Hype Machine” draws on Aral’s own research about social networks, as well as other findings, from the cognitive sciences, computer science, business, politics, and more. Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles, for instance, have found that people obtain bigger hits of dopamine — the chemical in our brains highly bound up with motivation and reward — when their social media posts receive more likes.

At the same time, consider a 2018 MIT study by Soroush Vosoughi, an MIT PhD student and now an assistant professor of computer science at Dartmouth College; Deb Roy, MIT professor of media arts and sciences and executive director of the MIT Media Lab; and Aral, who has been studying social networking for 20 years. The three researchers found that on Twitter, from 2006 to 2017, false news stories were 70 percent more likely to be retweeted than true ones. Why? Most likely because false news has greater novelty value compared to the truth, and provokes stronger reactions — especially disgust and surprise.

In this light, the essential tension surrounding social media companies is that their platforms gain audiences and revenue when posts provoke strong emotional responses, often based on dubious content.

“This is a well-designed, well-thought-out machine that has objectives it maximizes,” Aral says. “The business models that run the social-media industrial complex have a lot to do with the outcomes we’re seeing — it’s an attention economy, and businesses want you engaged. How do they get engagement? Well, they give you little dopamine hits, and … get you riled up. That’s why I call it the hype machine. We know strong emotions get us engaged, so [that favors] anger and salacious content.”

From Russia to marketing

“The Hype Machine” explores both the political implications and business dimensions of social media in depth. Certainly social media is fertile terrain for misinformation campaigns. During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Russia spread  false information to at least 126 million people on Facebook and another 20 million people on Insta­gram (which Facebook owns), and was responsible for 10 million tweets. About 44 percent of adult Americans visited a false news source in the final weeks of the campaign.

“I think we need to be a lot more vigilant than we are,” says Aral.

We do not know if Russia’s efforts altered the outcome of the 2016 election, Aral says, though they may have been fairly effective. Curiously, it is not clear if the same is true of most U.S. corporate engagement efforts.

As Aral examines, digital advertising on most big U.S. online platforms is often wildly ineffective, with academic studies showing that the “lift” generated by ad campaigns — the extent to which they affect consumer action — has been overstated by a factor of hundreds, in some cases. Simply counting clicks on ads is not enough. Instead, online engagement tends to be more effective among new consumers, and when it is targeted well; in that sense, there is a parallel between good marketing and guerilla social media campaigns.

“The two questions I get asked the most these days,” Aral says, “are, one, did Russia succeed in intervening in our democracy? And two, how do I measure the ROI [return on investment] from marketing investments? As I was writing this book, I realized the answer to those two questions is the same.”

Ideas for improvement

“The Hype Machine” has received praise from many commentators. Foster Provost, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, says it is a “masterful integration of science, business, law, and policy.” Duncan Watts, a university professor at the University of Pennsylvania, says the book is “essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how we got here and how we can get somewhere better.”

In that vein, “The Hype Machine” has several detailed suggestions for improving social media. Aral favors automated and user-generated labeling of false news, and limiting revenue-collection that is based on false content. He also calls for firms to help scholars better research the issue of election interference.

Aral believes federal privacy measures could be useful, if we learn from the benefits and missteps of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe and a new California law that lets consumers stop some data-sharing and allows people to find out what information companies have stored about them. He does not endorse breaking up Facebook, and suggests instead that the social media economy needs structural reform. He calls for data portability and interoperability, so “consumers would own their identities and could freely switch from one network to another.” Aral believes that without such fundamental changes, new platforms will simply replace the old ones, propelled by the network effects that drive the social-media economy.

“I do not advocate any one silver bullet,” says Aral, who emphasizes that changes in four areas together — money, code, norms, and laws — can alter the trajectory of the social media industry.

But if things continue without change, Aral adds, Facebook and the other social media giants risk substantial civic backlash and user burnout.

“If you get me angry and riled up, I might click more in the short term, but I might also grow really tired and annoyed by how this is making my life miserable, and I might turn you off entirely,” Aral observes. “I mean, that’s why we have a Delete Facebook movement, that’s why we have a Stop Hate for Profit movement. People are pushing back against the short-term vision, and I think we need to embrace this longer-term vision of a healthier communications ecosystem.”

Changing the social media giants can seem like a tall order. Still, Aral says, these firms are not necessarily destined for domination.

“I don’t think this technology or any other technology has some deterministic endpoint,” Aral says. “I want to bring us back to a more practical reality, which is that technology is what we make it, and we are abdicating our responsibility to steer technology toward good and away from bad. That is the path I try to illuminate in this book.”

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Press mentions.

Prof. Sinan Aral’s new book, “The Hype Machine,” has been selected as one of the best books of the year about AI by Wired . Gilad Edelman notes that Aral’s book is “an engagingly written shortcut to expertise on what the likes of Facebook and Twitter are doing to our brains and our society.”

Prof. Sinan Aral speaks with Danny Crichton of TechCrunch about his new book, “The Hype Machine,” which explores the future of social media. Aral notes that he believes a starting point “for solving the social media crisis is creating competition in the social media economy.” 

New York Times

Prof. Sinan Aral speaks with New York Times editorial board member Greg Bensinger about how social media platforms can reduce the spread of misinformation. “Human-in-the-loop moderation is the right solution,” says Aral. “It’s not a simple silver bullet, but it would give accountability where these companies have in the past blamed software.”

Prof. Sinan Aral speaks with Kara Miller of GBH’s Innovation Hub about his research examining the impact of social media on everything from business re-openings during the Covid-19 pandemic to politics.

Prof. Sinan Aral speaks with NPR’s Michael Martin about his new book, “The Hype Machine,” which explores the benefits and downfalls posed by social media. “I've been researching social media for 20 years. I've seen its evolution and also the techno utopianism and dystopianism,” says Aral. “I thought it was appropriate to have a book that asks, 'what can we do to really fix the social media morass we find ourselves in?'”

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Social Media: Changing the Human Experience

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The advent of social media has dramatically changed human interaction. People can now connect with friends, family members, strangers, and even celebrities through any number of engaging platforms. With a simple post, like, or retweet, thoughts and opinions can be shared across the world in a matter of seconds. Social media has created opportunities that did not exist previously, including newfound “social media celebrities” who are famous merely because of what they post to their Instagram accounts. While many benefits exist with the ability to share information among millions of other people, there are pitfalls as well. This introductory chapter will discuss the rise of social media, the various platforms that can be used, and opportunities and challenges we all face as we learn how to navigate this evolving frontier.

Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore —Dorothy, Wizard of Oz

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The Digital Revolution: How Technology is Changing the Way We Communicate and Interact

This article examines the impact of technology on human interaction and explores the ever-evolving landscape of communication. With the rapid advancement of technology, the methods and modes of communication have undergone a significant transformation. This article investigates both the positive and negative implications of this digitalization. Technological innovations, such as smartphones, social media, and instant messaging apps, have provided unprecedented accessibility and convenience, allowing people to connect effortlessly across distances. However, concerns have arisen regarding the quality and authenticity of these interactions. The article explores the benefits of technology, including improved connectivity, enhanced information sharing, and expanded opportunities for collaboration. It also discusses potential negative effects including a decline in in-person interactions, a loss of empathy, and an increase in online anxiety. This article tries to expand our comprehension of the changing nature of communication in the digital age by exposing the many ways that technology has an impact on interpersonal interactions. It emphasizes the necessity of intentional and thoughtful communication techniques to preserve meaningful connections in a society that is becoming more and more reliant on technology.

Introduction:

Technology has significantly transformed our modes of communication and interaction, revolutionizing the way we connect with one another over the past few decades. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst, expediting this transformative process, and necessitating our exclusive reliance on digital tools for socializing, working, and learning. Platforms like social media and video conferencing have emerged in recent years, expanding our options for virtual communication. The impact of these changes on our lives cannot be ignored. In this article, we will delve into the ways in which technology has altered our communication and interaction patterns and explore the consequences of these changes for our relationships, mental well-being, and society.

To gain a deeper understanding of this topic, I have conducted interviews and surveys, allowing us to gather firsthand insights from individuals of various backgrounds. Additionally, we will compare this firsthand information with the perspectives shared by experts in the field. By drawing on both personal experiences and expert opinions, we seek to provide a comprehensive analysis of how technology influences our interpersonal connections. Through this research, we hope to get a deeper comprehension of the complex interactions between technology and people, enabling us to move mindfully and purposefully through the rapidly changing digital environment.

