Social Media Essay Example for Free

Social Media Essay Humans were always known for their cultural trend of migrating to what is cool and new. The Internet became a sensation when it first came out in the 60s. However, now sites such as Facebook and YouTube have absorbed that popularity. There are about 250 million active Facebook users, 346 million blog readers, 184 million bloggers, 14 million â€Å"tweeters† (Zarrella, 1). These websites are now known as the world of social media. The term social media broken up consists of two words, social media. Social meaning one’s uncontrollable need for companionship and media is a communication instrument (Dictionary.   com). Therefore it basically means the search for companionship through a communication instruments. The recent rise in the usage and the popularity of the Social media has amended the higher education system, altered the psychological state of its users and redefined marketing and advertisement. Facebook, YouTube and BlogSpot are the more prominent sites in which Americans socially relate. â€Å"With over 500 million active users, Facebook provides a virtual reality in cyberspace where users can enact identities for their friends, acquaintances, and a larger passing public† (Noor Al-Deen, 5). Users create profiles and provide explicit information such birth date, location, and relationship status, forcing one to become deeply attached to one’s accounts. Of the many reasons why members of the society use social media are to accumulate friends and strengthen previous friendships. â€Å"According to Facebook, the average user has 130 friends† (Noor Al-Deen, 5). Facebook focuses on making friends and updating statuses and being aware of your virtual friend’s status. Another reason why members of the society use social media is it to engage in self-presentation, make one self-known to the larger world (Noor Al-Deen, 5). Many have become socially elevated just by posting a video of themselves on Facebook or YouTube. College students are of the top users of social media. â€Å"In a recent study college students ‘reported using Facebook 30 minutes throughout the day as apart of their daily routine’†( Noor Al-Deen, 3). College is an environment where one explores his options and decides his future. Therefore many college students refer to sites such as Facebook and Twitter to become truly apart their collegiate community and become socially integrated. â€Å"A study submitted by Heiberger and Harper in 2008 found that 78.  1% of students who spent more than an hour on Facebook participated in at least 1 student organization or more† (Wankel, 4). Therefore there is an evident relativity between social integration and participation in school organization. Social media sites have also enabled freshmen student to enact with their professors and classmates much efficiently instead of having to set appointments and wait for a long time for one to meet one’s professor (Noor al-Deen, 6). Therefore incoming freshmen students should be encouraged to get involve socially both online and offline to increase their chances of growth within the institution they attend. However, according to Charles Wankel, a professor at St John’s University, extensive usage of sites as such Facebook can cause deficits such as information overload and bypass academic responsibilities. It takes up to much time of the day that it distracts one from his tasks. Social media sites have also altered the psychology of our society. â€Å"‘†¦Television and other popular forms of social media shape our perception of reality’ Sheldon says. † (Newswise) we base our decisions and thinking on what we encounter during our experiences with those forms of social media. Children are the most vulnerable to this psychological shift due to the stage of life they are in. Childhood was always known as a stage where children absorb all information presented and merge it into their behavior. So when children are presented with social media sites they are forced to adopt. An article written by Chelsea Clinton and James Steyer says â€Å"By the time theyre 2 years old, more than 90% of all American children have an online history. At 5, more than 50% regularly interact with a computer or tablet device, and by 7 or 8, many kids regularly play video games.† Children are being familiarized with social media by parents and older siblings and cousins and that’s how to they ride this wave early on. As they grow up they are faced with calamities and adversities such as bullying or parental divorce. They then turn to social media sites to express their feelings and search for comfort and empathy. â€Å"Rosen says. His research shows people who engage in more Facebook activities more status updates, more photo uploads, more likes also display more virtual empathy† (The Huffington pos ). This virtual empathy then reflects on one’s face to face interactions. Children who are not socially active face to face become more socially confident after using social media. This is due to them sharing and communicating online behind doors, which builds their confidence. â€Å"If someone posts he had a difficult day, and you post a comment saying, Call me if you need anything, youve just displayed virtual empathy† (The Huffington post). However an article claims that† The immediacy of social media platforms, coupled with vulnerable youngsters who are socially inexperienced and not fully developed emotionally, can create a combustible mix. Kids often self-reveal before they reflect, and millions of kids say and do things they later regret† (Clinton Steyer, 1). Social media sites have transformed the minds of these children and made them think that these sites are always helpful. â€Å"Consumer Reports reported last year that more than 7. 5 million American kids under the age of 13 have joined Facebook, which technically requires users to be 13 years old to open an account† (Clinton Steyer, 1). This shows the addiction that one’s children could have if one doesn’t set restrictions and provisions. Lastly, the final aspect in which social media sites had an enormous impact on was marketing and advertising. Businesses recently began to market their products on social media because of the large online social population. So as they receive supporters, these supporters also began to influence others that they virtual met or will meet. It is like a chain reaction of supporters. In recent years many name brand companies have become a part of the social media community. â€Å"Brands such as IBM, Burger King, and have come to own a 100 blogs and claim over 100000 views on YouTube† (Zarrela, 2). Through these blogs and YouTube they communicate with consumers and make sure that the consumer full is convinced with the product. Advertisement is a great part of a business because it is what attracts consumers. â€Å"Advertisers don’t have to pay publishers or distributors huge sums of money to embed their messages; now they can make their own interesting content that viewers will flock to (Zarrela, 5). Therefore their spending decrease and profit increase. The social media is cheap means of marketing for businesses. It costs almost nothing, it’s easy to get started, and it can have an enormous financial impact on your business (Zarrela, 3). In conclusion, social media has become a source of advancement and growth in which one can attain effortlessly. However one must become knowledgeable of what one share and reads. Social media opens doors to who chooses to excel academically by offering different angles on a single topic and aiding him/her on researching about that topic. It also opens opportunities to become more socially rounded by building confidence behind closed doors and automatically reflecting that in your day to day interactions and relationships. And open doors for businesses to grow and become more popular and productive. Social media cost all most nothing therefore there is no reason why one should take advantage of the golden opportunity that lies ahead of one. However one must not be controlled by the social but one should be in control of it.

