The Positive Effects of Social Media on Teens
The combined use of various online networking networks that assist in engagement, community-based feedback, cooperation, and content-sharing is referred to as social media (Pavlik & John, 2015). Social networking platforms include Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Pinterest, Reddit, and Instagram. In the twentieth century, a greater proportion of the world's youth had access to social media.Social Networking Offers a Forum for People to Quickly Meet New Friends
This is because social media has made it possible for one to have hundreds or even thousands of friends on Facebook and other social media sites (Pavlik & John, 2015). Despite the fact that they may not really be friends that one may know mostly on a personal level or spend time in real time, they are still friends. There are numerous people that are regarded as friends despite the fact that one has never seen them and is not even sure of ever meeting up with them. Additionally, it allows for speedy communication despite the limited work frame. Normally, people have so many family and work commitments that they do not have time to meet and interact with other people. However, social media sites tend to offer young people a chance of communicating in an efficient and speedy manner. For instance, writing a single update on a Facebook or Twitter account tends to take less than 20 seconds. As a result, the update tends to reach all individuals that one wants it to say.Social Media for Marketing Businesses
Young individuals with business tend to use social media for marketing their goods and services. These people take advantage of social media with the intention of helping their companies increase their brand exposure as well as broaden their customer reach. The main goal is normally to create content to compel enough that social media users will share it with their various social networks (Tang et al, 2012). The social customer relationship marketing in short CRM is regarded as a very powerful business tool. For instance, by establishing a single Facebook page tends to allow persons who like one's brand and the manner in which one conducts his or her business to like the page. This in turn creates a venue for networking, communicating and marketing. As a result, one can use different social media sites by following conversations about one's brand for real-time feedback and market data. From a client's perspective, social media usually makes it very easy for them to tell the owner of a company as well as other people about their experiences with that specific organization. These includes both good and bad experiences (Aichner & Jacob, 2015). As a result, the owners of the firm are able to quickly respond to both negative and positive feedback as well as well as attend to the various customer problems. Through this they are able to maintain, rebuild or regain client confidence.Keeping in Touch with the World
Another benefit of social media for the youth is that it helps them keep in touch with the rest of the world. This is because, it is not only a person's inner circle of family members and close friends that social media sites often allow one to communicate with in an effective and easy manner (O'Kefee, 2011). Social networks tend to have the ultimate power to open the world making it a small place to interact. When it comes to the use of social media, all persons are equal regardless of their location. For instance, family members who are residing abroad may be kept abreast of all the latest happenings in one's word just the same as those who live close by. Research shows that with different location-based services such as Swarm and Foursquare which tend to put a great emphasis on one's location, social media in general means that it has become less significant. Building different relationships is another important benefit of using social media for the young generation. Despite the fact that social networking sites have the tendency of breaking up relationships, they are also connecting people onto better relationships. This is because, social networks may put you in touch with individuals who tend to have very many things in common. This kind of common ground is in most cases regarded as a starting point for building long-lasting relationships.Finding Common Ground in an Open Society
Another positive impact of social media is that it helps the youth to find a common ground mostly in an open society. This is because, social media sites tend to help users to find individuals whom one shares different interests with. For instance, Facebook sometimes asks the users to list what and whom one is interested in as one opens an account (Kirkpatrick, 2011). This in turn makes it easier for a person to find common ground with other users. Other social media sites such as Twitter recommends that one should follow those people who tend to have something to say that one is interested in. This in turn helps one to make various connections with like-minded persons in a very easy manner when compared to when one is off-line. However, this requires one to share information and also give up a specific amount of privacy. But sharing one's interests, dislikes and likes, obsessions, thoughts as well as views ends up contributing to an open society.Education and Seeking Help
Education of the youth is also affected positively by social media. Research shows that social media tends to have many benefits for both teachers and students. This is because, it is easy to educate students by using other professionals and experts through social media. In most cases, one can follow different individuals to learn from them with the aim of enhancing one's knowledge about any given field (Paniagua & Sapena, 2014). Irrespective of one's education background and location, an individual can educate himself or herself without necessarily paying for it. Another positive impact is that the youth can use social media with the intention of seeking help. A person can share issues with the community with the intention of getting giddiness and help. This can be help in terms of advice or money, and one can get the necessary help from the specific community that one is connected with. In addition, one can seek empathy from other social media users. Whenever one talks about him or herself, other users tend to generally care and they tend to listen to what he or she has to say. In turn, the help the individuals deal with the various problems that one may be facing. In conclusion, it is evident that social media tends to have numerous positive impacts on the young generation but only when used in moderation. This includes: building relationships, helping one to find a common ground in an open society, keeping in touch with people around the world, helps people market their goods and services, speedy communication, making new friends, education, and seeking help from other users.References
Pavlik M & John S. (2015). Coverging Media. 4th Edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press
OKeefe G (2011). The impact of social media on children, adolescents and families. Pediatrics. 127(4): 801-805
Tang Q; Gu, B & Washington A.B (2012). Content contribution for revenue sharing and reputation in social media: A dynamic structural model. Journal of Management Information Systems 29(2): 41-75
Aichner, T & Jacob F (2015). Measuring the degree of corporate social media use. International journal of market research. 57(2): 257-275
Kirkpatrick D (2011). The Facebook effect: the real inside story of Mark Zuckerberg and the Worlds fastest growing company. London: Virgin
Paniagua J & Sapena J (2014). Business performance and social media: love or hate? Business Horizons 57(6): 719-728