The Evolution of Communication: From Face-to-Face to Digital Connections:

In the realm of communication, we have various mediums at our disposal, such as face-to-face interactions, telephone conversations, and internet-based communication. According to Nancy Baym, an expert in the field of technology and human connections, face-to-face communication is often regarded as the most personal and intimate, while the phone provides a more personal touch than the internet. She explains this in her book Personal Connections in the Digital Age by stating, “Face-to-face is much more personal; phone is personal as well, but not as intimate as face-to-face… Internet would definitely be the least personal, followed by the phone (which at least has the vocal satisfaction) and the most personal would be face-to-face” (Baym 2015).  These distinctions suggest that different communication mediums are perceived to have varying levels of effectiveness in conveying emotion and building relationships. This distinction raises thought-provoking questions about the impact of technology on our ability to forge meaningful connections. While the internet offers unparalleled convenience and connectivity, it is essential to recognize its limitations in reproducing the depth of personal interaction found in face-to-face encounters. These limitations may be attributed to the absence of nonverbal cues, such as facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice, which are vital elements in understanding and interpreting emotions accurately.

Traditionally, face-to-face interactions held a prominent role as the primary means of communication, facilitating personal and intimate connections. However, the rise of technology has brought about significant changes, making communication more convenient but potentially less personal. The rise of phones, instant messaging, and social media platforms has revolutionized how we connect with others. While these digital tools offer instant connectivity and enable us to bridge geographical distances, they introduce a layer of blockage that may impact the depth and quality of our interactions. It is worth noting that different communication mediums have their strengths and limitations. Phone conversations, for instance, retain a certain level of personal connection through vocal interactions, allowing for the conveyance of emotions and tones that text-based communication may lack. However, even with this advantage, phone conversations still fall short of the depth and richness found in face-to-face interactions, as they lack visual cues and physical presence.

Internet-based communication, on the other hand, is considered the least personal medium. Online interactions often rely on text-based exchanges, which may not fully capture the nuances of expression, tone, and body language. While the internet offers the ability to connect with a vast network of individuals and share information on a global scale, it may not facilitate the same depth and authenticity that in-person or phone conversations can provide. As a result, establishing meaningful connections and building genuine relationships in an online setting can be challenging. Research and observations support these ideas. Figure 1. titled “Social Interaction after Electronic Media Use,” shows the potential impact of electronic media on social interaction (source: ResearchGate). This research highlights the need to carefully consider the effects of technology on our interpersonal connections. While technology offers convenience and connectivity, it is essential to strike a balance, ensuring that we do not sacrifice the benefits of face-to-face interactions for the sake of digital convenience.

Figure 1:  Increased reliance on electronic media has led to a noticeable decrease in social interaction.

The Limitations and Effects of Digital Communication

In today’s digital age, the limitations and effects of digital communication are becoming increasingly evident. While the phone and internet offer undeniable benefits such as convenience and the ability to connect with people regardless of geographical distance, they fall short in capturing the depth and richness of a face-to-face conversation. The ability to be in the same physical space as the person we’re communicating with, observing their facial expressions, body language, and truly feeling their presence, is something unique and irreplaceable.

Ulrike Schultze, in her thought-provoking TED Talk titled “How Social Media Shapes Identity,” delves further into the impact of digital communication on our lives by stating, “we construct the technology, but the technology also constructs us. We become what technology allows us to become” (Schultze 2015). This concept highlights how our reliance on digital media for interaction has led to a transformation in how we express ourselves and relate to others.

The influence of social media has been profound in shaping our communication patterns and interpersonal dynamics. Research conducted by Kalpathy Subramanian (2017) examined the influence of social media on interpersonal communication, highlighting the changes it brings to the way we interact and express ourselves (Subramanian 2017). The study found that online communication often involves the use of abbreviations, emoticons, and hashtags, which have become embedded in our online discourse. These digital communication shortcuts prioritize speed and efficiency, but they also contribute to a shift away from the physical action of face-to-face conversation, where nonverbal cues and deeper emotional connections can be fostered.

Additionally, the study emphasizes the impact of social media on self-presentation and identity construction. With the rise of platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, individuals have a platform to curate and present themselves to the world. This online self-presentation can influence how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us, potentially shaping our identities in the process. The study further suggests that the emphasis on self-presentation and the pressure to maintain a certain image on social media can lead to increased stress and anxiety among users.

Interviews:

I conducted interviews with individuals from different age groups to gain diverse perspectives on how technology and social media have transformed the way we connect with others. By exploring the experiences of a 21-year-old student and an individual in their 40s, we can better understand the evolving dynamics of interpersonal communication in the digital age. These interviews shed light on the prevalence of digital communication among younger generations, their preference for convenience, and the concerns raised by individuals from older age groups regarding the potential loss of deeper emotional connections.

When I asked the 21-year-old classmate about how technology has changed the way they interact with people in person, they expressed, “To be honest, I spend more time texting, messaging, or posting on social media than actually talking face-to-face with others. It’s just so much more convenient.” This response highlights the prevalence of digital communication among younger generations and their preference for convenience over traditional face-to-face interactions. It suggests that technology has significantly transformed the way young people engage with others, with a greater reliance on virtual interactions rather than in-person conversations. Additionally, the mention of convenience as a driving factor raises questions about the potential trade-offs in terms of depth and quality of interpersonal connections.

To gain insight from an individual in their 40s, I conducted another interview. When asked about their experiences with technology and social media, they shared valuable perspectives. They mentioned that while they appreciate the convenience and accessibility offered by technology, they also expressed concerns about its impact on interpersonal connections. They emphasized the importance of face-to-face interactions in building genuine relationships and expressed reservations about the potential loss of deeper emotional connections in digital communication. Additionally, they discussed the challenges of adapting to rapid technological advancements and the potential generational divide in communication preferences.

Comparing the responses from both interviews, it is evident that there are generational differences in the perception and use of technology for communication. While the 21-year-old classmate emphasized convenience as a primary factor in favor of digital communication, the individual in their 40s highlighted the importance of face-to-face interactions and expressed concerns about the potential loss of meaningful connections in the digital realm. This comparison raises questions about the potential impact of technology on the depth and quality of interpersonal relationships across different age groups. It also invites further exploration into how societal norms and technological advancements shape individuals’ preferences and experiences.

Overall, the interviews revealed a shift towards digital communication among both younger and older individuals, with varying perspectives. While convenience and connectivity are valued, concerns were raised regarding the potential drawbacks, including the pressure to maintain an idealized online presence and the potential loss of genuine connections. It is evident that technology and social media have transformed the way we communicate and interact with others, but the interviews also highlighted the importance of maintaining a balance and recognizing the value of face-to-face interactions in fostering meaningful relationships.

I have recently conducted a survey with my classmates to gather insights on how technology and social media have influenced communication and interaction among students in their daily lives. Although the number of responses is relatively small, the collected data allows us to gain a glimpse into individual experiences and perspectives on this matter.

One of the questions asked in the survey was how often students rely on digital communication methods, such as texting, messaging, or social media, in comparison to engaging in face-to-face conversations. The responses indicated a clear trend towards increased reliance on digital communication, with 85% of participants stating that they frequently use digital platforms as their primary means of communication. This suggests a significant shift away from traditional face-to-face interactions, highlighting the pervasive influence of technology in shaping our communication habits.

Furthermore, the survey explored changes in the quality of interactions and relationships due to the increased use of technology and social media. Interestingly, 63% of respondents reported that they had noticed a decrease in the depth and intimacy of their connections since incorporating more digital communication into their lives. Many participants expressed concerns about the difficulty of conveying emotions effectively through digital channels and the lack of non-verbal cues that are present in face-to-face interactions. It is important to note that while the survey results provide valuable insights into individual experiences, they are not representative of the entire student population. The small sample size limits the generalizability of the findings. However, the data collected does shed light on the potential impact of technology and social media on communication and interaction patterns among students.

Expanding on the topic, I found an insightful figure from Business Insider that sheds light on how people utilize their smartphones (Business Insider). Figure 2. illustrates the average smartphone owner’s daily time spent on various activities. Notably, communication activities such as texting, talking, and social networking account for a significant portion, comprising 59% of phone usage. This data reinforces the impact of digital communication on our daily lives, indicating the substantial role it plays in shaping our interactions with others.  Upon comparing this research with the data, I have gathered, a clear trend emerges, highlighting that an increasing number of individuals primarily utilize their smartphones for communication and interaction purposes.

Figure 2: The breakdown of daily smartphone usage among average users clearly demonstrates that the phone is primarily used for interactions.

The Digital Make Over:

In today’s digital age, the impact of technology on communication and interaction is evident, particularly in educational settings. As a college student, I have witnessed the transformation firsthand, especially with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The convenience of online submissions for assignments has led to a growing trend of students opting to skip physical classes, relying on the ability to submit their work remotely. Unfortunately, this shift has resulted in a decline in face-to-face interactions and communication among classmates and instructors.

