This article will give 10 reasons why social media is good for society and why it could be a force for good.
We will also argue why it could be a force for bad, as Facebook’s negligence to the 2016 US election has demonstrated. Finally we will suggest that there is a way forward.
Over the last decade, social media has become a ubiquitous part of modern life. Almost all of us have profiles on a range of social media platforms, from Facebook and Twitter to Instagram and WhatsApp.
Despite the obvious utility of social media for keeping in touch with friends and family members, its privacy and security features have drawn growing concerns.
Over the last year, news of multiple data breaches has rocked the tech industry. These include the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, which affected 87 million Facebook users, and the Twitter-Bitcoin scandal, which affected 1.4 million.
Yet there are plenty of positives as well. Social media helps millions to work out issues in their lives such as mental health, ethnic discrimination, bullying and racial profiling.
Some studies show that social media users are more empathetic and more tolerant than non-users.
Recently, researchers have discovered some counterintuitive benefits of social media as well.
One study found that Facebook reduced interracial discrimination, and another showed that it may reduce loneliness.
How social media works
Social media sites allow people to create profiles and connect with other users.
They also allow users to follow other users and the sites in which those users, such as news sites or groups for certain interest, including sport. Users can also share content and receive content.
Social media also provides people with the opportunity to organize events, much like traditional offline events.
For instance, a “book a course” page, which was featured prominently on a LinkedIn event page, shows users the information about the course, as well as information about the person organizing the event and the date, time and location of the event.
Social media platforms differ in their features, security and features. Facebook and LinkedIn are fundamentally news sites.
While most are used for business purposes, many are used for social purposes. This is because social media allows anyone to join groups and communities that interest them and use those groups to organize and talk about a wide range of topics, from hobbies and health to general human interest topics.
Social media helps people meet each other, and some studies have found that social media users may be less likely to meet in the real world. Another study suggests that it may make people more competitive.
For these and other reasons, social media has been repeatedly hailed as a force for good in society.
The real world
Before social media, the only real-world tools people had to organize their personal lives were through the work of trade associations and organizations such as trade unions, political parties, professional organizations, religious organizations and communities such as parents and churches.
These organizations were often concentrated in cities, making it harder for people in rural areas to join and stay in these communities.
Social media has given people the opportunity to start new communities and meet people from other parts of the country, or even other countries.
The most visible such example is Facebook, where you can find friends of friends, as well as social groups.
These groups facilitate social interaction and communication, but they can also be used to discriminate against people, as has been argued with the group that posts Holocaust denial.
At the same time, social media is also a source of social benefits, with both positive and negative effects.
Benefits
Social media allows people to stay in contact with their friends and relatives, and it’s a valuable source of news and information.
Some studies have found that social media reduces feelings of isolation and loneliness, and improves the ability to communicate with others.
But other studies have shown that social media may increase feelings of social isolation. Another study, which found that Facebook made users feel worse, suggests that the positive effects of social media could be limited.
Negative effects
People using Facebook are more likely to post pictures of themselves and their friends, and to discuss physical attributes and romantic relationships. This could make them subject to a range of body-shaming messages and cyber-bullying.
In the online gaming world, people can organize and play competitive matches, sometimes leading to harassment and abuse of the “indoor kids”, or players who do not go outside because they are frightened of cyber-bullying.
Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are especially popular among young people, who are more likely to post racist or homophobic material.
And, as one study found, online interactions can alter the people we meet offline. Participants were given an online test that revealed how aggressively they’d engage in an argument, and participants who were involved in an argument on social media with someone they had met in real life reported behaving differently after the argument.
Relationships
In our research, we are trying to understand the motivations of people who send racist, sexist or homophobic messages. One possible explanation is that they do not recognize their own prejudice, or find racist, sexist or homophobic people so interesting that they want to play them online.
Some people believe that the key to improving social media is to change the algorithms that enable us to see what others have been posting, by tagging social media users with tags that are associated with specific attitudes and characteristics.
But, as our work suggests, we should also consider how people like and respond to these profiles, which may help reduce the problem.
