Hum 176 Wk 4 Assignment

Examining the Use of Social Media: Option 1

Question 1: What are the advantages and disadvantages of social media?

Social media is a popular and powerful media form that attracts a widespread audience. These days, it seems that most everyone has a social network site account (and often numerous accounts). Social media is extremely popular with both individual users and with businesses. There are many benefits to social media use; however, there are some disadvantages as well.

Social media sites are often comparable to traditional “word of mouth” communication. They make the exchange of information convenient for individuals, groups, and businesses. Social media sites have their own pros and cons, but all these sites serve this information sharing purpose. Facebook, one of the most popular social networking sites, allows users to share information in many forms (audio, images, text, video). Twitter gives users the opportunity to send and receive short text messages that make “up to the minute” information available. YouTube is a popular site that specializes in video content, and it features an immense and diverse collection of videos. The Internet contains a variety of social media sites, and these are the positive aspects of just a few.

While there are several positive aspects to social media, there are also negative elements. Since Facebook is popular as a means of social interaction (it draws comparisons to conventional spoken conversation), it bears distinct benefits and drawbacks. Users often use this forum as an easy way to spread gossip and misinformation. Some individuals will make use of a user’s information to “Facebook stalk” him or her. Twitter allows quick information sharing, but it is rather limited as to the amount of information that can be shared at one time. YouTube is ideal for video sharing, but it lacks the usefulness through diversity of Facebook.

There are many advantages and...