The decrease in physical attendance raises concerns about the potential consequences for both learning and social connections within the academic community. Classroom discussions, collaborative projects, and networking opportunities are often fostered through in-person interactions. By limiting these experiences, students may miss out on valuable learning moments, diverse perspectives, and the chance to establish meaningful connections with their peers and instructors.

Simon Lindgren, in his thought-provoking Ted Talk , “Media Are Not Social, but People Are,” delves deeper into the effects of technology and social media on our interactions. Lindgren highlights a significant point by suggesting that while technology may have the potential to make us better individuals, we must also recognize its potential pitfalls. Social media, for instance, can create filter bubbles that limit our exposure to diverse viewpoints, making us less in touch with reality and more narrow-minded. This cautionary reminder emphasizes the need to approach social media thoughtfully, seeking out diverse perspectives and avoiding the pitfalls of echo chambers. Furthermore, it is crucial to strike a balance between utilizing technology for educational purposes and embracing the benefits of in-person interactions. While technology undoubtedly facilitates certain aspects of education, such as online learning platforms and digital resources, we must not overlook the importance of face-to-face communication. In-person interactions allow for nuanced non-verbal cues, deeper emotional connections, and real-time engagement that contribute to a more comprehensive learning experience.

A study conducted by Times Higher Education delved into this topic, providing valuable insights. Figure 3. from the study illustrates a significant drop in attendance levels after the pandemic’s onset. Undeniably, technology played a crucial role in facilitating the transition to online learning. However, it is important to acknowledge that this shift has also led to a decline in face-to-face interactions, which have long been regarded as essential for effective communication and relationship-building. While technology continues to evolve and reshape the educational landscape, it is imperative that we remain mindful of its impact on communication and interaction. Striking a balance between digital tools and in-person engagement can help ensure that we leverage the benefits of technology while preserving the richness of face-to-face interactions. By doing so, we can foster a holistic educational experience that encompasses the best of both worlds and cultivates meaningful connections among students, instructors, and the academic community.

Figure 3:  This graph offers convincing proof that the COVID-19 pandemic and the extensive use of online submission techniques are to blame for the sharp reduction in in-person student attendance.

When asked about the impact of online submissions for assignments on physical attendance in classes, the survey revealed mixed responses. While 73% of participants admitted that the convenience of online submissions has led them to skip classes occasionally, 27% emphasized the importance of in-person attendance for better learning outcomes and social interactions. This finding suggests that while technology offers convenience, it also poses challenges in maintaining regular face-to-face interactions, potentially hindering educational and social development, and especially damaging the way we communicate and interact with one another. Students are doing this from a young age, and it comes into huge effect once they are trying to enter the work force and interact with others. When examining the survey data alongside the findings from Times Higher Education, striking similarities become apparent regarding how students approach attending classes in person with the overall conclusion being a massive decrease in students attending class which hinders the chance for real life interaction and communication. the convenience and instant gratification provided by technology can create a sense of detachment and impatience in interpersonal interactions. Online platforms allow for quick and immediate responses, and individuals can easily disconnect or switch between conversations. This can result in a lack of attentiveness and reduced focus on the person with whom one is communicating, leading to a superficial engagement that may hinder the establishment of genuine connections.

Conclusion:

Ultimately, the digital revolution has profoundly transformed the way we communicate and interact with one another. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this transformation, leading to increased reliance on digital tools for socializing, working, and learning. While technology offers convenience and connectivity, it also introduces limitations and potential drawbacks. The shift towards digital communication raises concerns about the depth and quality of our connections, as well as the potential loss of face-to-face interactions. However, it is essential to strike a balance between digital and in-person engagement, recognizing the unique value of physical presence, non-verbal cues, and deeper emotional connections that face-to-face interactions provide. By navigating the digital landscape with mindfulness and intentionality, we can harness the transformative power of technology while preserving and nurturing the essential elements of human connection.

Moving forward, it is crucial to consider the impact of technology on our relationships, mental well-being, and society. As technology continues to evolve, we must be cautious of its potential pitfalls, such as the emphasis on self-presentation, the potential for increased stress and anxiety, and the risk of forgetting how to interact in person. Striking a balance between digital and face-to-face interactions can help ensure that technology enhances, rather than replaces, genuine human connections. By prioritizing meaningful engagement, valuing personal interactions, and leveraging the benefits of technology without compromising the depth and quality of our relationships, we can navigate the digital revolution in a way that enriches our lives and fosters authentic connections.

References:

Ballve, M. (2013, June 5). How much time do we really spend on our smartphones every day? Business Insider. Retrieved April 27, 2023. https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-time-do-we-spend-on-smartphones-2013-6

Baym, N. (2015). Personal Connections in the Digital Age (2nd ed.). Polity.

Karunaratne, Indika & Atukorale, Ajantha & Perera, Hemamali. (2011). Surveillance of human-       computer interactions: A way forward to detection of users’ Psychological Distress. 2011 IEEE Colloquium on Humanities, Science and Engineering, CHUSER 2011.             10.1109/CHUSER.2011.6163779.  https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Social-interaction-vs-electronic-media-use-Hours-per-day-of-face-to-face-social_fig1_254056654

Lindgren, S. (2015, May 20). Media are not social, but people are | Simon Lindgren | TEDxUmeå . YouTube. Retrieved April 27, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ5S7VIWE6k

Ross, J., McKie, A., Havergal, C., Lem, P., & Basken, P. (2022, October 24). Class attendance plummets post-Covid . Times Higher Education (THE). Retrieved April 27, 2023, from https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/class-attendance-plummets-post-covid

Schultze, U. (2015, April 23). How social media shapes identity | Ulrike Schultze | TEDxSMU . YouTube. Retrieved April 27, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSpyZor-Byk

Subramanian, Dr. K .R. “Influence of Social Media in Interpersonal Communication – Researchgate.” ResearchGate.Net , www.researchgate.net/profile/Kalpathy-Subramanian/publication/319422885_Influence_of_Social_Media_in_Interpersonal_Communication/links/59a96d950f7e9b2790120fea/Influence-of-Social-Media-in-Interpersonal-Communication.pdf. Accessed 12 May 2023 .

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Twenty-Five Years of Social Media: A Review of Social Media Applications and Definitions from 1994 to 2019

Thomas aichner.

1 Department of Business Administration, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy.

Matthias Grünfelder

2 Johannes Kepler University Linz, Linz, Austria.

Oswin Maurer

3 Faculty of Economics and Management, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bozen-Bolzano, Italy.

Deni Jegeni

In this article, the authors present the results from a structured review of the literature, identifying and analyzing the most quoted and dominant definitions of social media (SM) and alternative terms that were used between 1994 and 2019 to identify their major applications. Similarities and differences in the definitions are highlighted to provide guidelines for researchers and managers who use results from previous research to further study SM or to find practical applications. In other words, when reading an article about SM, it is essential to understand how the researchers defined SM and how results from articles that use different definitions can be compared. This article is intended to act as a guideline for readers of those articles.

Introduction

The term “social media” (SM) was first used in 1994 on a Tokyo online media environment, called Matisse. 1 It was in these early days of the commercial Internet that the first SM platforms were developed and launched. Over time, both the number of SM platforms and the number of active SM users have increased significantly, making it one of the most important applications of the Internet.

With a similarly fast pace, businesses have moved their marketing interests toward SM platforms. The presence of both businesses and users on SM has further led to a shift in how companies interact with their customers, who are additionally no longer limited to a passive role in their relationship with a company. 2 Customers give feedback, ask questions, and expect quick and customized answers to their specific problems. In addition, customers post text, pictures, and videos. Managers came to the understanding that the brand transition to SM ultimately involves a re-casting of the customer relationship, where the customer has become an ally or an enemy, not an audience. 3

In research, SM is generally used as an umbrella term that describes a variety of online platforms, including blogs, business networks, collaborative projects, enterprise social networks (SN), forums, microblogs, photo sharing, products review, social bookmarking, social gaming, SN, video sharing, and virtual worlds. 4 Given this broad spectrum of SM platforms, the applications of SM are quite diverse and not limited to sharing holiday snapshots or advertising and promotion.

