Positive Aspects of Facebook - Assignment Example

Positive Aspects of Face-book Introduction Technology is an important aspect in our current society and it keeps evolving with time. Technology has completely taken over the entertainment industry with the upcoming trend of communication. Facebook is the new evolved technology that has taken over the entertainment industry by a storm as well as communication. It is a social networking centre that has got many people involved and hooked on to it. It enables one to create his/her own page and can be able to communicate with their friends at ant time. So many individuals have found themselves drifting from other network centers and find themselves being immensely attracted to facebook. This has managed to draw out very strong opinions from many individuals regarding facebook and these opinions have raised a controversial issue about the aspects of facebook. As much as many people love to believe that facebook has more negative aspects and influence on people, it also has positive aspects that are genuine and have helped many people and this report will focus on the positive aspects of facebook. Communication The main focus of facebook was to create a social network that helps people reconnect with their old friends or to connect with new friend and be able to communicate with them at anytime at very low costs. According to Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe (2007), it has helped many people stay in touch and be aware of the well being of their friends and family who live far from each other. Communication is an important aspect in life and where people used to find no time to communicate with their friends due t high call rates or lack of time now are able to stay constantly in touch with their friends. Many people have admitted on being addicted to facebook and spend a better time of their day hunched on their computers or looking down at their phones in facebook since it helps them feel connected to the rest of the world and helps them get involved in their friends lives. In case people are too busy to get together with their friends or family, they can just be able to stay in touch and communicate through facebook for a considerable moment and they say it feels like they were together and the time they could find to get together was made up for through facebook. Although communication is the most common positive reason for the social network site, it also helps kill time and entertain at the same time. Many people are against the fact that most individuals spend almost all their time logging in to facebook, it may have an annoying streak but at the same time helps keep somebody occupied. When one has been busy the whole time and gets time only for a very short break, he might need something it distract his thoughts before going back to his busy nature and facebook has created an easy way out (Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe, 2007). During this time one cannot be able to engage in physical activities to distract him so opts to turn to facebook where he is distracted for a while when he catches up with his friends latest activities. It also helps entertain many young people since the time they would have spent idling around engaging in unfit activities is now spent connecting with their friends through facebook. It helps keep their mind alert and keeps them away from trouble. Building social skills Facebook helps many people improve on their social skills through making of new friends and helping them engage in meaningful conversation. Where many young people used to suffer from self esteem issues while making friends, they now find a solace in facebook where making friends is easy and is so hard to judge people. Making of new friends through a social network where one used to have none or very few is very encouraging as it helps one work on their social skills and can be able to communicate more freely with their peers. Relationships As much as it has received negative views many individuals have been able to engage in meaningful relationships that have helped many find their soul mates through facebook. Meeting of new friends is common in facebook and these relationships could to something serious and meaningful in the future. Many couples have admitted to have met through facebook in a relationship that started with an honest friendship request and as they got to get more acquainted with each other the more they found out that they had many things in common and their friendship transformed into a relationship. They claim that facebook is user friendly than most social network sites and easy to operate, it is not complicated and one can be able to communicate with the others using simple gestures such as gifts which are available and easily accessible. These simple gifts which can be made either public or private can have a lot of meaning to the person receiving them. Relationships are further developed since one can be able to post something or meaningful comments on the other’s wall to show that they are in your thoughts all the time. Facebook has many ways of making sure that people stay in tough even if its not through messaging each other it can be through poking. Poking is a way of letting people to know you still consider them as friends and would like to get more in touch. Some couples admitted that they found poking rather romantic and it strengthens their relationship further. Simple relationships that were started through facebook have found themselves unfolding into engagements, which eventually lead to marriage. Facebook does not introduce relationships since it is a fairly still new in the network sites but it finds a way that makes courtship easier and relationships work better. Business benefits Since facebook has found itself many users and fans that are addicted to it most business enterprises and ventures have found it very beneficial to their businesses. Advertising is the most important way of getting customers attracted to one’s business operations and one advertises in areas that they are likely to get to the target faster. Facebook has come to the aid of many businesses who wish to advertise to people in a manner which will have more effect on them. Since facebook has dedicated fans who love to see new things and venture into them too, business enterprises find it easier to advertise their stocks or services through facebook an investment that has seemed to bear fruit. These advertisements are placed in facebook as a tool that attracts more customers, if the business target customers are the youth; they are bound to be at a great advantage by advertising through face book. Although facebook has been dominated by the young generation, it has not stopped the adults from venturing into it making facebook one of the fastest growing networking sites hence, a bigger plus for the business transactions. Incase one has come up with a new innovative idea or a business plan and wishes to introduce it to the market, they find that facebook is one of the fastest ways to get the news circulating. Advertising new products especially to interested customers can be a really helpful step to take and the business can grow at a very fast rate. Facebook allows one to create an advertising page or an account and the only to keep the people informed is by updating the status and posting new comments to the interested party. This has proved to be beneficial to the young generation and a wonderful opportunity for them to utilize their talents. A young man said that while he started his clothing line he adopted facebook as his advertising agency and it worked wonders for him. He created an account for his line and there he posted pictures of his new designs and comments about them too, this attracted a big crowd of funs and he has never looked back since. Still on talent many young people love to explore their singing talents and they find it easier to start through facebook. Although you tube another social networking site is commonly used to post singing videos allowing people to get many views, people use this to post videos on their facebook pages allowing their friends to view them and other fans as well. This gives them a good start off and by the time they start their singing career, they have already created fans for themselves and venturing into the industry is made easier. Not only music is promoted through facebook one can also post their own films if they wish to kick start their career in that sector. Useful groups Facebook is not only used for entertainment and communication but also be used to form useful groups which help counsel and talk to disturbed children. These groups are formed as a way of reaching out to children who have issues at home r any other place. This is an easy way to get people to open up and talk about their feelings or problems, since the people forming these groups are usually professionals they can be able to get to these children and slowly help the solve their issues. Most of these children are shy and do not want to talk to people about their problems and find it easier to do so through facebook since it is easier and faster. Not only counseling groups are formed but other useful groups that may help promote peace or any other related issues. These groups offer advice and get people to contribute on ways of making their society a better environment. Conclusion Therefore, facebook is the fastest growing networking site attracting hundreds of individuals from all over the world. Although it has both negative and positive aspects, it has helped change the lives of many people in various ways. Through communication it has helped connect many people and build on their self esteem greatly most people who had forgotten about each other are reconnected and their friendships blossom. People who joined the site looking for nothing more than just a little fun have ended up leaving with soul mates. Business enterprises have benefitted immensely from this site and others are still continuing to enjoy the benefits it has it offer. Hence, as much as facebook has positive effects it also has negative effects which with the required discipline and determination can be turned into positive aspects mostly. The research that I conducted has proved that most people love to engage themselves in facebook and most of them view only the positive effects it has had on them rather than the negative effects. References Ellison, B. , Steinfield, C. & Lampe, C. , 2007. The benefits of facebook “friends:” social capital college students’ use of online social network sited. Journal of Computer- Medicated Communication, [Online]. 12(4), Available at http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/ellison.html [Accessed 30 April 2010]. Read More