In Betty White’s opening monologue to Saturday Night Live, she said, “I didn’t know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time. I would never say the people on it are losers, but that’s only because I’m polite.” Originally intended for the use of students at Harvard University in 2004, Facebook grew exponentially to be an online phenomenon in the years following. In 2006, it became accessible to anyone and everyone with internet connection. Aside from the advantages that give the site its popularity, creating a profile comes with a number of significant disadvantages inherit to online social networks. What do more than 500 million active users use their Facebook for? Communicating with long distance friends and spreading awareness of causes are common responses. Unfortunately, Facebook has it flaws, from limiting the privacy of relationships to creating a form of almost unmanageable bullying, making one reconsider their involvement and think, “do I really want my Facebook account?”
In mere minutes, any active user can access information and associations regarding various causes, such as the riots happening in Egypt and the Middle East. Teenagers, in the Middle East, used their Facebook accounts to campaign the “Day of Rage” in Saudi Arabia. Helping to set the Arab riots in motion, the event demanded elections, freedom for women, and the liberation of political prisoners. The activists’ goals to bring democracy to Egypt and removing Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s fourth president from 1981 to 2011, still continue and perhaps with the assistance of Facebook they will accomplish these ambitions. The causes campaigned through Facebook have served as a fundraise...
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... of Facebook. After watching a play, I went out for lunch with a few friends, while the other updated their Facebook status or checked messages, I was left to eat by myself. So many individuals become obsessive with the refresh button to be in the know of others’ lives instead of enjoying their own lives with those surrounding them.
Considering there are more than 500 million active users on Facebook it is convenient to have an account; however, several disadvantages have conducted me to deleting my account. Despite my standpoint on Facebook, I still would not delete my profile. Instead I will use it for its real advantages such as spreading awareness in causes I am passionate about and connecting with old and long distance friendships. It is not harmful to have an account, but it does not need your attention every eight seconds. Mine certainly doesn’t.
While many people throughout the world see social media as a trendy new application in the service of personal amusement, the political upheavals in the Arab world have shown how it can change the dynamics of modern day activism. The Arab Spring Uprising interlaced social unrest with a technological revolution. Blogs, news websites, twitter feeds, and political list servers became avenues for communication, information flow and solidarity. Being capable of sharing an immense amount of uncensored information through social media sites has contributed to the success of many Arab Spring activists. Social media played a role in facilitating the events of the Arab Spring, but the main issues are rooted in a broader set of economic, political, and social factors. This paper will examine how social media impacted the Arab Spring Uprising. Specifically, I will look at how social media introduced a novel resource that helped to created internet activist communities, changed the dynamics of social mobilization and revolutionized interactions between protesters and the rest of the world.
Throughout all of the revolutions in Africa that have risen in since December, and even before that, social networking has played a major role in reporting the events; not only do these websites report news posted by its members, social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter have also been the meeting-place for people in these countries to organize themselves to protest. WikiLeaks has been but “a catalyst: both a trigger and a tool for public outcry,” sparking civil disobedience toward the government, and provoking acts of revolt and protest, which has been organized, largely, due to the globalizing effects of Twitter and Facebook (Dickenson). While it is evident that revolutions do not need a meeting-ground for protesters to organize, in the 21st century the internet has had an ever...
One’s amount of Facebook reflects how popular one wish to appear online more than how healthy one’s friendship truly is. Constant usage of Facebook allows user to potentially feel like they have a meaningful social life, when in reality, they are missing something. In Stephen Marche’s 2102 article, “Is Facebook making Us Lonely?” he notes that Facebook was introduced to the world in the midst of spreading and intensifying loneliness, an idea to which he greatly attributes Facebook’s appeal and success (Marche 26). Initially, social networking sites seem to be evidence of modern-day social interaction being easier and more convenient than ever.