As of January 2020, there are more than 110,000 publications that have the term “social media” in their title. Over the past 25 years in which these works were published, countless researchers have formulated quite varying definitions of SM—sometimes using alternative terms. In this period, the perceptions and understanding of what SM is, what it includes, and what it represents have also varied considerably. This can make it difficult for both researchers and companies to interpret and apply research findings; for example , when referring to SM in general, rather than referring to a specific type of SM, such as SN. It can be problematic to quote previous research that was carried out exclusively on one SM platform as being generalizable to SM, or to refer to results from research that defined SM as being more or less inclusive in terms of which platforms qualify as SM and which do not.

Major Applications of SM

This section serves as the background of SM functions, rather than how the definition has changed. It provides a general, although not comprehensive, overview of some of the most important applications of SM over the past two and a half decades. This is important, as it highlights that SM cover a broad variety of scopes with specific functions and applications that can differ greatly between the different types of SM. Consequently, also the purpose and the users' perceived value of using SM varies. From a research perspective, this section serves as a foundation for classifying and discussing the SM definitions that are presented in the following chapters.

Socializing with friends and family

Although not all SM platforms are specifically designed to facilitate socialization between its users, it may be considered one of the most apparent commonalities of all types of SM. 4 Sometimes referred to as online communities, these SM platforms are valuable given that people often do not perceive a difference between virtual friends and real friends, as long as they feel supported and belong to a community of like-minded individuals. 5 The SM helps to strengthen relationships through the sharing of important life events in the form of status updates, photos, etc., reinforcing at the same time their in-person encounters as well. 6

The SM has also become a common tool for communication in families. A study conducted by Sponcil and Gitimu 7 showed that for 91.7 percent of students the main reason for using SM is communicating with family and friends. In addition, 50 percent of the students communicated with their family and friends every day, and another 40 percent at least a few days a week. Williams and Merten 8 suggest that by using SM in everyday life, people strengthen the relationships with family. Especially in relation to globalization and constant migration, it has become a vital tool for maintaining contact within migrant families. The need for transnational communication between family members and the people they left behind is of great importance. 9

Romance and flirting

Several studies suggest that SM significantly influences the romantic aspects of life. Aside from facilitating human interaction, communication technologies are also shaping and defining our relationships. 10 It has been shown that SM is important in the starting phases of a relationship and has a significant influence on the relationship of many couples in the long run. 11 The SM can help when starting a romantic relationship, for example , contacting a crush through SM can have special benefits for introverts, who otherwise would avoid face-to-face contact and would otherwise communicate less. 7 Moreover, in some cases, online dating is preferable to live dating, as it gives the same feeling and allows users to avoid unnecessary discomforts. 11 Finally, rejection on SM is less painful compared with face-to-face rejection. 10 Further, users can contemplate their responses and do not have to worry about their physical appearance while conversing/chatting online, making it a less stressful environment to flirt with people on SM than face-to-face conversations. 12

Interacting with companies and brands

It is estimated that close to 100 percent of larger companies (both B2C and B2B) are using some sort of SM platform to inform their customers, gather information, receive feedback, provide after-sales service or consultancy, and promote their products or services. The key characteristic that makes SM so relevant for companies is the fact that SM allows for two-way communication between the brand and the customer. 13 Sometimes referred to as “social customer relationship management,” 14 SM can be viewed as an effective tool used to get closer to the customer. However, some studies suggest that what customers seek is somewhat different from what companies offer through SM. 14 Customers are mainly interested in communicating easily and quickly with the company. From a business perspective, the company wants to make sure customers receive the right information in a timely manner, linking the customer closer to the brand and, simultaneously, controlling the flow of information. Successful SM managers understand how an SM platform works and is used by its customers, and they then develop corporate communication tools that fit the behavior of their users. Many researchers highlight the need for customer relationship management to adapt to the rise of SM 2 to efficiently manage relationships with modern, connected, and empowered customers.

Job seeking and professional networking

Another application of SM is to connect job seekers with employers. The vast majority of Fortune 500 companies use LinkedIn for talent acquisition. 15 With more than 660 million users in 2020, it is an important tool for companies searching to expand their talent pool. This pool of individuals is extended, as the nature of SM also allows recruiters to identify and target, apart from active users, talented candidates who are passive or semi-passive and lure them to prospective job positions. 16 In fact, through SM platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, recruiters can post job advertisements to lure potential applicants who are not actively looking for a job. 17 Rather than the costly and time-consuming traditional ways of staffing with interviews and tests, hiring through SM offers recruiters the benefit of free access to prospects' profiles and an instant means of communication. For users, LinkedIn profiles allow them to create an idealized portrait by displaying their skills to recruiters and peers. 18 Indeed, LinkedIn asks members to highlight their relevant skills, promoting their abilities and strengths, urging them to complete their profiles through getting recommendations and praise from peers/colleagues and clients for their performance or skills. 19

Doing business

The SM has a considerable impact on how companies approach clients and vice versa. In addition, SM utilizing SM as a means of understanding and informing customers has become imperative for businesses to remain competitive. The SM providers have created possibilities for companies to improve their internal operations and communicate in new ways with customers, other businesses, and suppliers. 20 At the same time, companies can actively engage customers, encouraging them to become advocates of their brands. 2 This is certainly important, as users can create online customer communities, which potentially add value to the brand beyond just increased sales. 20 The engagement of customers can be beneficial, as they will frequently interact with the brand and share positive word-of-mouth since they have become more emotionally attached to the brand. 21 This electronic word-of-mouth created in SM communities helps consumers in their purchasing decisions. 22 This suggestion is important given that customers are actually more interested in other users' recommendations and word-of-mouth rather than the vendor-created product information. 23

Research questions

Reviewing the existent literature about SM applications inevitably leads to the question of whether the researchers had the same definition in mind when talking about SM, SN, online communities, and the like. It is also apparent that the focus of the researcher's interest has changed over time, and that the time when the research was conducted could have an impact on how the findings should be interpreted. Therefore, the remainder of this article aims at answering the following research questions (RQ):

RQ1: How has the definition of social media changed from 1994 to 2019? RQ2: What are the differences and commonalities in social media definitions from 1994 to 2019?

To answer the two RQ, we decided to conduct a systematic literature review (SLR). Using a multi-step SLR approach as recommended by Tranfield et al. 24 ( Fig. 1 ), we structurally examined the literature between 1994 and 2019 to find all relevant SM definitions to identify the major differences and commonalities.

Structure and process of the systematic literature review.

After identifying 88 potential papers, all the articles were read to find original definitions for SM or related terms. In addition, we used backward and forward snowballing, two methods frequently employed in academic research to find additional relevant sources based on the references used in the original publication (backward snowballing) and searched papers that cited the article (forward snowballing), respectively. 25 In combination with the SLR, the backward snowballing led to the identification of a total number of 21 original definitions, including some definitions that were published in books and conference proceedings, which were not included in the SLR.

In this chapter, we present all major definitions of SM (and synonymous terms) that were formulated from 1994 to 2019 ( Table 1 ). Table 1 further includes details about the source and the number of citations according to Google Scholar as of August 2020.

Social Media Definitions with Author Names, Source, and the Number of Citations As of August 2020

Before we assess the meaning and compare the definitions in terms of the two RQ, a few quantitative results are provided. Analyzing the 21 definitions, we found a lexical density (i.e., the percentage of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs) of 57.5 percent. The most frequently used word with 23 occurrences is “social,” followed by “people” with 12 occurrences, and “virtual,” “content,” “user,” and “network” with 8 occurrences each. In terms of two-word phrases, “social network[s]” (8 occurrences) is followed by “social media” and “social networking” (5 occurrences each), as well as “virtual communities” (VC) (4 occurrences).

Notably, the first formal definition is from 1996 and uses “computer-supported social networks” or “CSSNs,” although the term “SM” was coined about 2 years earlier. Later, researchers used different terms such as “virtual communities,” “social networks,” “social networking services,” “online social network,” “social networking sites,” “social network sites,” and “social media.” Although there are small variations in these terms, they can be classified into three categories: VC, SN, and SM. It is important to mention that all these definitions describe the same concept, but with different terms. Assessing the SM definitions that resulted from the SLR reveals that from 1997 to 2002, VC was the dominant term. In contrast, SN was used over a longer period, but it was dominant from 2005 to 2009. It was only in 2010 that researchers started using predominantly SM. But how did the definitions—independent from their terminology—change?

Throughout the observed period, the role of SM, as an enabler for human interaction as well as an avenue to connect with other users, has been a constant in defining SM. In early definitions, the focus was mainly on people and how people interact, whereas later definitions (after 2010) have largely substituted the term “people” with “user” and placed more focus on generating and sharing content. This changed focus, with regard to both the application of SM and the terminology of people versus user, may also reflect the increasingly important role of anonymity in SM. 47

The role of user-generated content is not reflected in early definitions, whereas it has become a central part of recent definitions. It was Kaplan and Haenlein 38 who first mentioned “creation,” whereas later definitions use terms such as “user-supplied content” and “user-driven platforms” in addition to “user-generated content,” which is the common term used in research and practice today.

