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Sarah Lau

COM 330

December 12, 2017

COM 330 Final Paper - Social Media

Social Media has changed our world in so many ways. Howard Greenstein defines Social

Media, “online technologies and practices that people use to share content, opinions, insights,

experiences, perspectives, and media themselves. They are media for social interaction. You can

tell social software because it is no fun to use by yourself – an account with no friends connected

has no value”. Social Media has impacted the following themes the most, which are,

Empowerment, Relationships, Satisfaction, Friendships, and Attention. Empowerment is the

authority or power given to someone to do something and its the process of becoming stronger

and more confident. Relationships is the state of being connected between people. Satisfaction is

the fulfillment of one’s wishes, expectations or needs. Friendships are the emotions of friends or

the state of being friends, and the relationships between friends. Lastly, Attention is the notice

taken of someone or something. The most unique part of each of these themes is that they all

relate to Social Media in there own ways.

First, Empowerment, is being able to freely express your opinion and people today are

able to do that with Social Media. All over the world, there are cases where people are

encouraging others through social media. They are doing it through campaign and activism. For

example, there are multiple hashtags, #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, #NoDAPL, and many more.

Each of these hashtags are examples of empowerment and political activism. Our own President

of the United States, Donald Trump, is a an active Twitter user for political activism. He posts
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almost everyday about his opinions and his thoughts about certain issues going on in our world.

There are many other cases that promote empowerment through Social Media.

Social Media has become so powerful today that in the face of such incidents, Social

Media becomes the voice of people. Women Empowerment has been taken very seriously on

Social Media. The way we communicate women’s issues has changed. Technology directly

impacts women’s development and has enabled their voice to reach out and be viewed globally.

“Movements can spread to millions in seconds and campaigns can hit the ground running – with

smart social media planning, vast email databases and viral videos all playing their

part” (Mckenna 2014). First examples of Women Empowerment, the “Girl Effect” is a case

where a tweet from the Oprah Winfrey that was only four lines that got sent out to 21 million

followers. This was in support of the Girl Declaration campaign to help change the way girls and

women are represented in the future “global development goals”. The second example, is “Hello

Ruby”, which is a project that raises funds to help empower women’s entrepreneurialism. There

missions is to prove that, “Women are girls first. That's why getting girls into science,

technology, engineering and maths is crucial.” The third example, is called “Pink stinks” and

there missions is to empower women by advertising campaigns on social media, videos, and

blogs to raise awareness of gender stereotyping. The key question that stuck out to me was,

“What does it mean to be a girl?” Our society has a way of enhancing that being a girl is about

buying clothes, makeup, toys, and etc. That is a prime source to show that those are all negative

messages that are damaging girls in our society today. The fourth example, is “Representation

Project” and it is a movement that uses films, hashtags, and blogs to help stop the gender

stereotypes. For instance, “Girls must be delicate with a pink dress, and Boys must be smart with
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a blue truck” and these are both dangerous preconceptions of gender stereotypes. Lastly, the fifth

example is the mobile app called “SafeCities”. The focus of this mobile app is to report unsafe

spaces, to find out more information about these organizations, and be empowered to take that

action. All women all over the world can download this mapping app to help them to be strong

and empowered about taking action on this. Over time, the status of women has improved with

respect to equal rights because of the efforts of many encouraging and empowering people on

Social Media.

Second, its not a secret that Social Media has a huge impact on Relationships. Creating

new relationships or saving old relationships, Social Media has its way of being a big impact on

all types of relationships. For example, the use of dating apps, like Tinder, Bumble, The League,

or the Grindr. People all over the world use these dating apps to meet new people that could

potentially be there partner for life. Social Media has its way of maintaining long distance

relationships. The significant other can use Social Media to check on each others Social Media to

see how each other is doing, by using video chatting apps, using Snapchat to send live videos or

pictures to each other, or by each other’s posts on Instagram or Facebook. People also use Social

