Social Media – A Catalyst for Worldwide and Intercultural Connections

Social media platforms such as the Internet, E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have played an important part in connecting people from all over the world. It has opened an immediate and sometimes intimate connection between people from all cultures, classes, and nations. Social media has removed distance, boundaries, and differences that have previously separated people (Sawyer, 2011). The ability to communicate and share information on a moment’s notice has changed the way we interact with one another. Social media has also provided a new and faster way for employers to find and train employees and solicit and use employee ideas and innovations that benefit the company.
In her research paper Rebecca Sawyer (201l) pointed out some of the reasons that we like to use social media. Firstly, we all have a desire to be together and that we naturally have a need to feel we are connected to one another. Second, we need relationships to experience a sense of belonging, communication, and interaction with others. Thirdly, she writes that we use the knowledge we have discovered through social media to interact with others and to compare the opinions and perspectives on issues, topics, and events that occur in any part of the world. Social media provides these opportunities through online communities and social websites. (Sawyer, 2011).
One of the most frequently used social media platforms is Facebook. It helped to create access for people to exchange all types of information with others anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds. Research conducted by Facebook found that eighty to ninety percent of the world’s population is covered by 2G or 3G networks. Cost is the primary obstacle to using social media in remote parts of the...

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...another and from the shared experiences and opportunities that social media affords our cultures and countries.

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