Social Networking: Pros & Cons

Social networking today which broadly includes the use of websites like Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn & apps like whatsapp, viber, tango are considered to be thee most powerful and the fastest mode of communication among today’s generation.

Social Media has become a part of the daily routine for many. Opening Facebook as soon as you wake up is not anymore considered to be an abnormal activity. It’s as important as brushing teeth and having breakfast.:)

In the professional work space these days, Social Media’s presence is being highly accredited. What about education?  Is Social Media a good thing or a bad thing for students?

For most of us indulgence in social media activities includes posting daily status messages, uploading photos, sharing quotes which are uploaded on various fan pages and other nonsensical fun things.. But that’s not it; Facebook can be extremely beneficial at the same time.  

Let’s discuss the pros & cons of being active on the social media front…

Pros:

• Increases student engagement
• Bridges the gap between students and teachers
• Encourages discussion and collaborations
• Spreads awareness / latest  happenings / information
• Excellent and Quickest  mode of communication
• Large coverage to a larger audience
• Great medium to promote business / increase traffic on websites

Cons:

• Distraction and Addiction for students
• Cyber bullying
• Waste of time
• Encourages the use of slang language
• Discourages communication skills
• Excess of information
• Loss of privacy
• Virtual space, cannot replace real communication
• Negligence of family members

After reading the above pros and cons, we come to the conclusion that excess of anything & everything is bad, be it social networking in this case. We must know where to draw a line and absorb only the amount which we think will be beneficial for us as students and ignore or let go of the things which hold not much value to us. There are countries where the use of social networking sites is blocked for example Facebook is blocked in Syria & Iran, YouTube is blocked in Thailand, Turkey, Pakistan, China, Brazil, Iran, MySpace is blocked in Indonesia.

A study also reported that the most censored site was YouTube where we found reports of nine countries that had censored the site over the last few years. We as individuals belong to a country wherein we are given the benefit or privilege of using such sites; in return we should respect the fact and not misuse the freedom given.

Social Media is the FASTEST & QUICKEST medium to reach a particular target audience and nothing will replace this mode of communication in the coming days, months or years.

DO YOU AGREE?