Another notable change is that until 2009, several researchers included the common interests that linked people with each other, whereas this link is completely missing in post-2010 definitions. Again, this may be reflected by the fact that in the early days, SM users were mostly close or loosely related friends communicating with each other, whereas in recent years, SM has evolved to a set of media that are also used as a powerful tool by companies, celebrities, and influencers to reach the masses. 48

Finally, although sharing information and content is generally not the central aspect in defining SM, the terminology has changed over time. Until 2010, researchers used “exchange” or “upload,” which were substituted with the term “share” in subsequent years. The underlying meaning, however, remained the same.

Conclusions

About 60,000 articles have cited the SM definitions summarized in this article. Therefore, the value this research provides goes beyond a simple overview of the definitions and major applications of SM in the 25 years, since the term was originally coined. The result is a timeline of SM definitions that helps researchers and practitioners to quickly put the results of previous research in perspective and to avoid time-consuming research of the single definitions in different papers. Why is this necessary? This is because, based on the definition, the results may need to be interpreted in a more or less different way.

One notable result is that, although SM is one of the main research areas in social sciences (and beyond) and its landscape has been changing quickly, only a handful of scholars have made an effort to develop a definition of SM. Although some elements, for example , the fact that SM connects people, are common, the definitions are rather different from each other. The commonalities and differences highlighted in the previous section allow for the division of the definitions into two main streams: those published before 2010 and after 2010. Before 2010, SM was commonly approached as a tool of connectivity for people with common interests. After 2010, the focus changed to creating and sharing user-generated content.

These results are in line with previous research about the evolution of SM literature, which concluded that SM definitions changed over time, namely from platforms for socializing in the past to tools for information aggregation. 45 Similarly, Kapoor et al. 45 found that there was an evolution in SM definitions and a cut in the early 2010. Our research shows that there is no single or commonly accepted definition, but that several definitions have been co-existing and found broad acceptance in literature.

Future SM researchers can use these findings to better compare SM articles and avoid flaws in their theory or methodological design. Especially when comparing the results of empirical studies, it may be critical to consider both when the study was conducted and which SM definition was used as a basis for hypothesis development and data analysis. In addition, this article gives SM researchers the possibility to make an informed choice of which SM definition to use for their studies.

Given the method employed to identify the SM definitions, we are confident that this is the most comprehensive overview that includes all major publications. However, the results may be limited by the original search terms used to identify the papers to be included in the SLR. Although the use of backward snowballing should have helped in minimizing this risk, there may still be some less explicit definitions of SM that were not included in this article. In addition, non-English articles and other gray literature were not considered, which is common criticism in academic research. Future research could also try to identify the differences in how SM is defined by researchers from different scientific backgrounds, for example , marketing versus medicine versus psychology versus anthropology versus engineering versus information technology. It would also be insightful to see whether there are tendencies of certain researchers, for example , from engineering, to base their research on specific definitions rather than on others. For example, if one definition is dominant in engineering but not in medical research, this would imply that interdisciplinary research about SM applications needs to be compared more carefully, as the basic definition differs. Similarly, it would be interesting to link the use of SM definitions to the cultural or national context of where the research was carried out, for example , to identify whether European versus American versus Asian researchers have a generally different understanding of SM and its applications. These possible cultural differences in the definition or selection of an SM definition as a basis for research could be linked to the fact that in different countries and cultural clusters different SM platforms are more or less popular. 49 Overall, our research will help compare findings from SM literature more easily and avoid misinterpretations of past and future research.

Author Disclosure Statement

No competing financial interests exist.

Funding Information

This work was supported by the Open Access Publishing Fund of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano.

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October 27, 2021

How social media is changing the way people get to know one another

by Katie Bohn, Pennsylvania State University

Social media has the ability to connect us with almost anyone in the world, but it can also change the way brains form new social relationships, maintain current ones and participate in social groups, according to a new book by a Penn State researcher.

The book— "Social Media Communication: Trends and Theories ," written by Bu Zhong, associate professor of communications at Penn State—explores how social media affects information processing, the media industry, and business marketing, as well as interpersonal and group communication .

Zhong said he wanted to write the book not to examine specific platforms like Facebook and TikTok, but to analyze how social media as a whole affects the human mind and behavior, as well as business and industry.

"The popularity of social media, to many, might be plausibly attributed to the influx of new media technologies," Zhong said. "The vital driving force behind it, however, is nothing but the trait of people being socially wired. This is consistent with the ample evidence from psychologists, who have discovered that the desire to form and maintain interpersonal attachments—the need to belong—is a fundamental human motivation."

Fundamentally, Zhong said, our minds are hardwired to be social.

According to Zhong, social media is a type of computer-mediated communication—communication that takes place with the help of a computer, such as email, video conferencing and instant messaging. This not only opens up new ways for people to connect, but also forces our brains to adapt to a form of communication it wasn't designed for.

Do-it-yourself background checks

When most people meet someone new for the first time, the book explains, they often feel a need to "reduce uncertainty" about that person—or learn more about them when deciding whether to form a friendship.

This is usually done in three ways: by interacting directly with the person, asking others about the individual, or by observing the person interact with others. But now, research has shown that social media has introduced a fourth strategy.

"Platforms like Twitter and Facebook are particularly rife with uncertainty-reducing information such as personal beliefs, friends and acquaintances, and photographs," Zhong said. "This could be useful information to people forming any kind of relationship, but potential employers especially tend to do routine social media searches for job applicants before scheduling a face-to-face interview."

Blind communication

Speaking to someone face to face allows a person to pick up nonverbal cues—such as smiling, arm crossing and body positioning—that help people communicate. But because social media lacks this face-to-face contact, research has found that people have adapted to compensate when communicating online.

"People may ask more direct questions and disclose more information about themselves when communicating with a stranger through a computer than when interacting face to face," Zhong said. "Uncertainty might decrease more slowly when communicating online, but this strategy is still effective."

Taking a stand

According to Zhong, group communication was often difficult prior to the Internet. But now, social media and other online platforms have made collaborating with large groups of other people much easier.

One of the ways this has manifested is through social movements, both positive—like campaigns to engage voters—and negative, such as recruitment by terrorist organizations. And, in countries without a free media, it can act as a way to get important information to citizens.

"In some countries, where anti-government demonstrations erupted and turned into mass protests lasting for months, platforms like Twitter and Facebook became a crucial source of information for protestors and activists," Zhong said. "In this way, social media can often serve as a citizen-powered version of CNN during a social crisis, where people can seek real-time information that the news media are unwilling or unable to cover."

Overall, Zhong said the book could be helpful for anyone who uses social media. In addition to discussing how social media affects communication, business, and industry, it also delves into what constitutes problematic social media use, and concerns about safety and privacy.

"We used to talk about media literacy, and now I think we need to expand that to social media literacy," Zhong said. "With how much social media can affect the brain, it's important to be able to understand and take control of how social media is affecting you—from information processing to health information to the integrity of our elections."

Provided by Pennsylvania State University

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Social media use can be positive for mental health and well-being

January 6, 2020— Mesfin Awoke Bekalu , research scientist in the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, discusses a new study he co-authored on associations between social media use and mental health and well-being.

What is healthy vs. potentially problematic social media use?

Our study has brought preliminary evidence to answer this question. Using a nationally representative sample, we assessed the association of two dimensions of social media use—how much it’s routinely used and how emotionally connected users are to the platforms—with three health-related outcomes: social well-being, positive mental health, and self-rated health.

We found that routine social media use—for example, using social media as part of everyday routine and responding to content that others share—is positively associated with all three health outcomes. Emotional connection to social media—for example, checking apps excessively out of fear of missing out, being disappointed about or feeling disconnected from friends when not logged into social media—is negatively associated with all three outcomes.

In more general terms, these findings suggest that as long as we are mindful users, routine use may not in itself be a problem. Indeed, it could be beneficial.

For those with unhealthy social media use, behavioral interventions may help. For example, programs that develop “effortful control” skills—the ability to self-regulate behavior—have been widely shown to be useful in dealing with problematic Internet and social media use.

We’re used to hearing that social media use is harmful to mental health and well-being, particularly for young people. Did it surprise you to find that it can have positive effects?

The findings go against what some might expect, which is intriguing. We know that having a strong social network is associated with positive mental health and well-being. Routine social media use may compensate for diminishing face-to-face social interactions in people’s busy lives. Social media may provide individuals with a platform that overcomes barriers of distance and time, allowing them to connect and reconnect with others and thereby expand and strengthen their in-person networks and interactions. Indeed, there is some empirical evidence supporting this.

