Free Essay on the Social and Business Networking Article

Social and Business Networking Article

In the article “Social and Business Networking,” the author classifies the groups that people interact with into two-family and friends and colleagues and associates at work. Facebook helps people communicate with their friends and family while LinkedIn socializes people with other colleagues at work. Facebook has such stunning features like searching for friends with whom they share interests, Facebook timeline, and newsfeeds where one keeps track of the activities that their friends are doing, the adverse log and graph search among others (Social and Business Networking, n.d.). Some of these features have been criticized as breaching the privacy of users. Facebook can also cause real life negative consequences like denial of an application in school. The next social network that is actively competing with Facebook is Google+, which is unique in the grouping of the friends in circles depending on the interests. The author then explains about LinkedIn, a business platform (Social and Business Networking, n.d.). People use LinkedIn to search for clients, recruiters, jobs among others. After explaining the features of LinkedIn as a business networking platform, the author then describes the impacts that the social media, particularly Facebook, has on the larger society.

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The author’s point of view, like most of the adverse agree, is that the benefits of social media outweigh the adverse effects. Research done by a group of researchers at Michigan State University on how undergraduate students’ use Facebook shows has a vast number of good uses (Social and Business Networking, n.d.). The students use Facebook to increase their social connections, which means that they are going to obtain a higher access to information and new perspectives. Additionally, the students use Facebook to learn much about classes and dorms. They also get to meet their old high school friends and get into contact with them. Besides students, big companies are using social media in all their activities. They keep their customers updated by posting new items on the social media sites. They use any negative comment as a way of bettering the quality of good and services they offer to ensure customer satisfaction through the creation of new strategic plans (Social and Business Networking, n.d.). Also, optimists say that social media can potentially change the world by bringing together people of different backgrounds helping a harmonious understanding of each other. However, some media portray social networks as misfits where people make virtual friends instead of real ones. Also, many cases of suicide have been reported resulting from "cyberbullying" in the social platforms.

Kisha N. Daniels’ article presents research to show whether Facebook can be used as a tool for instruction; effect that the social media has on cooperative learning. The researchers attempt to answer two questions by carrying out the study. The first one is whether by creating a closed Facebook page would increase participation and cooperative learning. The second issue is the topics that can be impacted by the use of the closed Facebook page (Daniels, & Billingsley, 2014). Two theories can be used to develop and support cooperative learning-sociocultural and pedagogical approaches. Since the social media has a greater impact on the lives of youngsters as compared to the adults, they were used as the participants of the study. The researchers recorded their findings in graphs and charts.

Social Media Learning

The results of the study show that social media can be used as a potent tool for learning, teaching, and assessment. The respondents in the study preferred the use of social media in their learning instead of the traditional methods like the blackboard. For a long time, faculty of higher learning has been reliant on the traditional methods of teaching, and this study shows that it is high time they transform (Daniels, & Billingsley, 2014). Social media supports collaborative learning in that it allows for thoughtful reflections and responses. Social constructivists, who believe that cognitive development is positively influenced by electronic discourse, support the author’s stance. Critical thinking skills are unarguably crucial in one’s everyday life. Therefore, higher learning should promote the skills by using the methods that will enhance the skills. Social media is a powerful tool in ensuring that students have maximum retention through the use of technology.

Terri H. Chan’s article provides both pros and cons of using Facebook in which she calls it a double-edged sword. It is a research done to examine how Facebook affects one’s social empathic skills and satisfaction of life. The study differs with other literature in that no research shows the effect that Facebook has on a person’s life satisfaction. However, there are three ways in which this study relates to the existing literature. First, it provides enrichment the current research on how psychological well-being and Face usage relates (Chan, 2014). Another similarity is on validation of the positive and adverse effects of links between empathic social skills and a person’s traits. Lastly, it provides a validation of the empathic social skills have to do with Facebook usage on a person’s life satisfaction. The research involves 515 college-aged students who answered several traits (Chan, 2014). They were selected since they are the heaviest Facebook users and thus, the most profoundly affected by the psychological and social impacts.

The author’s stance is that Facebook has both negative as well as positive effects. She says that appropriate usage of Facebook lessens the negative effects of neuroticism on a person’s empathic social skills. Excessive usage of Facebook makes it a less threatening platform on which the individuals can develop and maintain their interpersonal relationships. Chan also says that Facebook is an extension of face-to-face communication (Chan, 2014). The people who are shy can get a means of expressing their views and attitudes enhancing the freedom of expression. People should be very careful while using Facebook since it can diminish a person’s real life activities. Facebook activities such as meeting friends and other forms of interaction replace the actual activities (Chan, 2014). Time used while surfing displaces the time utilized in doing real-life social activities representing the suppression effect of Facebook usage.

The above three articles portray some similarities. First, the three recognize that Facebook is the widely used social media platform and that it has the greatest impact. The article “Social and Business Networking” presents some similarities and differences between three platforms; Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn. Although there is a stiff competition between the three platforms, Facebook remains to be the most commonly used. The three authors present their views on the usage of Facebook and the various advantages and disadvantages of using Facebook on people’s lives. All of them use Facebook to generalize the effects of using social media. Another aspect the three are similar on is the age in which Facebook is heavily used. All of them recognize that teens and young adults are the heaviest Facebook users.

Learning Through Retention

Additionally, the three authors agree in unison that Facebook has both in each of the negative and positive effects. However, the positive effects differ in each of the articles. Chan provides the positive effect of socialization through expression, especially for the people who are shy and cannot express themselves. However, this only happens to the individuals who use Facebook at the appropriate rate. Those who use it excessively, it will impact adverse effects on them. Daniels presents the advantages of using Facebook as a teaching tool. He carries a research that shows that social media should replace the traditional methods of cooperative learning as it enhances retention. However, he does not provide any negative effect.

On my side, I support the three authors in saying that social media is good and it has more benefits than the negative ones. When people from different countries socialize, they can learn more about each other, especially with the rising levels of globalization thus, creating a harmonious coexistence between all individuals regardless of the region. Another advantage is that students can do cooperative learning while having fun at the same time. Thus, use of social media enhances learning through retention. There are many more other advantages associated with the use of social media other than fun only such as getting jobs or finding employees. According to me, the positive side of the Facebook and social media usage has more weight. Therefore, people should consider using these sites to improve their life status.

In conclusion, there are various advantages associated with the use of social media. Facebook, the dominant social media platform is used mostly by youngsters and has more uses besides just having fun. First, it increases the social network ensuring that people have better access to more information and perspectives. Also, students can learn more about their classes and the school in general. Facebook can also be used as a tool for teaching and learning. However, Facebook usage has some disadvantages. They include causing addiction, “cyberbullying” and breaking real life connectedness between friends.

References

Chan, T. H. (2014). Facebook and its effects on users' empathic social skills and life satisfaction: a double-edged sword effect. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 17(5), 276-280.

Daniels, K., & Billingsley, K. Y. (2014). “Facebook"-It's Not Just For Pictures Anymore: The Impact of Social Media on Cooperative Learning. i-Manager's Journal of Educational Technology, 11(3), 34.

Social and Business Networking. (n.d.)