The Effects of Social Media in Today's Society Research Paper

The Effects of Social Media in Today's Society - Research Paper Example Anyone with an internet connection can access social networking sites. Since 1975, when the first type of social networking was introduced in the form of Hotmail, social media has come a long way. It has been observed that social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut lead to time wastage, but their benefits cannot be completely ignored. This research paper aims to measure the positive and negative effects of social media on society. Who do social media reach and how can it influence people’s lives? Social media is accessible to anyone who has a simple internet connection at home, office or anywhere in his or her environment. It is reachable to people from all walks of life, from students to business professionals. Websites like MySpace and Bebo help connect friends and family by bringing them under a single platform. Similarly, social networking sites like eBay bring buyers and sellers to exchange commodities between them. In short, social media helps B2B (business to busin ess), B2C (business to consumers) and C2C (consumers to consumers) interact, share information or files, and trade all under a single platform (Hendricks, 2012). Social media influences our life and daily routine in a great many ways depending how we utilize these networking tools. Time is of essence, and this is what it helps save. People find it much easier to go online and read articles and electronic books rather than newspapers or books that are physical in nature. In this fast moving world, people have adapted to the technological development made especially in the last decade. There has been a huge decline in book reading as people have turned to social media to meet their reading needs. Social media is changing the social habit of people. Though eBooks save time, they cause massive exertion and fatigue (Coupland, 2012, p. 103). People find it much easier to shop online than to physically go to shops and malls to make purchases. Social media is changing the way people shop no wadays. Products can be ordered with just a single click and can be delivered right at the doorsteps. Such facilities have made life very convenient for people. However, there are major drawbacks of shopping online. People have become more careful when making purchases. Buyers often complain that the products delivered to them do not match the seller’s description. In some cases, they were charged twice as much as the initial cost. Cybercrimes are on the increase, and many people have reported crimes against identity and credit card thefts (Close, 2012). How social media can change the global climate Social media can change the global climate by making people aware of the rise in global pollution and the damage it is inflicting to the ozone layer. Altogether, about 300 million people use various types of social media and upload around 220,000 videos on YouTube on a diurnal basis. Such is the power of social media, and if these people can be reached with an effective message, then the results could be very successful. Efforts are being made with a simple plan in mind. Most charitable and non-governmental organizations have joined hands for a peaceful revolution against massive pollution. The main idea is to create a community on social networking websites and blogs and try to get as many likes as possible. Frequently posting articles helps educate the readers about the dire consequences of pollution and how the planet can be saved. These articles are read and then shared by readers with their friends and