On the other hand, a growing body of research has demonstrated that social media use is negatively associated with mental health and well-being, particularly among young people—for example, it may contribute to increased risk of depression and anxiety symptoms.

Our findings suggest that the ways that people are using social media may have more of an impact on their mental health and well-being than just the frequency and duration of their use.

What disparities did you find in the ways that social media use benefits and harms certain populations? What concerns does this raise?

My co-authors Rachel McCloud , Vish Viswanath , and I found that the benefits and harms associated with social media use varied across demographic, socioeconomic, and racial population sub-groups. Specifically, while the benefits were generally associated with younger age, better education, and being white, the harms were associated with older age, less education, and being a racial minority. Indeed, these findings are consistent with the body of work on communication inequalities and health disparities that our lab, the Viswanath lab , has documented over the past 15 or so years. We know that education, income, race, and ethnicity influence people’s access to, and ability to act on, health information from media, including the Internet. The concern is that social media may perpetuate those differences.

— Amy Roeder

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Social media has improved human communication. Do you agree or disagree?

IELTS essay Social media has improved human communication.

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• 6 band MUSIC IS IMPORTANT TO BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER. AGREE OR NOT Music is known popularly for the magic it creates and the substantial impact it leaves on the minds of people. But, is it the best way to connect people belonging to disparate cultures together? In this essay, I am going to point out certain causes which make me agree to the question raised above. ...
• 5 band Why i want participate online courses I am Saidova Dilfuza Azamatovna from Hazorasp district. I have been teaching English for 3 years. During my working years I taught different grades of pupils; from 1st grade to 11th grade. The reason why I would like to participate in this course is I am fond of studying English and I desire to do m ...
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• 5 band The use of bicycles is decreasing day by day. What are reasons and solutions for it. In this contemporary world, it is irrefutable true that decrease in bicycle use is one of the concerning issue faced by whole world and it has devastating effects on community. This essay intends to delve into some feasible causes along with effective remedies to mitigate it. To commence with, there ...
• 5 band Please write in no more than 200 words why you would like to take online British Council professional development course. I am Saidova Gulmira. I am an English teacher of secondary school in Hazorasp district. I really love my job. Why I want to participate in this course because I want to learn more knowledge, experience which more I have. I always desire to improve my reading, writing, speaking and teaching skills. I ...
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• 5.5 band Many companies sponsors sports by advertising themselves. Some people think it is very for world sports, others believe that there are disadvantages. Many companies sponsor sports products by advertising themselves. The discuss is held between the people in which some people believe that it is good for world sports while the others says that there are demerits of this, lt is a debatable essay in which both the perspective or opinion will be discu ...
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Debating Communities and Networks XII

This is the official conference site for the debating communities and networks 12 conference 2021.

How Social Media has had a positive influence on community and broadened communication across communities.

This paper aims to illustrate just a few of the positive influences social media technologies have had thus far on communities by bringing people together for open discussions and sharing of interests and ideals through political activism, creation of online communities and strengthening relationships with family and friends. By concentrating on the positive aspects of social media technologies on communities this paper attempts to instill confidence and enthusiasm to all those using social media platforms but especially those who may be a little hesitant in embracing the full potential social media has to offer.

Introduction

Communities have existed from the dawn of mankind and have continuously evolved with advancements in industry and technology. Communities have developed over time from small close-knit groups where everyone knew each other intimately to the vast communities of today where members can global. Social media has contributed positively to the fostering of strong communities, creating diverse and widespread networks and feelings of belonging within those communities by allowing people to communicate freely on multiple levels through a simple and efficient means of communication. In this regard social media could be seen to have opened up channels of communication to users from all ‘walks of life’.

Before beginning this paper it is noted that there are numerous articles, journals, books etc. arguing for and against the effects of social media on communities but this paper will concentrate on some of the specific positive influences social media has and is having on communities through political activism, creation of online communities and enhanced relationships with family and friends.

Brief History of Communities

Communities have always existed it is just their structure that has changed, developed along with the times. Early communities, referred to as “Preindustrial Communities” by Hampton (2016), were relatively small, tight, close-knit communities with extremely limited diversity and a very limited number of social ties. Hampton and Wellman (2018) describe these early communities as consisting mainly of family, friends and neighbors with strong connections. Wellman (2001) defined these communities as being restricted to the “interactions that could take place between households that could travel the relatively short distance for ‘door-to-door’ interaction” (p. 228).

With the onset of industrialization community structure was able to diversify due largely to population transitioning from rural areas to urban cities and “escaping the domination of small, social circles that typified early community life” (Hampton K, 2016, p.107). As the population became more mobile and able to travel greater distances “it was possible to maintain relationships beyond those that could be achieved by door-to-door contact alone” (Hampton K, 2016, p.107). In addition to increased mobility, communication technologies were also developing to the point “where communication was instantaneous and increasingly free from boundaries” (Hampton K, 2016, p.107) particularly the telephone. These developing technologies allowed communities to communicate over far greater distances and diversify their activities encompassing a much wider variety of interests, enabling communities to engage in more social communication.

In more recent times there have been some gigantic leaps forward in communication technologies which have redefined community and facilitated expansion of some communities on a global scale. It is through these developing technologies that social media has emerged, allowing people to transform the way they maintain or create new relationships and interact with others within their community. It is the positive influences that this social media phenomenon has had and continues to have on communities and their structure that will be focused on in this paper.

Political Activism

            With the continued advancements in digital technologies, especially within social media, they have opened up a plethora of communication channels available to political activists who can now access not just local but national and global communities to further their causes. Delanty (2018) puts it succinctly when writing that social media “are among the most social forms of technology ever devised; they have eliminated the distance which all previous communication technologies required and given rise to new opportunities for mass political mobilization” (p. 203). In recent years the US political parties in particular have relied heavily on social media to contact their community of political supporters. Both Obama and Trump ran extremely successful social media campaigns. “The result was the building of a national collective identity around a sense of community as a shared collective purpose” (Delanty G, 2018, p.204). Social media is a far more cost effective and speedier method of spreading a political message than the more traditional modes of communicating such messages which is why it has become such an important weapon in the arsenal of many a political party.

            The vastness of social media allows for those less fortunate within the community, who otherwise may not have a voice, to shine a spotlight on relevant issues and gather support. Delanty (2018) suggests that social media, “can be a valuable resource for social movements offering an affordable, flexible and informal medium for trans-border communications” (p. 217). Once the community at large is made aware of particular issues put forward by these “marginalized voices” (Delanty G, 2018, p.217), these issues can then be discussed, deliberated over and even protested about if enough support is gained in the greater public community.

A prime example of social media being used to inform communities and instill political change was within the political movements of the Arab Spring. Hussain and Howard (2016) described it as “people sharing an interest in democracy built extensive networks and activated collective action movements for political change” (p. 1). Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter were used to spread ideas and generate support across a diverse community in order to try out “new strategies as events took place on the ground” (Hussain M & Howard P, 2016, p.21). It was this community support gained through social media that enabled the success of the major street protests and laid the foundation political change. The Arab Spring uprisings were a milestone for the use of social media in political activism. It allowed the community to “consume political content” and “created a sense of shared grievances, and strong political efficacy that had not led to such sizable, diverse and quick mobilization before the Arab Spring” (Hussain M & Howard P, 2016, p.21). Facebook and Twitter played a pivotal role in giving Egyptians access to “political discussion across vast social networks” (Hussain M & Howard P, 2016, p.4) which enabled political activists to better co-ordinate protests with great success. It was the extensive use of Twitter that first spread the news of the protests in Egypt with the outside world.

Social media continues to play an intrinsic role in political campaigns, whether they be for individuals or parties in elections, or important issues being aired in public to ensure community awareness, and will remain a crucial tool for political activism for some time to come.

Online Communities

            With the ever increasing popularity of social media more and more people are finding like-minded individuals online and forming social clubs and groups based around similar interests, hobbies, opinions and ideas which fosters a traditional sense of community and are not bound by locality or distance. Hampton and Wellman (2003) describe this phenomenon as community fragmenting “into new virtual realities of shared interest” (p.277). They go even further by suggesting that

“Internet utopians have been enthralled at the community-expanding possibilities of online connectivity. They contend that the Internet has created a whole new form of community, the ‘virtual community’, which frees communications from the constraints of geographical proximity and social characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic status” (Hampton K, & Wellman B, 2003, p. 281).

