Social Media 001 Summaries

SM Summaries

1. Summary

In the article, “Social Media and Technology: Have We Gone Too Far?,” Carol Morgan discusses the idea that social media is a forum which helps us connect to old friends and distant relatives we have lost touch with. Ms. Morgan asks the readers to do self-introspection on how social media has impacted their lives. People are so much lost in the world of ‘social media’ that they forget to admire the beauty of what they are experiencing. For instance, on a vacation, documenting updates of our lives on social media has become more important than the experience itself. Although the author is a user of social media, she questions the way it is being used. Nowadays, it looks like people are screaming for attention. Anything on social media represents our identity in a way and is subject to monitoring. Furthermore, the author shares incidents of doctors taking photos of a patient during surgery and a plastic surgeon using Snapchat in operating rooms, thereby questioning the ethics of their work. According to the author, there is nothing wrong in expressing one’s views on social media, keeping in mind that we are cautious while using the platform. (Abhishek Kumar)

Reference
Morgan, C. (2016, May 27). Social Media and Technology: Have We Gone Too Far? The Huffington Post. Retrieved on September 8, 2005 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-carol-morgan/social-media-and-technology-have-we-gone-too-far_b_10152504.html

2. Summary

In the article, “Ways to make LinkedIn work for you”, Nicole Smartt, the owner of Star Staffing, talks about LinkedIn as a powerful platform for professionals to be a part of. Being a top one percent member and having over 6,118 connections, the author shares her experience about LinkedIn and its exposure to the world of business. LinkedIn helps in promoting and publishing brands one is associated with, thereby getting new clients. Moreover, LinkedIn is a gateway to endorse oneself, by mentioning personal accomplishments. The author uses it to describe the work his firm does for the clients. Such branding offers business and exposure at literally no cost. Furthermore, the author explains strategies for how to build big business using LinkedIn. These include sharing articles and content on your area of expertise, building followers strategically, joining relevant groups which are associated with your field, connecting with good professionals, greeting your connections on special occasions and displaying your work ethics.

According to the author, LinkedIn is the perfect networking channel for making valuable connections and growing your assets. Devoting an hour every day on this social media is a worthwhile investment and will give great results in the future.(Abhishek Kumar)

Reference

Smartt, N. (2016, Aug 17). Ways to make LinkedIn work for you. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on September 13, 2016 from http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/success/businesscollective/tca-make-linked-in-work-for-you-20160817-story.html

3. Summary

In the article, “Why Businesses Can’t Survive Without Social Media”, Ryan Holmes, CEO of Hootsuite talks about the role of social media in building businesses. The author explains how shopping has become digital nowadays and consumers find it easier to go online. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and other networks are evolving every day as a medium to communicate with our customers and provide services. All successful business firms have their social presence active, which helps them reach a larger audience. Ryan talks about the potential he sees in social media and how companies leverage it. The CEO of Hootsuite gives hard numbers in order to corroborate his ideas. Seventy-five percent of adults using Internet are now on social media and both the number and the percentage are exponentially increasing. On an average people are on social media for almost twelve hours a week. The traffic on social media is exceeding the one on the search engines. Be it customers or competitors, everyone is present on the social platform. Clearly, ninety percent of the businesses have seen a rise by their active presence on social media. The most striking part of the article seems to be the fact that social technologies have a potential to unlock $1.3 trillion in business value.

According to the author, today Internet plays an essential role in any business and all industries need to make their presence felt. Not far is the day when it is hard to imagine a business without social media. (Abhishek Kumar)

Reference

Holmes, R. (2015, Nov. 18). Why businesses can’t survive without social media. Fortune. Retrieved on September 15, 2016 from http://fortune.com/2015/11/18/businesses-cant-survive-social-media/

4. Summary:

The author focuses on social media affecting our brain. He concludes that teenagers’ brains respond in a similar way to both seeing their loved ones and getting likes to their photos on social networking sites. It is assumed that on an average one billion people are using Facebook every day. The fact that inspires teenagers to use social media more often is that a part of the brain’s reward circuitry gets active when they see a large number of likes for their photos. It could be expected that people might start reading likes and comments instead of facial expressions. It is observed that whenever we learn something new, there will be a change in brain structure. In a similar way social media may affect the brain and can cause its change and growth. Domontheil does not conclude if these are good or bad signs. In fact it might be the way we are getting adopted to our environment. (Bhargavi)

East, S. (2016, August. 1). Teens: This is how social media affects your brain. CNN. Retrieved on September 09, 2016, from http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/12/health/social-media-brain/

5. Summary

In this article, Honor Whiteman emphasizes how social media affects our mental health and well-being. He says social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are used by 1 in 4 people worldwide. On average, Americans spend 7.6 hours a month accessing social networking sites through their cell phones. According to Dr. Shannon M. Rauch, of Benedictine University of Mesa, AZ, the main reason we use social media is for self-distraction and boredom relief. Researchers found that people who are anxious and insecure are more frequently using networking sites. Interestingly, the latest statistics show that the number of people of age group 65 or more using Facebook has risen to 45% from 35% since 2012. (Bhargavi)

Reference:
Whiteman, H. (2015, June 10). Social media: how does it affect our mental health and well-being? Medical News Today. Retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/275361.php.

