research paper on social media

1. Rachel Handley
Dr.Harold Blanco
First Year Seminar
November 20, 2015
Social Media
Society grows and changes with the growth of technology, over the years we went from
only knowing people who we see on a daily bases to talking and meeting people all over the
world on the internet using social media. Social media popularity has grown exponentially
worldwide, leading people to argue over whether or not social media effects society in a
positive or negative way. According to the article “Social Media Explosion”, written by Marcia
Clemmitt, there are three main issues of concern when talking about Social Media: personal
relationships, privacy, and community; providing evidence will show that with the three main
issues social media will prove to have a positive impact on today’s society.
One of the key issues that is always brought up in the debate over social media is
whether or not social media makes personal relationships harder. (Clemmit) It was found in a
clinical study that was studying the effects of social media on adolescence that “adolescents
today seemto be far more articulate and sophisticated than ever before. They are often
comfortable talking to a wide range of people and about a wide range of topics” (Barth, “Social
Media and Adolescent Development: Hazards, Pitfalls and Opportunities for Growth”) basically,

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the study shows that adolescents are growing more and more confident when it comes to
talking to people, as well as talking about wider topics.
It is argued in the article “Social Media Explosion” written by Marcia Clemmit, that social
media stunting emotional growth, taking all of the risk out of personal relationships. Yet there
are several cases that prove otherwise. In the same article, it states that there have been
studies that prove that social media helps improve the moods of people with mild or major
cases of depression. As well as teaching people how to be more empathetic towards others in
real life. In another case study it was found that many adolescents have the ability to name
their feelings but not the ability to describe those feelings to other people. The study goes on to
say that instead of going through conflicts, stress, and anxieties that used to be done in
personal face-to-face relationships before social media, still goes on, it just moved onto the
social media platforms, and that the lack of emotional responses is just a normal response to
the brain developing (Barth)
The next key issue that is in debate is privacy in social media, or lack thereof. Some of
the main concerns about privacy include data mining and over sharing information. (Clemmit)
According to Theodore Claypoole, an attorney that specializes in the privacy and data security
field, data mining and sharing information goes hand in hand (Claypoole) Social Media Mining is
analyzing and extracting behaviors and action patterns from social media data. In the article
“Youth and surveillance in the Facebook era: Policy interventions and social implications”
written by Kathryn Montgomery, companies have begun to use Social Data Mining to target
people on their social media (Zafarani, Abbasi, Liu). Social media platforms are targeting
adolescents with the social data mining the most. Theodore Claypoole states “Social media is

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not simply a collection of online places that allow private information to escape, but social
media sites are organized to draw as much participation and information out of us as possible.
Like casinos built without any sunlight or clocks so as to encourage you to further play, the
social media sites and data mining industry study online behavior and build manipulation
machines designed to entice you to remain engaged and to divulge information.” Here, he is
saying that just like how casinos are built to make you lose track of time and continue betting
money, social media platforms are meant to keep people from posting so that all that
information can be data mined. (Claypoole)
But Theodore continues to say that the US Government is coming up with ways to safe
guard against Social Media Data Mining. For example, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), has
a 20 year agreement with Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and Google stating that each platform
must receive explicit consent of the users before disclosing private information. Another
example is that over 45 US jurisdictions have some laws about data breaching notice, West
Virginia being one of them. A data breach notice law is a law “requiring private, governmental
or educational entities to notify individuals of security breeches of information involving
personally identifiable information” a breach being the unauthorized access of any information
such as your name and social security number or other personal information like that,
(“Security Breach Notification Laws”).
The final major issue that will be discussed is the effect that social media has on
community engagement. Community engagement issues can range from local organizations
and causes to politics. The “Social Media Explosion” article argues that using social media to

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organize rallies and causes may lead to disagreements because of misreading and that when
people talk about politics, they already follow politics.
According to the latest Pew Research Center data, approximately 65% of all of the adults
in the US now use social media (Perrin) another survey shows that in the US 47% of the people
use social media to share their views about community issues (Social Networking Popular
Across Globe). Social Media is a great place to raise awareness to a cause, or spread relevant
information around. According to the research article “Quantifying the Economic and Cultural
Biases of Social Media through Trending Topics” by Carrascosa et. al, social media has overcome
limitations that mass media has not- media bias, because social media is a free platform
individuals become the “channels themselves” which cuts off the bias of the mass media
opinions on the news.
According to the American Press institute, 73% of all young adults, ages 18-29, get all of
their information online, whereas older generations are more likely to get it from printed
resources (i.e. newspapers, magazines) and the television. When people go online to read
about current events, the younger generation tend to go to social media to get their news more
than anywhere else, which allows them to read about the same event, but with multiple
sources, it allows them to read or hear about the different sides to each story and come up with
their own opinion on the fact.
In Conclusion, social media is a useful tool to have. It helps to make and grow
personal relationships, it is coming up with new ways to protect everyone’s privacy, as well as

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help grow community engagement by raising awareness about politics, as well of raise
awareness for specific organizations and causes.

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Works Cited
 Barth, F. "Social Media and Adolescent Development: Hazards, Pitfalls and
Opportunities for Growth." Clinical Social Work Journal 43.2 (2015): 201-08. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
 Clemmitt, Marcia. "Social Media Explosion." CQ Researcher 25 Jan. 2013: 81-104. Web.
19 Nov. 2015.
 Brandtzæg, Petter Bae, Marika Luders, and Jan Håvard Skjetne. "Too Many Facebook
'Friends'? Content Sharing and Sociability Versus the Need for Privacy in Social Network
Sites." International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction 26.11/12 (2010): 1006-030.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
 Montgomery, Kathryn C. "Youth and Surveillance in the Facebook Era: Policy
Interventions and Social Implications." Telecommunications Policy 39.9 (2015): 771-
86. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
 "Security Breach Notification Laws ." National Conference of State Legislators . N.p., 22
Oct. 2015. Web. 19 Nov. 2015. <http://www.ncsl.org/research/telecommunications-
and-information-technology/security-breach-notification-laws.aspx>.
 Claypoole, Theodore F. "Privacy and Social Media." American Bar Association. N.p., Jan.
2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.americanbar.org/publications/blt/2014/01/03a_claypoole.html>.
 Zafarani, Reza, Mohammad Ali Abbasi, and Huan Liu. Social Media Mining: An
Introduction. N.p.: Cambridge University Press, 2014. N. pag. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.
<http://dmml.asu.edu/smm/SMM.pdf>.

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 Perrin, Andrew. "Social Media Usage 2005-2015." Pew Research Center . N.p., 8 Oct.
2015. Web. 19 Nov. 2015. <http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/08/social-
networking-usage-2005-2015/>.
 "Social Networking Popular Across Globe ." Pew Research Center . N.p., 12 Dec. 2012.
Web. 19 Nov. 2015. <http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2012/12/Pew-Global-Attitudes-
Project-Technology-Report-FINAL-December-12-2012.pdf>.
 Montgomery, Kathryn C. "Youth and Surveillance in the Facebook Era: Policy Interventions
and Social Implications." Telecommunications Policy 39.9 (2015): 771-86. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
 "The Personal News Cycle: How Americans choose to get their news." American Press
Institute . N.p., 17 Mar. 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
<https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-
research/personal-news-cycle/>.