Karen Kabyemera Workshop in Essay Writing 1100 Professor Elaine Bailey September, 25 2013 Assignment I THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON CULTURAL INTEGRATION Social media has become popular in our daily lives in communication i.e. exchanging ideas, sharing knowledge and interacting with one another. The increase in the use of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. has led to the mingling of cultures and has made the geographical distance between countries, cities, and states, thereby, bringing each and every culture closer. The new social media has brought people together from different parts of the world, despite their differences and views on the world.
Social Media has rapidly grown in importance as a forum for political activism in its different forms. Social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube provide new ways to stimulate citizen engagement in political life, where elections and electoral campaigns have a central role. Personal communication via social media brings politicians and parties closer to their potential voters. It allows politicians to communicate faster and reach citizens in a more targeted manner and vice versa, without the intermediate role of mass media. Reactions, feedback, conversations and debates are generated online as well as support and participation for offline events.
In Josh Roses’: How social media is having a positive impact on our culture, in Current Issues Page.612. Josh states, “I recently asked the question to my face book friends: “Twitter, Face book, Foursquare … is all of this making you feel closer to the people or farther away?” There would be a lot different responses because some people might agree and say that it does bring me closer to people and other might say no, it keeps us farther away from people of our age. I see people intertwining with the use of social media in and out on a daily basis to keep up with life. The use of social media technology is also being used in the education world and is becoming increasingly more normal in classrooms all across our country. There are handful of benefits behind the use of social media in an educational system.
Applying the Sociological Perspectives to Social Networking In our modern era Social networking sites have had a very profound impact on our lives, it has influenced and changed the ways in which we communicate, interact, start and maintain our relationships. We could all pretty much agree that are many advantages, but with the good there is also threats and dangers of social networking, there are many sociological impacts to social networking sites that are bigger then we can imagine, like with the use of these sites we have almost completely eliminated are boundaries between our public live and are private one. Every day more and more people from around the world are gaining access to a wide array of media like the internet, and the amount of time we spend on line increases as well, with our tablets and smart phones we are connected to the world 24 hours a day. This paper will break down and discuss through contrasts and compression the three perspectives conflict, functionalist, and interactionist use in the study of Sociology, and there impact on social media. Starting with the Functional Theory, this theory explains the every aspect of our society is interdependent and is necessary for our society to function as one or a whole.
Social Media With the rapid growth of social media in recent years, it’s no surprise that millions of people are affected by its existence. Social media does provide many benefits. On the downside, it offers an escape from reality which negatively impacts individuals. Relationships between people are also influenced big time, both negatively and positively. Social media can be useful in many ways.
Internet usage is on the rise and the main sources for obtaining information in the 21st century. Like with everything it has its advantages and disadvantages. One would say the advantages out way the disadvantages, making research more accessible at any time. Social media advantages and disadvantages were discussed and they have altered the way most individual post their business. It is no longer private and once it’s posted it can be used against someone.
Introduction Social media applications such as blogs, social networking, and video sharing have soared in popularity and are now present in almost every workplace By providing a highly interactive communication platform, blogs, forums and websites such as Twitter®, Facebook® and Digg® and many more have created a fundamental shift in the way businesses relate to their audiences. social media has inspired both excitement and intimidation in marketers as businesses try to embrace this influential tool despite various threats that they come across. Literature Survey With the entry of Generation Y to the working world, the workforce for the first time contains four generations:- - Traditionalists (also called Veterans, Silent, or Greatest generation; 75 million born before 1945; 10% of the workforce) - Baby Boomers (80 million born 1945-1964, 45% of the workforce) - Generation X (46 million born 1965-1980, 30% of the workforce), - Generation Y (also called Echo Boomers, Millennial, Internet generation, or Nexters;76 million born after 1980; 15% of the workforce) (Paul, 2004; Francis-Smith, 2004; Johns, 2003; Martin and Tulgan, 2004; Raines, 2002) Nearly 60% of HR professionals in large companies report conflict between younger and older workers (Work Ethic Primary Conflict, 2004) Though it is the most affluent generation (Allen, 2004), some 16% of Gen Y grew up or is growing up in poverty (Raines, 2002). Gen Y is inclined to be positive, polite, curious, energetic, and respectful of its parents and grandparents (Francis-Smith, 2004). Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff argued social media has empowered individuals and has forced the idea of “news media” to morph whether or not the industry has desired this change(“Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies” ).
We live in a world where technology has changed the way people communicate, the way they are informed and how they do business. Traditional social networks have expanded from a few dozen acquaintances to hundreds of friends, friends of friends, connections and followers. We live in a world where people would rather communicate by sending a text message from their mobile phone, post comments on their favorite online network or send a short Tweet to inform all their friends that they have just got out of bed or they are out to dinner. The growth of social networking platforms has been phenomenal. Millions of people around the world with access to the Internet are members of one or more social networks.
Understanding segments’ online behavior can generate a base for the further study and analysis of consumers’ purchasing decision process. The table 1 below presented the online users activities that have been done during a month by each segments. Table 1: Content creation by segment, Riegner (2007) The online insiders got involved in online Word-Of-Mouth because of their communication activities with other consumers and they are very influential groups that have enormous impact on consumers’ purchase decision. 2.4 The reasons behind online social networks’ influences on consumers’ purchase decision 2.4.1 Online Word-Of-Mouth
The first reason is the fact that it allows people to reacquaint with old friends and family members, or those who live far away. There are many people who have used social media to locate family members who they have lost or never had contact with, but have found with the help of social media. Second it allows professionals and businesses to network easily. Now social media is a way for businesses and public entities to share info with customers and clients, and to also market themselves inexpensively. The last reason I believe social media has improved communication skills is it is a great way for people to hook up with others who are single.