6. Summary

This article emphasizes the social media influencing student life. The author mentions the change of technology for the past few years and its effect on people, especially students. He describes that earlier communication and sharing of thoughts were restricted by long distance, nationality and religion, but now they are no longer barriers for flow of information. The main reason students spend their time on social media is to create their own online identity that the real world cannot allow, and it gives students the freedom to act by just sitting in front of their desktops. But this might lead to an identity crisis and many psychologists are worried about this issue. The habits that students learn are mostly influenced by the posts of their friends rather than their parents and teachers. In a recent survey it was found that whenever students see their friends’ profile picture, it immediately affects their moods and they become conscious of their own looks. Social media creates a virtual world that is entirely dramatic and different from the real world. Hence the author mentions it is necessary to keep some restrictions on the networking sites. (Bhargavi)

Reference:
Karadkar, A. (2015, September 13). The impact of social media on student life. Retrieved on September 15, 2016 from http://www.technicianonline.com/opinion/article_d1142b70-5a92-11e5-86b4-cb7c98a6e45f.html

7. Summary

The article, Social Media Are a Trap, is an interview with the famous sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, who provides us with a skeptical and pessimistic look toward the role of social media in social or political change within our modern society. Bauman thinks of a healthy dialogue as a vital factor for social change, although in social media people rarely have a real dialogue. Indeed, he discusses the idea that a dialogue happens when people with different ideas exchange their thoughts. However, in social media people are surrounded by others who think in the same manner they do. In fact, in social media we have control over our friends list or the pages we follow. Accordingly, mostly we arrange our social media in way that we will not face conflict or disagreement. Therefore, within such an artificial community a healthy dialogue that can lead to change or transformation doesn’t accrue. (Niloofar Gholamrezaei)

Bauman, Z. Social media are a trap [Interview]. (n.d.). Elpais. Retrieved from http://elpais.com/elpais/2016/01/19/inenglish/1453208692_424660.html?utm_content=buffer1a8a2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

8. Summary

Sonia Livingston, in her article, From Mass to Social Media? Advancing Accounts of Social Change, discusses the link between social media and social transformation. Here, the key question is where social media can be a means of social change. For her, the idea of communication is a substantial point in thinking of social change through social media. Indeed, she suggests that firstly one needs to investigate the ways in which communication happens to reach to any conclusion. For example, she considers the dynamic between audience and speaker as an important factor in shaping the communication, because such dynamic represents where power structures are. (Niloofar)

Livingston, S. (2015). From mass to social media? Advancing accounts of social change. Social Media Society, June 2015. Retrieved from http://sms.sagepub.com/content/1/1/2056305115578875.full.pdf+html

9. Summary

Ritu Sharma talks about the strong power of social media in social and political changes. In her article, Social Media as a Formidable Force for Change, she states that social media are playing the biggest role in promoting democracy, knowledge and social justice in the globe. Indeed, for her social media can develop democracy more than other ways like war. She also gives several examples to prove her ideas. For instance, she briefly explores the role of social media in shaping the Arab spring movement. In short, Sharma thinks of social media as a uniquely powerful tool that can make the authorities make changes.

Sharma, R. (2015, January). Social Media as a Formidable Force for Change. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ritusharma/power-of-social-media-dem_b_6103222.html

10. Summary

This article says what the experts see as the benefits and negative points of using social media sites. This article focused more on the negative points, for example, personal finance , productivity, and spending long time to make real relationships, the author said.

In general, using Facebook as an example might cause mental stress and affect the brain directly, especially the brain’s reward pleasure centers, as experts said in the article.

One of the very important point in this article is that people who struggle with self-regulations and anxiety and would be using Facebook or other social network sites have a high risk of being affected by the negative side of these sites. Moreover, for other people who can control themselves, there is a limit of maintaining the affect of these website to their life as well.

This article recommended using some applications as a monitor on your using the social network sites that help to control and manage your time while you are using the social network sites.

In conclusion, social media websites have a lot of negative updates that might affect our brains and make huge distractions. (Yousef)

Reference:
Weaver, R. (2012, April 13). More ways Facebook can affect our daily lives. Empowher. http://www.empowher.com/mental-health/content/more-ways-facebook-can-affect-our-daily-lives-mental-health?page=0,0

11. Summary

This article says that the social media is a way for communication for people and the society through the internet and by using phones or other tools. Author stressed that the goal of using social media is to reconnect in the life with your community and stay in touch. It is a way to express our opinions and what we are thinking of with the society every day. In term of affecting the relationship by social media, the author said that social media starts its effect on the relationships in the family first. The author gave some numbers of average consumers. For example, consumers have 250 to 300 friends on different social media sites, but people keep active with around 50 people.

