Pros and Cons of Social Media

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Pros and Cons of Social Media
Advances in communications technologies have seen the development of the international network-based social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. These advances have enabled and facilitated communication that defies distance restriction across the world. As such, communication technology advances have amplified the communication relationships. In fact, social media make it possible for communication to occur speedily, more efficiently and effectively. It is important to note that social media is dependent on mobile and website technologies to allow individual entities separated by geographical distance to interact with one another (Lister et al. 173). They can then create awareness by getting updates on breaking news and emerging issues. For instance, an individual in the US and who has access to a social media account can communicate with another individual who is located in China and has access to a compatible account. A Twitter account holder in China can communicate with another Twitter account holder in Australia. As a result, social media is an information update and communication tool (Dueze 85). Despite its identification as an innovative technology, social media is accompanied by acknowledged pros and cons.
As earlier indicated, social media is accompanied by some pros and cons. There are eight main arguments that are advanced to support social media use. Firstly, they are a very fast means of communication that are not limited by geographical distance.

This is seen when users in Australia and Brazil receive a message posted by a user in China instantly. This is because social media has the capacity to penetrate anywhere on earth with an internet connection thereby making the public aware of what is going on at any given time. Secondly, they have been useful in creating and maintaining relationships, making it possible for an individual to be in close contact with many people all at the same time. For instance, workmates or even schools can keep in close contact for many years even after physically parting ways. Thirdly, they have empowered social groups to bring about reforms by availing support groups that would have otherwise not been readily available (De Graaf, Dimitriu and Ringsmose, 258-259). For instance, farmers can easily create group pages to share information in best farming practices and how to avoid pitfalls.
Fourthly, they have increased interest, awareness and participation in public issues, such as voting interests and public debates. For instance, activists can easily use social media to provide up-to-date information on political occurrence thereby creating a better informed public. Fifthly, they have facilitated social change. Evidence of this is seen in the case of the Arab spring where social media sites were used to speedily mobilize the public (Walker 76-77). Sixthly, they serve as a reliable indicator of public opinion since they make it easy and fast to access information with the public able to express themselves in a moment’s notice. This is a significant pointer for public operation on the topics that should be clarified and justified. Seventhly, social media is being used as a recruitment tool, making it possible for employers to gain access to a large potential workforce at minimal cost. It is evident that the discussed advantages of social media are based on its qualities as a fast and cheap communication tool. Finally, social media acts as a whistleblower and deterrent on bad practices that include corruption, by questioning public practices and ensuring that they are above board and promote social causes (Sholtis 29). As such, social media is linked to some specific advantages.
On the other hand, social media has been associated with some cons. Firstly, the information spread through social media is not authenticated and has the potential for causing panic when false information is spread. This is typically seen when public pranks are played and social media platforms are used to pass on the false information (Schaefer 46). Secondly, the sites are insecure and have no guarantee of privacy thereby making them unsuitable for transmitting sensitive information. Governments and corporate entities have been reported to peruse user accounts and postings in search of information they consider relevant. Thirdly, they have a negative effect on the development and maintenance of social skills. Rather than physically meet and apply their social skills in forming relationships, users only need to click buttons to begin a relationship. While clicking the button as not as simple as it might sound, it only applies minimal social skills. Ultimately, the users do not use all their social skills and ends up under-developing them. As a consequence, they will find it difficult to form relationships outside the social network sites even as they grow older (Allen et al. 46-48; Kramer and Winter 106-108).
Thirdly, they are an enticement for wasting time with users spending a lot of time in updating their status and reading comments from others on a regular basis. Finally, social media has the capacity to instill negative, destructive, and wrong thoughts that have adverse and far-reaching consequences on the public and that way in which it thinks about the government practices and operations. This is seen the power of social media to alter public opinion by portraying a negative as positive and vice versa, going out of its way to advertise and glorify sensational stories that are both unwarranted and unnecessary. An example of this has been seen in the public’ response to military operations in Syria and the Middle East, where some of the public members have been increasing critical of the loss of life and continued hostilities that are costing billions of dollars. By fighting the terrorists in the Middle East, the western governments are preempting the terrorist’s capacity to organize and attack public infrastructure, yet social media occasionally portrays this as a waste of taxpayers’ money (Page and Shapiro, 270-271; Snow and Taylor 24-25). As a result, social media can be linked to some disadvantages.
One must accept that social media is a revolutionary communication tool that makes use of the internet to defy distance restrictions to enable speedy, efficient and effective information transfer. In addition, one must acknowledge that the use of social media has increased significantly since it is easy and cheap to set up. Still, it must be acknowledged that using the tool has been accompanied by some pros and cons. Regarding the pros, social media has been linked to speedy information transfer, creating and maintaining social relations, empowered social groups to bring about reforms, and increased interest, awareness and participation in public issues. Also, the technology has facilitated social change, served as a reliable indicator of public opinion, employment recruitment tool, and whistleblower and the deterrent on bad practices. Conversely, social media has been associated with some cons that include a spread of non-authenticated and false information, insecure sites and privacy abuses, and a negative effect on the development and maintenance of social skills. Besides that, they have been linked to time wasting, and the capacity to instill negative and destructive thoughts among users. Therefore, social media are accompanied by pros and cons.

Works Cited
Allen, J., Evans, M., Hare, A. and Mikami, A. ‘Adolescent Peer Relationships and Behavior Problems Predict Young Adults’ Communication on Social Networking Websites.’ Developmental Psychology, 46.1 (2010), 46‐56.
De Graaf, Beatrice, George Dimitriu and Jens Ringsmose. Strategic Narratives, Public Opinion and War: Winning domestic support for the Afghan War. New York, NY: Routledge, 2015. Print.
Dueze, Mark. Media Life. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2012. Print.
Kramer, Nicole and Stephan Winter. ‘Impression Management 2.0 The Relationship of Self‐Esteem, Extraversion, Self‐Efficacy, and Self‐Presentation Within Social Networking Sites.’ Journal of Media Psychology, 20.3 (2008), 106‐116.
Lister, Martin, Jon Dovey, Seth Giddings, Iain Grant and Kieran Kelly. New Media: A critical introduction (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge, 2009. Print.
Page, Benjamin and Robert Shapiro. The Rational Public: Fifty Years of Trends in Americans’ Policy Preferences. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Print.
Schaefer, Mark. Social Media Explained. Washington: Mark W. Schaefer, 2004. Print.
Sholtis, Tadd. Military Strategy as Public Discourse: America’s War in Afghanistan. New York, NY: Routledge, 2014. Print.
Snow, Nancy and Phillip Taylor. Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy. New York, NY: Routledge, 2009. Print.
Walker, Steve. Social Media Marketing Tips. New York: Create Space Independent Publishing Platform, 2014. Print.