With the growing popularity of the internet and social media websites, people have utilized these as new channels to express their thoughts on different political issues. Formally, social media is defined by Merriam-Webster as “forms of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content”. Through these actions done online like signing petitions, sharing news links, joining groups, and commenting about contemporary issues, people have taken civic engagement off the streets and on to social media.
As low levels of 'conventional' participation are being noted, the pattern of participation in political matters is changing. Political protest is on the rise in all of its forms from petition signing (demanding the least commitment) to public demonstrations and violent protests (the other extreme) (Moyser, 2003). This essay will focus on political protest in its more extreme form – the form of lawful and unlawful mass protests. In the wake of the 21st century, technology is spreading quickly to every corner of the globe and access to the Internet, smartphones, and computers is easier than ever before. Social media are one of the prominent uses of these technologies, mostly by youth, but use of social media by other demographic semgments of the society are on a rise. The number of social media users is increasing every second and the amount of statuses, tweets, images, and videos they produce is more than overwhelming. There are over 1,15 billion facebook users, and over 500 million of both Google+ and Twitter users with their numbers growing every day (Ajmera, 2013). Also, over 23% of Facebook users log in more than 5 times per day! (ibid) Various kinds of social media brought with themselves new opportunities and methods to express oneself and to gain popular support. They have brought new means and methods of mobilizing society, whatever the objective might be.
As older siblings, friends, and cousins were denied position at school and in the work force, we realized that adults and employers had found Facebook. Our uncensored character was on display for future bosses, colleges, etc. and they were there to stay. Instead of references being the test of character for a job, it was the online identity that determined whether or not the application got even a second glance. In light of this revelation, we changed. Our Facebooks no longer reflected our true selves, but rather the person that we thought colleges and employers should see. Much like hiding our dirty laundry from prying eyes in the halls of high school, we could no longer wear our proverbial hearts on our internet sleeves, for the future was at stake. Much like what had once been the Old West, the internet was now connected with railroads—each leading back to the offline person. Tame and orderly.
Many people believe that social media played a significant role and helped to accelerate the pace of the revolutions in the Arab spring. (Howard & Hussain, 2013) said that social media is one of the most substantial and mandatory terms for the Arab Spring. Also, the evidence proves that social media spread a cascade of democratic thoughts all over the Middle East, and increased the likelihood of success of political revolution. In the same way, (Khondker, 2011) stressed on the role of social media evidenced by the protests in Tunisia which were forcibly dispersed in 2008 without any backlash. One of the causes was that at that point there were just 28,000 Facebook users in Tunisia; hence the social media penetration was insignificant. The self-immolation of Bouazizi became eventually worldwide event, thanks to the social media that disseminating news, galvanizing the mass sentiment and paving the path for mass protests in Tunisia.
[18] Websites and applications dedicated to forums, microblogging, social networking, social bookmarking, social curation and wikis are among the different types of social media. Social media is interactive in nature. In last ten to fifteen years, the growing number of social media has made its impact felt to all over the world. Issues of corruption, social injustice, human rights, political dissatisfaction, economic issues, inequality, partiality, biases etc. are global issues being raised and discussed on social media. Arab revolution is latest and big win of social media impact. Protests in Iraq, Syria, Asia, America, China, Romania and so on are examples of online activism on social media. The Arab Spring demonstrates the use of social media to effectively inform the public in the country or outside the country and to organize in times when most of the media are under control or censorship (Allagui & Kuebler,2011). [19] Research on the use of ICT for activism and protests online on social media situates itself at the intersection between social context, political purpose and technological possibility (Gillian et al., 2008). [20] Social movement and activism is a social process in which mass or masses display their interests, say loudly their grievances and criticism and ask for solution or suggest. Then
The Arab Spring has impacted multiple countries in northern Africa and the Arab world so far since the end of December 2010, leading to the fall of the government in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Among the unarmed insurrections, social media and social networking technology functioned as a new strategy that empowered the protesters to gain successful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt and inspired grassroots movements in other Arab countries. The new media, namely Twitter, Facebook and Youtube, with online blogs and mobile telecommunications, played a significant role in the politics of connectivity, which connect, coordinate and communicate the protestors. Labeled as “Twitter Revolution” or “Facebook Revolution”, the new media to some extent engaged in the Arab Spring uprisings. By analyzing more than three million tweets on Twitter, content on YouTube and thousands of blog posts, a study led by analysts from the University of Washington finds that social media played a critical role in shaping political debates in the movements during the Arab Spring.
