The Significance Of Social Media And Social Importance In Our Society

Social networks have become increasingly more significant in our lives and in society. They connect us to the people in our lives, keep us informed on current events, and provide us with entertainment. Not only do they allow us to communicate with other individuals around the world and information but they also afford us social capital that we did not have access to before. Social media sites such as facebook and myspace which focus mostly around social connections and entertainment based user content are usually the first we think of when social media sites are mentioned but they are not the only kind of sites available. As J Donathan and D Boyd mention in “Public Displays of Attention” social media sites such as orkut, linkedin, and spoke

Social media has had a major effect on the way that social capital works within our society. This is significant because these networks greatly affect how our society works. Social networks allow for networks in society to be bridged which is extremely important especially because the current trend in society is globalization. Social media enables every member of society to take part offering them the tools needed to participate. As mentioned in public displays of affection “In today’s society, access to information is a key element of status and power and communication is instant, ubiquitous and mobile.” (J Donath and D Boyd) This also allows for different subgroups to form within a society and allows for members of society that would not be connected otherwise come together through different social media

Privacy is an issue which is prevalent in almost all web 2.0 technologies and social media is no different. J Donath and D Boyd point to identity theft as one of the possible privacy risk that you could face as a social media user because valuable information such as your social connections are available to them. However they also listed the display of one’s connections as a possible benefit to identity theft because these public displays can also help others reaffirm that someone is who they say they are. Privacy can also be concerning to individuals who might not want everyone to have access to this type of information. One of the given examples of this was a teacher who did not want their students looking through their social media account. This can be troublesome because while an individual can be careful with the type of information they share they have no control over what a friend might post. In this scenario the teacher might not share much personal information but a student could click on one of the teacher’s friend and find compromising pictures of their teacher. This is something I have had to consider while working at a school. While it is nice to know that my students like me and would like to add me on certain social networks I like to keep