Social Networking Sites:

Good or Bad for Society

By: Aysha Meeks

Popular Sites…

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What are Social Networking Sites?

Online communities

Allow people to develop profiles of backgrounds and interests

Communicate with friends and strangers

And share thoughts, photos, internet links, music, etc.

Networking

Author Barry Wellman

“The internet plays socially beneficial roles in a world moving towards ‘networked individualism.’”

Use of the Social Networking Sites

60 million receive help with major life issues.

59% of students with access to the Internet report that they use social networking sites to discuss educational topics including career and college planning, and 50% use the sites to talk about school assignments.

Who is affected?

Everyone

All age groups own at least one profile on a social networking site.

Uses of Social Network Sites

Social Networking Sites and Politics

the day before the US presidential election, Democratic candidate Barack Obama had 2,379,102 Facebook. Republican John McCain had 620,359

Obama had 833,161 MySpace friends and McCain had 217,811.

Obama had 384% more Facebook supporters and 383% more MySpace friends than McCain

Using the Internet for information

Young voters seek information from social networking sites

“52% have gone online to look for more information about candidates’ positions on the issues.”

“More than a quarter of US voters younger than age 30 (including 37% of those aged 18-24) said they obtained information about the political campaigns from social networking sites.”

Politicians Use Networking Sites

“candidates in the 2008 election engaged potential voters with YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and other social media.”

Social Networking Sites

Beneficial for finding important contacts

Benefits students with educational needs

Help out politicians who need younger voters

Helps younger voters obtain information on politics

Go Sign Up…it’s FREE!

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