The Illegal Bushmeat Trade :: essays research papers

The second half of the 20th century has seen the continent of Africa in continuous turmoil. Civil wars, the AIDS epidemic, deforestation, and desertification are just a few of the problems facing Africa. A more recent threat to this ancient and fragile environment has emerged and is quickly gaining strength at devouring life – the bush meat trade. â€Å"Bush meat† refers to the smoked carcasses of various wild, and often endangered species that are sold illegally at rural markets of undeveloped countries and even at ethnic markets in developed nations. The meat of gorillas, chimpanzees, and elephants are considered delicacies and the demand for these endangered species is increasingly high. Countries at the center of this crisis are Botswana, Mozambique, Kenya, Zimbabwe, the Congo, Cameroon, Zambia, Malawi, and Tanzania. Bush meat plays a crucial socio-economic role to many in Africa, and as such epitomizes the need to balance protection against such factors as poverty, health, and food security. Certain key issues are necessary to understand the bush meat trade: 1. Bush meat is not purely a tropical forest-related phenomenon, but is Africa-wide and indeed a global problem. - Bush meat utilization is a significant conservation, economic, and cultural issue in non-forested areas of eastern and southern Africa - Bush meat is regarded as one of the most beneficial wildlife resources available to local communities. Demand is high and is increasing at alarming rates 2. Bush meat crucial as a source of cheap protein for malnourished people throughout Africa - Over 90% of rural peoples in Central Africa eat less than half of the recommended protein intake 3. With growing populations, demand for bush meat will continue to grow 4. Poverty in the face of diminishing alternative resources, means that traditional taboos restricting the consumption of certain animals is increasingly ignored -Some claim that since we humans are 97% related genetically to chimps and gorillas that eating them is tantamount to cannibalism 5. Even though subsistence use of bush meat still predominates over most areas of eastern and southern Africa, an emerging trend of increased commercial trade is evident - Bush meat is making its way into Europe in large quantities and is even found in ethnic markets in the UK The core of the problem appears to be logging. Logging companies build roads to previously inaccessible areas making contact to bush meat much easier. Some companies actually hire employees to buy the meat, while others supply hunters with guns and ammunition and even transport the catch between forests and markets.

Life and Margaret Atwood Essay

This quotation was taken from Margaret Atwood’s story, â€Å"Homelanding.† This story recounts many aspects of human existence from an outside view, as if it was being told to an alien race. This story tells about human appearance, sex (both difference and the act of), sunbathing, sleeping, death, and many other human functions in a scientific way. This story takes a step away from the normal way of describing these objects. For example, Margaret Atwood talks about eating and describes it by saying â€Å"I destroy and assimilate certain parts of my surroundings and change them into myself.† Most people who have had human contact their whole life consider eating putting food in their mouths, chewing, and swallowing. This quotation at the beginning of the story shows that the author knows that she is writing this for a human audience. She starts this off with the line, â€Å"Where should I begin?† This is more of a conversational style that draws the reader into this as if she was talking directly to the reader. The human reader is supposed to take the role of the alien race. The reader has to take a duality of being both a human and from an alien race who has no knowledge of anything human. The next line restates this with, â€Å"After all you have never been there; or if you have you may not have understood the significance of what you say or thought you saw.† An alien race would never have been to earth, yet the human reader has spent his whole life on earth if never stopping to think of the significance of what he is seeing. The next line is: â€Å"A window is a window, but there is looking out and looking in.† This can be seen in all the number of times that someone sees something in someone else that the person does not see in himself. For example, often a teacher is responsible for helping a student develop a talent that was there but the student did not know that he had it. This story is attempting to do the same and show the reader characteristics that mankind has but do not know it has. In the next line, this is reiterated with the statement, â€Å"The native you glimpsed, disappearing behind the curtain, or into the bushes, or down the manhole in the mainstreet–my people are shy–may have only been your own reflection in the glass.† This shows the reader is the reflection in the glass and is seeing a portrait of himself in the story. Storytelling is often used to teach a lesson to the reader or listener. One of the most read examples of this is the Bible. Jesus often spoke in parables to help teach lessons to his listeners. This story attempts to make us take a step away from  ourselves and see ourselves in a different light so we could possibly understand ourselves better.

Emotions And Personality With An Extraversion - 983 Words

Emotions and personality with an extraversion introversion focus What is an emotion? â€Å"An emotion according to psychology today magazine is a judgment about the extent that the current situation meets your goals† (Altruism). From that definition our emotions in basics are relative to the satisfaction of our desires, and how our needs and wants are met in our lives. Beautifully one controls their emotions, because one can choose for himself by his conscious will. Yet there are other factors that play into emotions, one of them being our focus which is personality. What is personality? â€Å"Personality according to the american psychology association is the individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving† (association). By that definition everything one can do is affected by their personality. One of the big five personality traits is introversion or extroversion. How are introverts defined? â€Å"Introverts are drained by social encounters and energized by solitary, often creative pursuits† (Psychology Today). In other words they are people who like solo activities over group activities. These are usually the writers, inventors, people who prefer to work alone. However that is not to say they can’t have other jobs, and be good at them. It means they prefer to work alone. â€Å"Introverts are quiet, reserved, and task oriented†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Kozak) How are extraverts defined? Extraverts are the social people, they love group activities. They are, â€Å"sociable,Show MoreRelatedBSB124 Working in Business PORTFOLIO PART 11261 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿ Contents 1. 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