Media to converse through private messages or direct messages to get to know someone you

don’t know or to rekindle a relationship. Lastly, Social Media has been very useful for building

professional relationships. Many people, including myself, use LinkedIn. Its a way for employers

to look at a potential employees social media account to see what kind of person they are. By

that I mean, its a way for future jobs to see what kind of morals and beliefs you have and if you

are a right for the job. There have been many cases where, Student Athletes or Students have lost

their scholarships due to what they have posted on their social media. For example, posting
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naked pictures, or pictures that involve under age drinking and drugs, are all not prohibited at

these schools. They will see that it is unethical of you to be posting and that they could

potentially take away your scholarship. There have also been cases where people lost their jobs

because of posting things that weren’t right for Social Media. My point is that Social Media has

positive and negative ways of impacting Relationships.

Third, Social media has been used for improving customer Satisfaction. People have

used Yelp to read reviews on any company and if its worth it to go to. People have used Pinterest

as inspiration for home decors, hair styles, make-up tutorials, gifting ideas, and etc. Being able to

engage with different companies has been very vital in our society today. The amount of good

reviews your company is very impactful to the amount of business you will receive because

other people will see that its a good place to go to from all the customer reviews. Entertainment

has been used for satisfaction as well. For example, binge watching on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon

Prime, Youtube, Starz, and etc. People have also been into watching people’s Youtube channels,

especially our generation of young women have been into creating make-up tutorials to watch or

Video Logs (V-logs) of their daily lives. Using your social media account for a customer service

channel and being able to offer incentives to those who follow you. For instance, businesses have

been reaching out for personal ambassadors for their companies to use their social media

accounts to promote give-aways or gifts on their personal accounts. This is also a big way for

more companies to receive more income by using famous people’s social media accounts to

promote their products.

As much Satisfaction we receive from all our Social Media Network, I believe that too

much is not good for our mental health. Social Media is becoming very addictive to people, like
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a drug. Experts don’t know if the idea of internet addiction or social media addiction is a real

thing but it is very possible that it will soon be one. The more we use social media, the less

happy we seem to be. Some have shown that it triggers more sadness and being less of a well

being. The more I read and research about how Social Media can affect us negatively is quite

scary in ways that people don’t realize what is happening to them until something tragic happens.

We need to use social media to spread the word that these types of negative effects are a real

thing and that it can happen if we don’t address these issues. I can used as a social isolation for

people that are introverts and it won’t help them grow as people. Comparing our lives with other

is mentally unhealthy. We fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others as we scroll through

our feeds, and we make judgements about how we should measure up to everyone else. It

eventually will lead to a “jealousy” and a vicious cycle. I believe that Social Media is a part of

why so many teens are committing suicide till this day. Studies have shown that social media

use triggers feelings of jealousy. Even though so may convince us that social media will help

these types of issues, we can get caught up in the delusion of thinking that it will help. The last

one, is the more friends on social media doesn’t mean you’e more social. Many teenagers and

younger generations are getting caught up with the fact that if they have more friends, more

follower, more likes, more comments, will make them better of a person. We need to use Social

Media for good satisfaction and only that before the unhealthy cycle continues for people.

Fourth, Friendships, are created on Social Media. It has been used to meet new people

and creating new friendships by using Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and

etc. Its a way for people to connect with their friendships they have had already or new

friendships that they want to start. One really positive way is connect with their friends feelings
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and support them through tough times. For instance, there have been many incidents where

people who are going through hard times like a family death or a sickness that has been hurting

someone, they post it on social media to release their feelings. Whether it is someone you know

or you don’t know, our society has used these social media to be there for people through

technology. People can comment on these posts, or post on their accounts to show support for

that person going through that tough time.

