Social media has become an essential tool of the information age, connecting people around the world and having a positive impact, but it also has negative effects, such as personal information leakage and loss of relationships.
In his book The Third Wave, Alvin Toffler predicted the first wave of the agricultural revolution, the second wave of the industrial revolution, and the third wave of the information revolution. True to his prediction, we are now living in the information age. We have more than one computer in every home, and the use of personal computers has become commonplace. Smartphones are in people’s hands wherever they go, and Wi-Fi zones are everywhere. With such easy access to the internet, people can instantly connect to the internet whenever and wherever they want. In such a society, new relationships have been born that did not exist in the past. Relationships that were previously only possible face-to-face and offline can now be formed online without ever seeing each other.
This is made possible by the modern form of social media, a product of the World Wide Web that has evolved since the 1990s. In recent years, these social networks have exploded in growth and development and have garnered a great deal of social and cultural attention. Let’s take a look at what SNSs are, the different types, their advantages and disadvantages, and how they will develop in the future.
SNS stands for Social Network Service or Social Network Site, and refers to an IT network-based community created for the purpose of building online connections. Each service implements different functions, so it is not easy to define the functional features in a single word, and users define them in their own terms. Wikipedia defines a community as “an online platform that creates and strengthens social relationships by allowing users to communicate freely, share information, and expand their network.” Another popular definition is that of Boyd and Ellison, who theorize that an SNS is “a web-based service that allows individuals to publicly or semi-publicly establish their identity within a particular system, present a list of other users with whom they are connected, and allow them to browse the list of connections that others have within that system.”
Currently, the two most commonly used social networks are Facebook and Twitter. Facebook, the most successful social network in the United States, was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004. Relationships on Facebook are based on mutual consent. An important feature of Facebook is its “social plugins” feature, such as the “Like” button at the bottom of posts. When a user clicks the Like button on a post they like, it becomes visible to their Facebook friends.
Next, Twitter was launched in March 2006, combining the “friending” feature with the speed of instant messaging. Twitter is a simple service that allows users to post 140 characters or less of text, and posts are listed in chronological order. What sets Twitter apart from other social networks is its “follow” feature, which allows users to follow people they are interested in. This is similar to “friending” on other SNS, but it is different in that it is a one-way relationship that does not require the other person to accept. The person who follows you is called a follower.
The difference in how Facebook and Twitter form relationships is what makes them different. While Facebook is primarily about offline connections, Twitter allows you to connect with an indefinite number of people. This difference makes Facebook better suited for personal stories and small talk, while Twitter is better suited for public news. As Twitter’s vice president once said, “Twitter is not a social network, it’s news,” and Twitter has become primarily a platform for fast, public news. While these SNSs differ in their specific features and functions, they ultimately share a common goal of building community through social networks.
SNSs are like Janus with two faces. They have both positive and negative impacts on our society. On the one hand, social networks allow us to make connections with people all over the world. Living in the information age, we can easily communicate with people in faraway places by simply creating an account. It allows us to form friendly relationships that transcend the limitations of physical distance and geographical constraints.
Another advantage of social media is that it can prevent incidents and accidents or prevent secondary victimization. For example, a story about an attempted human trafficking on the subway was posted on an SNS, followed by a photo of the perpetrator, which spread rapidly. In this way, social media can help prevent crime by allowing information to spread quickly. Another example is the pro-democracy revolution in Tunisia. Although the media was controlled by force, the spread of information through social media helped to create a broad public opinion that helped topple the dictatorship.
Social media also enables two-way communication between consumers and businesses. Businesses can utilize social media to advertise at a fraction of the cost, while consumers can interact in real time and have their opinions reflected in products. In this sense, social media is an important way for consumers to increase their influence and contribute to the development of a company’s products.
However, social media also has its drawbacks. The main negative impact is the damage caused by the exposure of personal information and private life. The ease and convenience of using social media often leads individuals to inadvertently share sensitive information about themselves. This can lead to unwanted information being exposed to unwanted people. There is also a risk that social media features that provide location information could be used to commit crimes such as kidnapping or human trafficking.
There’s also the issue of reckless spread of information. Social media’s role as a one-person media means that individuals can post freely, which can lead to the spread of inaccurate information. False rumors about celebrities are a prime example.
In addition, being too obsessed with social media can lead to poor real-life relationships. While it’s possible to build offline relationships, focusing on social media connections can lead to a lack of real-life relationships. It’s important to remember that social media connections can be fleeting, disappearing as soon as you close the screen on your computer or smartphone. If you become overly immersed in these virtual connections, it can be easy to feel alienated from the real world and even suffer from mental problems such as depression. If this phenomenon intensifies, it can become a social problem, not just an individual problem.
What is the future of social media? In the fast-paced modern world, social media is definitely a beneficial tool. Despite the negative effects of social media, its positive role and value are increasingly being emphasized. Considering the current social, economic, and cultural value of SNS, the market is expected to continue to grow in the coming years. Facebook and Twitter, which dominate the global SNS market, have already surpassed hundreds of millions of users, and this trend is not expected to stop anytime soon. In addition, according to Wikipedia, more than 6 out of 10 internet users have an SNS account. This suggests that the use of SNSs will become even more common in the future.
In this article, we’ve discussed the definition, types, advantages, disadvantages, and future prospects of SNSs. We hope that SNS, a medium that delivers information quickly in the information age, will continue to develop in a beneficial direction for our society by utilizing its advantages and improving its disadvantages.