Social media is littered with groups of people discussing topics of interest, through mediums that did not previously exist. Social media has provided Internet users with exciting and effective new ways to communicate. Fostering new relationships in this way enables total strangers to connect and converse with others creating a wonderful sense of community with the real possibility of forming “new, long-term social ties” (Hampton K, Sessions L, & Ja Her E, 2011, p.134). Social media applications like Facebook offer the socially isolated immense possibilities to connect online through these social groups via conversation, photos, video, etc. giving them a sense of belonging, friendship and to a certain extent support if needed. Delanty (2018) describes these social groups as virtual communities and “that their distinctive nature consists in their ability to make communication the essential feature of belonging” (p. 201).

One of the most important aspects of a community is that feeling of belonging to something special, sharing ideas and feelings which in turn strengthens friendships and bonds between contacts which no longer has to be defined by locale but rather “as a system of social relations” (Delanty G, 2018, p.214) facilitated through social media. These new technologies are “producing communities of similarities” (Delanty G, 2018, p.214) where people are congregating and having discussions relating to subjects of personal choice and based around similar cultures, enhancing feelings of belonging and togetherness which are the foundations of a strong community.

            Another feature of a strong community according to Ray Oldenburg (1999) is the importance of having somewhere other than work or home to meet and enjoy common interests, share ideas, have fun and be sociable, which he refers to as a ‘third place’. He lists some of the characteristics of a ‘third place’ as being a “social leveler or a level playing field for participants” (Lukito Y, & Xenia A, 2017, p.2) where they can feel comfortable and converse at will, “conversation is the main activity”, (Lukito Y, & Xenia A, 2017, p.2), it must be accessible and accommodating, accepting of anyone who wants to join in and should convey a feeling of comfort and familiarity. Oldenburg was referring to physical places such as cafes, halls or other meeting places within local neighborhoods but now scholars such as Lukito and Xenia (2017) are referring to social media platforms in the same light as safe ‘third places’ for people to meet, have meaningful interaction with like-minded individuals and create social groups based on similar interests, which generate those feelings of belonging, acceptance and friendship that make for a strong online community.

Relationships / Contacts

            Communities develop and evolve over time just as do the people within those communities, making and losing contact with friends and family through varying stages of life due to a number of circumstances but social media has now made it much easier to keep so many more of the relationships that would have fallen by the wayside before the advent of social media, in turn strengthening support and belonging within the community. Social relationships are forever changing through primary and secondary school, university, different jobs, marriage, travel, etc. and previously many of the contacts made along the journey of life would be lost but social media has introduced a far easier and more efficient means of communication allowing people to remain in contact with those “significant others” as described by Burke and Kraut (2014). Hampton and Wellman (2018) wrote that technologies like social media (Facebook) have enabled “people to sustain contact without substantially drawing from the time and resources required to maintain ties through other channels of communication” (p.647), backing the point that it is now easier and requires less effort to remain in contact with a larger number of family and friends, leading to a diversification of an individual’s core networks, increasing the number of closer ties within those networks and greater support in times of need, enhancing the feelings of safety and belonging within a community. Many scholars including Burke and Kraut (2014, Hampton and Wellman (2018) and Delanty (2018) believe that social media, in particular platforms such as Facebook are an integral tool within the arsenal of communication channels between family and friends.

            One particular group within the community that has benefited from the ease of use of social media are older adults who can quite often feel left out, alone or feel a hindrance to their families and friends rather than the important role models and nurturers they most often prove to be. Social media has given this group within the community a new lease on life and many are grasping this opportunity with both hands and flourishing.

Scholars like Wang, Zhang and Wellman (2018) and Siibak and Tamme (2013) conducted studies which involved interviewing older adults and discussing their use of social media. Both these studies reiterated the point made earlier that social media has been of great benefit to older adults in the community. Wang, Zhang and Wellman (2018) concluded that these new technologies “expanded the geographical reach of the older adults’ social networks, facilitated communication with peers and younger generations, helped organize social and group events, promoted diversity and augmented the exchange of social support” (p.692). Siibak and Tamme (2013) made a number of important observations regarding older adults including that social media (Facebook) “had enabled then to reconnect and socialize with members of the extended families and long-lost relatives” (p.78) as well as realizing that “the feeling of closeness that web-based communication channels was crucial, especially for those members who lived far away and hence did not get to see their loved ones often” (p.78). Very simply, social media has allowed older adults to feel connected, appreciated and welcome in their families and friend’s lives leading to a strong sense of wellbeing and belonging and according to Yuan et al (2015) will “have a profound impact on their general quality of life” (p.1). By giving people the option of broadening their contact networks social media has enhanced people’s feelings of connectedness and belonging which can only strengthen the community as a whole.

Communication technologies have made significant advancements in recent years developing social media platforms that have created faster, easier and more efficient means of communication. Social media has brought people together from all across the globe, uniting those with common interests, political beliefs or simply bring families and friends closer together. The use of social media platforms has instilled feelings of connectedness, safety and belonging amongst those availing themselves of this technology which has strengthened and empowered community networks on a global basis.

Burke, M., & Kraut, R. (2014, April). Growing closer on Facebook: Changes in tie strength through social network site use . Paper presented at the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

 Delanty, G. (2018). Virtual Community: Belonging as Communication (Chapter9). Community 3rd edition. Routledge.

Hampton, Keith N. 2011. ‘‘Internet as a Leveler between Advantaged and Disadvantaged Communities.’’ Pp. 205–10 in Public Sociology: Research, Action, and Change, edited by P. Nyden, L. Hossfeld, and G. Nyden. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Hampton, K. N. (2016). Persistent and Pervasive Community: New Communication Technologies and the Future of Community. American Behavioural Scientist. 61(1), 101-124.

Hampton, K. N., Sessions, L., & Ja Her, E. (2011). Core networks, social isolation, and new media: Internet and mobile phone use, network size, and diversity. Information, Communication & Society , 14 , 130-155.

Hampton, Keith N., and Barry Wellman. 2003. ‘‘Neighboring in Netville: How the Internet Supports Community and Social Capital in a Wired Suburb.’’ City and Community 2:277– 311.

Hampton, K. N. & Wellman, B. (2018). Lost and Saved . . . Again: The Moral Panic about the Loss of Community Takes Hold of Social Media. Contemporary Sociology. 37(6), 643-651.

Hussain, M. M., & Howard, P. N. (2013). What best explains successful protest cascades? ICTs and the fuzzy causes of the Arab spring. International Studies Review , 15 , 48-66.

Lukito, Y. N., & Xenia, A. P. 2017. Café as third place and the creation Of a unique space of interaction in UI Campus . IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 99. Doi: 10.1088/1755-1315/99/1/012028

Wang, Hua, Renwen Zhang, and Barry Wellman. 2018. ‘‘Are Older Adults Networked Individuals? Insights from East Yorkers’ Network Structure, Relational Autonomy, and Digital Media Use.’’ Information, Communication & Society 21:681–96.

Wellman, Barry. 1979. ‘‘The Community Question.’’ American Journal of Sociology 84:1201–31.

Siibak, A., & Tamme, V. (2013). Who introduced granny to Facebook? An exploration of everyday family interactions in web-based communication environments. Northern Lights: Film & Media Studies Yearbook , 11 , 71-89.

Yuan, Shupei, Syed A. Hussain, Kayla D. Hales, and Shelia R. Cotten. 2016. ‘‘What Do They Like? Communication Preferences and Patterns of Older Adults in the United States: The Role of Technology.’’ Educational Gerontology 42:163–74.

14 thoughts on “ How Social Media has had a positive influence on community and broadened communication across communities. ”

Hi Bernard,

I agree that social media is a significant evolution in how we communicate and form communities. It eliminates the time and distance barriers traditional forms of media are subjected to and allows more diverse groups of people to participate on a global level.

However, I think in the area of politics, social media platforms can be a double edged sword. I agree they provide an efficient platform to communicate with voters but where this is used to purposefully spread false information or mislead people, it could potentially lead to real world harm. There are many examples of COVID-19 misinformation from political sources before social media platforms began fact checking high profile COVID-19 posts. This misinformation has a worlwide reach, and in the case of COVID-19, undermines evidence based public health advice to reduce the spread of a global pandemic.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-30/coronacheck-us-election-donald-trump-joe-biden-fact-check/12826498

I would also add, there is potential to undermine political processes such as elections. The 2016 US election revealed foreign interference from social media accounts linked to Russia and the 2020 US election resulted in a riot organised on social media. The role social media companies play when these events occur is debatable, and I imagine it is difficult for social media companies to draw a line between a free and open internet and some degree of censorship to protect users on their platforms.

This was a very interesting read and a well researched paper.