But, there are negative ways that Social Media affects Friendships. There are negative

ways that Social Media can affect all of these themes but I thought it was most important to

elaborate more about how it affects Friendships. One, it creates a false sense of intimacy. By this

I mean that people won’t truly know the person on a intimate level and people will be able to put

up false information about themselves. Two, it keeps us from being fully known. When trying to

create new friendships, people can’t really know everything about someone just using Social

Media. I look at it as a way that Social Media can be a wall from people really trying to get to

know the real you. Third, it sets unrealistic expectations because people have a way of portraying

themselves in a way that’s not real. People are expecting what they see on social media but that

is very unrealistic in some cases. Fourth, it makes us good at storytelling, but not so good at story

living. I admire this quote because it is so realistic. Storytelling is starting to be something very

popular in today’s society. People are using it as a way of them telling their story and their

journey. BUT, people aren’t living the stories that they are telling. They are making up elaborate

stories that aren’t true to its word and people are starting to be more gullible. Soon enough, more

and more people are going to believe the stories that are being told and miss the real part of it

which is living it out. Fifth, people feel worse about their lives when they see other’s lives on
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social media. I am a victim of this case as well. Social Media has a way of making other’s feel

junk about their life they are living because they think someone else is living a better life. Our

society shouldn’t be about what others are doing but it should be about what you are doing and

how you can impact this world in a positive way. I have the tendency of following celebrities and

famous people post about their lives with their perfect clothes, cars, food, and I find myself

wanting the life they live. I stop myself and realize that this is the life I was meant to live so I am

going to live it to the fullest. Lastly, is people feel pressured to present themselves in the best

way possible. I think that mostly Women have the issue of being pressured to present themselves

in a certain way because we struggle with image issues and making sure we fit in with society.

We shouldn’t have to hide who we are on social media, but we should be proud of it and be able

to show off the real you. But that can only happen if our society becomes one of welcoming and

loving to everyone, no matter what gender, race, religion, sexuality you are.

Lastly, is Attention, and this can relate to all the themes that I expressed about. I feel that

Attention gives you the feeling of empowerment because you have the ability to empower

yourself through your images, blogs, and posts. Attention is reacting to each others personal

presence, profiles, content, and activities. People use social media to look for social and self

validation. For example, by posting a picture on social media, people are looking for validation

that it is good and socially okay to post. Its a way to express yourself and to receive feedback

from your peers. Social Media has done its job to give those who have low self confidence an

opportunity to gain it through expression and “likes”. The more likes and comments a person

gets, the more self confidence it gives them because they feel that they are exceeding the

standards of our society. “Self branding” has been very popular in how people portray
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themselves on their Social Media accounts. They have been using it to advertise themselves as to

how they want the world to see them as. This a way for people to make money, to make

relationships, and to build connections. With any kind of attention, there is good and there is bad.

We are so consumed with what Social Media can provide for us that we get side tracked with

people’s feelings on the other side of the screen. I have read so many cases where people are

getting cyber bullying because of negative attention. Cyber bullying is serious problem and we

don’t take it serious enough in schools.

In conclusion, Social media is not always an online distraction. Some people may be

addicted to their social media networks, but its the best way to stay informed about everything

going on in the world. It is always a efficient way to connect people all over the world and in

time, our technology will continue to get more and more advanced. Being able to post

immediately is a way that the public stays informed. Some issues cause controversy, but social

media does more good than harm. For example, News Alert Distribution, Traffic Message

Delivery, Increased Teen Awareness, Increased Marketing Exposure, Understand Technology

Needs, Global Natural Disaster Support, are all ways that help improve our society and economy.

Social Media is one of the mot unique creations that came to be. It keeps us connected across

great distances, and helps us find people we’d lost touch with years ago. There are many more

benefits that I have mentioned above but I hope we don’t forget the negative effects as well.
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Works Cited

Agrawwal, AJ. Its Not All Bad: The Social Good of Social Media. Forbes. March 18, 2016.

[Link]

social-media/

Alkemi, Red. Impact of Internet and Social Media on Women Empowerment in India. Blog.

November 30. [Link]

women-empowerment-india

Mckenna, Amanda. 8 ways of digital is empower women. The Guardian. March 12, 2014. https://

[Link]/guardian-professional/media-network-blog/2014/mar/12/digital-

empowering-women-campaigns-rights

Walton, Alice G. 6 Ways Social Media Affects Our Mental Health. Forbes. June 30, 2017. https://

[Link]/sites/alicegwalton/2017/06/30/a-run-down-of-social-medias-effects-on-

our-mental-health/#17c46aeb2e5a