There is a stigma attached to the over-usage of social media, a countless list of negative effects that researchers have found. But I believe that although scientifically proven to have many negative effects, we shouldn’t forget the many positive aspects that it can bring to our lives.
Education
Citizen journalism is on the rise, and although sometimes slated for being un-trustworthy as it hasn’t been printed by a credible source, can we really trust the likes of the Daily Mail these days? There is much debate surrounding print journalism and the inevitable evidence stacking up which proves that it is dying out. This is due to the blatantly clear fact that once the news is published it cannot be altered, generally meaning that before most newspapers have left the printing factories and been put onto the shop shelves the news is now old.
With Twitter now being considered as a news source, and Facebook offering a news section of their own, it is common that these locations are the first to update its users with the latest news. So if you’re constantly refreshing your home page, the most recent news will be directed to you straight away meaning that you’re always going to be informed, and also up to date with the ‘hot off the press’ stories. This is just another way that social media has recently improved to include even more features.
Self-Marketing
Having a social network profile is a form of self-marketing, you may not always be consciously aware of it, but you are naturally tailoring the content that you post on your profiles to show your best image.
Like many University students in their second year, I am currently searching for a year long placement which will commence in Summer 2017. I have been utilising LinkedIn as a means of establishing connections which will help me to find work opportunities in the future. I have only become familiar with LinkedIn in the past few months, although it serves a different purpose to the likes of Facebook and Twitter, I used the skills that I have acquired through these sites to set up my LinkedIn profile.
Socially Active
Though face-face communication is obviously more desirable than online, social media allows us to stay in contact with our friends and family as much as we please. If you’re guilty of always being ‘online’ or ‘available’ on your social media chat services, then it could be said that you’re always ready to engage and have a conversation – even if it isn’t necessarily an intellectual conversation, you are still polishing up your social skills.
I discussed the obsession with posting a perfect life in a previous blog post, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that everybody manipulates the content that they post online. Some users – this is probably more aimed towards middle-aged people simply want to share a few snaps of recent holidays with their online community as a means of generating conversation and keeping in contact with friends.
So there we have it, just a few reasons why social media is improving our lives, that is if we are approaching it in the right ways of course!
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