Before becoming an activist, a person must be educated about or at least aware that a social issue exists and that change must ensue. Digital activism dramatically expedites this process by utilizing the ubiquity of the online world. According to Internet World Stats, over three billion people actively use the Internet; Facebook alone generates nearly one billion daily active users, highlight the prominence of social networks (Internet World Stats). Over half of the world’s population is digitally linked, presenting the perfect environment for digital activism to thrive with room to further grow. Much of social networking’s popularity attributes to the attractive functions provided that facilitate communication between online users.
The development of technology has led up to different ways of social interaction with one another. The launch of the computer was a huge impact in American history. It wasn’t only the computer that launched but also the Internet. Which brought different ways that people could interact with one another though Email and social networks (Lutfala). Some of the more popular social networks used are twitter and Facebook. People may become addicted to tweeting and posting up a tweet or status, this may become a priority to some people. These network accounts allow people to interact with friends and family from all over the world whenever they want with no cost, however people are so addicted to these social network they forget the way people are supposed to interact and that’s by talking in person. Online, children and teenagers can have hundreds of “friends” without having to leave their home or open their mouths. Although is may seem easier for people to send a quick text, email or instant message it destroys the meaning of being able to interact with our friends and family and actually get to see each other face to face.
In this day and age, many individuals simply cannot go without some sort of socialization. Specifically speaking, most participate in online social networking sites. The most popular and used one is commonly known as Facebook. Facebook was created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. By 2007, Facebook had over 21 million users, adding up to 1.6 billion page views every single day. The typical user spends over twenty minutes per day on Facebook and two thirds of the users log in every day at least once. It is not questionable as to why many people have a Facebook account. Facebook is generally efficient, easy for socialization, and not difficult to manage. Most organizations are affiliated with Facebook, as “almost 22,000 organizations had Facebook directories,” as of November 2006. A year after that in 2007, Facebook was named the seventh most popular website (Ellison 1). However, with anything well known, many oppose to using Facebook and hold criticism against the popular network. There are many flaws in the website and the relationships it starts online. Facebook is risking dangerous activities, ignoring privacy laws, and demeaning healthy socialization.
The popular site, Facebook.com, has amassed more than one billion registrants since it started in February 2004. It is another social networking site, just like MySpace.com and Xanga.com, which is common to High School and College students. But this is no ordinary site; people’s lives literally revolve around Facebook. I have a Facebook account and log in at least once a day. I personally believe that Facebook is a fun and interactive site. However, some students may not feel that same way because they have encountered some negative aspects, aside from Facebook’s legal problems.
With more than 500 million active users, the site is a warehouse of personal information. Personal profiles allow users to provide information about their name, age, hometown, relationship status, activities, job, school, and more. They can connect with the others’ profiles and become ”friends”. Combined with a profile picture, you can pretty much learn anything you want to know about somebody over Facebook (should they choose to provide the information). However, what many users fail to realize is that in most cases this information is not only available to their “friends”. Though users can change their privacy settings to limit with whom their profile information is shared, the site gathers and stores more than most of us want to acknowledge. For instance, the Facebook “Like” butto...
Facebook or “book of faces” has gained a massive amount popularity in recent years, because of it’s friendly interface and unique platform. Nowadays, almost everyone must have heard of or used the application. But only few people realize the negative impact Facebook leaves on users such as privacy, attitude, and behavior.