Second, the author said, the social media affects even the trust in general by comparing with the past. The author mentioned an example about this issue, which is how people had a high trust with government before social media kept people updated every day on what is going on. Third, the author said, the social media has direct effect on the news and the speed of reporting news.

In conclusion the author showed the positive uses of social media and how it is useful, for example for customer services or finding jobs for young people.

Many companies have used social media to good and not-so-good effect. Companies today are asking consumers to create ads for the brand. This worked extremely well for Coca-Cola and IKEA, but didn't work for Chevrolet and Tahoe, their pick-up truck. Consumers made ads for Tahoe which focused on the green effects of such vehicles! Chevrolet’s intent was involvement, but how that involvement will shape out in a social media world is something brands cannot control. The Dell battery issue was first posted by consumers. Jet airways used social media to target special deals for students. (Yousef)

Reference:
ShivaKumar, D. (2009, October 27) Social media changing relationships. The Economic Times. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2009-10-27/news/27640812_1_social-media-mobile-phones-relationships.

12. Summary

This article says that in using social networks, one should remember ten crucial tips to be on the safe side of any bad effects of using social networks. The first one is that if you want to post something, put yourself in your followers’ place, so you can decide if it is good to share that or not. Then it is good idea to use nickname while you are on social networks. Checking your privacy settings is indeed, to know more who is following you. Be careful of sharing your personal information on the social networks, for example, your address, your phone number, and your birthday date. Make sure of the photos or videos that you are sharing that they are not personal or giving your followers personal information through them. Check that your personal computer has an antivirus to protect your data and information.

Finally, these the most important tips for using social media networks, to avoid any problem that might happen from using social networks. (Yousef)

Reference:
Llube, T. (2013, February 1). Share Take Care. BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/0/21259413.

13. SUMMARY OF ARTICLE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

In the article named “The Trauma of Violent News on the Internet”, the author emphasized on the impact of the long lasting aftermath of violence spread over social media which has become a burning question over last few years. Now a day, as popularity of traditional news media (i.e. newspaper, TV etc.) is declining among younger generation, they have become more prone to the live news feed and analyses of social media due to availability and technological advancement. Therefore, people are more exposed to traumatic and horrific news of rape, murder, mass killing, suicide etc. Additionally, the ambiguity of the publishing policy of the social media sites (e.g. especially Facebook, Twitter etc.) makes this convulsive news more open to the audience. Therefore, these social medias cannot avert the responsibility of the impact of these awful events like: increased fear, psychological disorder, elevated stress, distress, heart attack etc. (Minhaz Ur Rahman)

REFERENCE:
Wayne, T. (2016, September 10),” The Trauma of Violent News on the Internet”, The New York Times, Retrieved on September 11, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/11/fashion/the-trauma-of-violent-news-on-the-internet.html.


14. Summary on Social Media #2

In the article named “Heavy Social Media Use Linked with Mental Health Issues in Teens”, the author probed the correlation between the deterioration of mental health among new generation people and high usage of social media sites based on a comparative study conducted by Ottawa Public Health. In current decade, the triumph of technology in communication increased the dependence on social sites among this new generation in such a way that it became part and parcel of their life. However, there is an ambiguous proof of connection due to lack of statistics, in between crumbling down of psychological condition (e.g. distress, suicide attempt etc.) of this young people and overuse of the social sites. Still, the researchers of the survey found out the obligation of these sites for the jaded mental health of this generation Z. On the contrary, the author suggested that this problem can be solved if the mental health representatives can take initiatives to reach out these peoples using this networking platforms and by sharing various mental health promotions rather than hindering these teens from using social networking. (Minhaz)

REFERENCE:
Gregoire, C., (2015, July 28),”Heavy Social Media Use Linked with Mental Health Issues in Teens”, The Huffington Post, retrieved on September 14, 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/social-media-mental-health_us

15. SUMMARY SOCIAL MEDIA #03

In the article named “Study suggests benefits of social media in the Class room”, based on the Dr. Richard’s (Harvard School of Education) and other researchers’ study suggest that group study is more beneficial than stereotyped teaching system. The cause behind more impact of group study is the students can share their opinions and dilemmas and they can clear all the confusions if they act as a team. Hence, social media can be excellent resource for students to educate themselves by using various types of group messaging and sharing any topic with the world. From any part of the world, many persons will be able to help these students with different point of views. However, there is a loop hole to excessive usage of social site which should be taken care of by the teaching body. Besides, the teaching body should modify the policy regarding incorporation of social media with general education system. It will be a great help to the students as well as to the teachers.

REFERENCE:
Tomasjewski, J., (2012), “Study suggests benefits of social media in the Class room”, Education World, retrieved on September 16, 2016, from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/study-suggests-social-media-has-place-in-classrooms.shtml.




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