Manuel Ortiz

I’ve really enjoyed reading your paper, and I agree that social media has created a major impact in creating and extending communities online.

Do you think social media can create a misunderstanding between the users through text which can lead to arguments? by misunderstanding through text, what I meant is expressing emotions on chat is different from face to face, which then can lead to assumptions or misunderstanding.

If you have time, feel free to read my paper regarding how social media can help individuals with mental illness: https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2021/2021/04/28/how-social-media-such-as-twitter-and-discord-can-help-individuals-with-mental-illness-and-build-communities-online/

Hi Bernard, This was a very well-researched and well-written piece of writing which I really enjoyed reading. It’s great to see that your paper focuses on the positives of social media as opposed to the negatives. As social media is somewhat a toxic environment, especially for children, there is an immense amount of benefits of using social media which is important to acknowledge and you have highlighted them in your essay. I particularly liked how you introduced concepts such as the ‘third place’ and how you have acknowledged that social media is forever evolving, thereby, including more tools that allow our society to excel. You bring up some really valid arguments on how social media allows for better communication and relationships with communities located in other regional areas. This is particularly beneficial today due to Covid as we are restricted from meeting up with friends and families, we rely on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to keep in touch and connected to our friends and the outside world. This advantage brought by social media has also established a concept I’d like to introduce of the ‘global village’ where it has become evident that our world has shrunk, in the sense that, we are able to keep close contact with everyone despite geographical boundaries. As you’ve mentioned, social media has fueled online activism and this has become extremely evident through movements like Metoo and the BLM. This has become an important and much-needed contemporary issue that needed to be brought to light due to the many unfortunate incidents in our society. I also somewhat agree with your point on ‘how social media has allowed the older generation to keep connected with their communities as well. This allows the older generation to keep in touch with their friends from school whom they have not met or spoken to in 50+ years. I’ve seen this happen with my grandmother where she used social media to locate an old friend from school and they have reconnected and are now in touch regularly because of social media. With all the positive influence social media has on its users. Do you think the positives outweigh the negative impacts of social media? I look forward to hearing from you soon! Again, this was a great essay! 🙂

I agree that social media has definitely become a catalyst towards the formation of communities online as well as in person. They have definitely created more political activism in a way that is able to involve everyone and the online world is extremely accessible. I would also argue that there has been a rise in social activism as well.

These communities are crucial as you said because they do create a sense of belonging which is what a community is all about. What do you think has caused this?

Hello Lauren,

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my paper and give me some feedback. Communities are such an important part of life, that feeling of safety, belonging, knowing you can make a difference and help others and build relationships and friendships. As you know Lauren, communities have been around forever in some shape or form but never have they had the accessibility the internet and social media platforms has offered to create communities on a global basis. We have seen communities come together over a common interest that have attracted members from all walks of life around the world and the internet and social media platforms have created that space making this possible. Recently the Black Lives Matter movement is a perfect example. Also, online communities can be as open or as closed as its members want it to be so that many people who are not so confident with face-to-face meetings can feel safe and be around like minded individuals and feel part of a community that they may otherwise never really experience. Social media platforms have made it extremely easy for any user to create an online group based around anything at all and invite others to join and foster a sense of community that can emanate across continents. I think it’s the ease of use and simplicity that has made social media platforms so popular and enabled online communities to thrive in this space. Thanks again for your comments Lauren and have a wonderful day.

Regards, Bernie.

Thank you for your reply.

This may be me having my eyes closed to the world but I think that communities became properly acknowledged when they began to form online. This may be due to the niche in each community being more clear online. The Black Lives Matter movement was a fantastic example of a large community as it involved people, as you said, from many walks of life and had people from all over the world involved which I think what a community is all about. Would you argue that most communities begin online nowadays and then branch out in person? The ease of the internet has become an efficient way to do so rather than putting posters around a small area where it doesn’t reach many people.

Hi Bernard, your conference paper is well written , I agree with a lot of points for example when you highlight the fact that social media had a great impact on communities. In the contemporary world, social media plays such an important role, thus people need to adapt to all the changes that come with technology. I hardly agree with what your paper reflects and I really enjoyed reading it.

If you are interested, you can have a read as I discuss on ”The Black Lives Matter movement on Twitter has socially and politically strengthened the Afro-American community with the use of hashtags.”

https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2021/2021/04/27/the-black-lives-matter-movement-on-twitter-has-socially-and-politically-strengthen-the-afro-american-community-with-use-of-hashtags/

I would greatly appreciate any feedback.

Hi Anne-Marie,

I really appreciate you taking the time to read my paper and giving me some feedback. It’s a very good point you make regarding people needing to adapt to change and become more accepting of these new technologies as they become part of everyday life. Social media platforms can be such a powerful tool for people to use in portraying their message just as you refer to in your paper regarding the Black Lives Matter movement and their use of Twitter to strengthen the African-American community across the USA. Thank you Anne-Marie and have a great conference.

Hi Bernard, this was such an insightful piece.

I do agree that social media had a positive influence on communities. I believe online communities are a new extension of modern community-building which is a transformation resulting from the rise of the internet. There were quick judgements at first about how the internet is failing the sense of community and how it is a threat. Human beings, however, can be scared of changes that are not negative at the end of the day and I see your paper reflected that.

Thank you for such an interesting paper.

Feel free to read my paper as I discuss Social Commentary YouTube as a community being a force which can help social activism online. https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2021/2021/04/27/social-commentary-youtube-performance-of-civic-agency-in-the-21st-century/ I would love to have your take on it.

Thankyou Elodie for reading my paper and for leaving your comments. Yes, you are right in saying social media came in for a lot of criticism about how it was destroying communities and many still believe it is detrimental to society but now after many years of development and successful upgrades it has drastically improved. Nowadays social media is seen as providing a great number of positives and benefits for many individuals, groups and movements, bringing awareness to the public and a feeling of safety and belonging to those who look for it in virtual/online communities as discussed in a number of conference papers. Thanks again Elodie and I hope you are enjoying the conference.

Your paper was a great read. You often don’t see content out there with the positive insights of social media and technologies. Although I agree with you to a certain extent. Without the rise and advancement of social media and technology we wouldn’t be where we are today. Especially in times like the present where face to face communication has been hindered massively, which leaves social media becoming our first form of human communication/interaction. Though I am sure you can also agree social media also plays a role in setting back human development, particularly in children.

I also wanted to note in the section where you talk about older communities use of social media. From my personal account I have found that the older people in my life tend to use social media less than the younger generation. I was actually talking to someone recently that falls within the ‘older’ community category and they told me that they are actually beginning to use social media as a communication tool less and less. This is due to the fact that it is rapidly changing, leaving it too hard for them to catch up or stay on top of the updates. But again, that is only in my experience! It is definitely something that ranges in different people.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading your paper and gaining an alternative insight on a topic that tends to usually be flooded with the negative effects.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my paper and the feedback you have provided. You are correct in saying that this topic quite often generates a great deal of negativity and one of those drawbacks is the effect social media is having on the younger generation with too much time spent online and not enough face-to-face interaction. It is also true that many of the older generation do appear to be using social media less and less as a communication tool as they do find it difficult to keep up with the constant advancements with these technologies. It won’t be too long though that we arrive at the point where all generations will have grown up experiencing these technologies and they will be second nature to everyone. Thanks again Em for your comments.

Your paper was an interesting read and highlighted a lot of relevant points relating to social media and communities. Although social media can have some detrimental effects on those who use it, it is evident that it has many beneficial outcomes, which proved particularly true within the last year, with a strong reliance on digital and social media platforms for communication.

I particularly loved your statement, “Social media applications like Facebook offer the socially isolated immense possibilities to connect online through these social groups via conversation, photos, video, etc. giving them a sense of belonging, friendship and to a certain extent support if needed.” My paper touched on this issue as well, in regards to forming online communities through Facebook for Australians living abroad. If you are interested, you can have a read. I would greatly appreciate any feedback. https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2021/2021/04/26/australians-abroad-utilising-facebook-to-establish-and-maintain-a-sense-of-community-for-australians-living-overseas/

Thank you again for sharing your insights! – Rebecca

Hello Rebecca,

Thank you very much for taking the time to read through my paper and I really appreciate the positive feedback. I made a conscious effort to try to concentrate on the positive aspects of social media and the effects it has had on communities. You are 100% correct in mentioning the detrimental effects social media has had on some users and I’m sure there are other papers in this conference that will point out some of those negative effects. I will definitely download your paper and look forward to reading it as you mentioned it concentrates on similar issues to my own. Thanks again Rebecca and I hope you enjoy the conference.

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