How would society be different if social media never existed?

The influx of social media has lead a lot of people to wonder what was its original intent. Today, social media is a significant part of the youth in America and many wonder if it was for the better or for the worse.

The first major social media platform that had lots of people hooked on it was actually Facebook. The intent of facebook was to keep friends from college closer together. It was a place to share memories and stories. Facebook was the “high tech” cell phone. Today facebook is used for a lot different purpose. Today, most of the time social media provides a platform for one of two things: bragging and reacting.

Im not going to lie, I use social media to brag about my life.

Kiev, Ukraine – October 17, 2012 – A logotype collection of well-known social media brand’s printed on paper. Include Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Vimeo, Flickr, Myspace, Tumblr, Livejournal, Foursquare and more other logos.

https://images.app.goo.gl/bZpprp4ba3VbhksH9

Social media presence is being looked at now by employers. It puts lots of pressure on young people today to make smart decisions with their cellphone. In addition, social media has limited face to face interaction, something that I for one think is a major problem. Tradition and the ability to communicate in person with one another is becoming something of the past.

Furthermore, we only share the good on our social media pages. We use it as an escape. That is not the reality of life.

The True Purpose of Social Media 2018

5 thoughts on “How would society be different if social media never existed?

  1. I personally use social media at least once or twice a day, to check in on friends and family and see what they are up to. I think social media is a great way to stay connected with people who you may not be in contact with on a regular basis. Especially as college students I’m sure many of us have friends from high school who all go to different universities. We rely on Instagram and Snapchat to keep in touch with them. Roughly half of the American population does not trust social media sites enough to keep their privacy and worry about their presence online. To connect this to class, it is definitely interesting to think that anyone can find you on the internet, including future employers. Social media can be a great way to express yourself and your interests and can be an additional outlet to portray yourself in. While social media has both positive and negative aspects, overall I think that as long as you are careful and mindful about your posts, there should be no problems! While I do see both sides of the argument, I think generally social media is a great thing and a great way to connect people.
    Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/27/americans-complicated-feelings-about-social-media-in-an-era-of-privacy-concerns/

  2. Today, I feel as though social media is looked upon as being more negative than positive when it comes to the impact it has on younger generations. However, I want to put some light on the positive things that it does for my generation and me.

    I am personally on some sort of social media at least once every day but I rarely post anything. I like to use it to keep myself up to date on the news and to also educate myself on certain things that are more tailored to what I like. In an article I read from LinkedIn about the benefits of using social media, the author said that “social media allows you to home in on what you really care about and what you really want to read” (Friedman 2014). I am also constantly using social media to communicate with groups of people I am involved with here at school. By doing this I am already networking in a way which is good for my future. “If you nurture those relationships, you have a whole new network to tap when you’re looking for opportunities or professional guidance” (Friedman 2014). Having connections with a wide range of people with different majors and interests is something that I think is very valuable to have and I am able to do this all with the help of social media.

    It was also mentioned in the original post how employers are looking at potential employees’ social media now before hiring and that it puts a lot of pressure on young people. I however see this as something positive. I think this is an opportunity to put a face to a name and show employers just what you do in your free time and that you are more than just some skills and experience on a piece of paper.

    As time goes on I think that social media will only become more relevant and become bigger parts of our lives, but this isn’t something that scares me. If social media is used right, you can learn a whole lot of valuable information and it’s also a great opportunity to put yourself out there and show people who you are and what exactly you are capable of.

    Source: “5 Benefits of Using Social Media”
    https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140422162738-44670464-5-benefits-of-using-social-media

  3. Living in such a digital era, we are more than just us who are on the job application resume; we are us on social media. Our social media accounts have already become another business card of ours, which are also considered as a more convincing one because it reflects a real, daily-life us. This also makes everything more complicated and more exhausted for job interviewees because it means we need to behave the best and the most positive all the time even in private. We don’t have privacy anymore.

    I searched for “social media recruiting” on Google, one article from 2014 predicted the increasing trend of social media involving in the future recruiting process, and asked, “is it ethical?” (Lauren Riley,2014) while most of the posts in 2019 are about “best social media recruitment strategies you can use in 2019″(Alice Clarke,2019) This not only indicates how much social media are involved in our recruitment process nowadays but also shows that how people are used to this kind of thing and care less about if it’s ethical.

    In Catherine Conlan’s article (2019), she said that “One thing to absolutely avoid: asking candidates for passwords to go digging in their profiles yourself. ‘A lot of states have started passing laws that prohibit employers from requiring applicants to disclose their passwords to social media accounts,’ says Shelby Skeabeck, a management-side labor and employment lawyer at Shawe Rosenthal in Baltimore.” I think it’s a pretty good start to set some limitations on the recruitment process involving social media inspection, which can make the personal information of interviewees get more protection. And I believe that as social media recruitment becomes more and more common in the future, more regulations need to come up to guarantee interviewees’ privacy.

    Sources:
    https://www.hrzone.com/talent/acquisition/social-media-screening-is-it-ethical

    https://www.timedoctor.com/blog/social-media-recruitment-strategies/

    https://hiring.monster.com/employer-resources/recruiting-strategies/social-media-recruiting/social-media-recruiting-policy/

  4. The whole concept of employers looking at our Facebook posts or Instagram to see what we look like and what are hobbies are is a very scary concept. There is no privacy in our lives. Being a junior in college I am starting the process of finding internships and now I need to be aware of how I portray myself on social media. The whole idea of professors looking up all their students to find out more information about them before classes begin is crazy. I’m not saying you can’t figure out what someone is like based off of their social media but having to look on their social media in the first place I feel like is an invasion of privacy. Doing that in class assignment where we had to find someone we were “friendly” with in high school who we are not friends with on any social media made me think about how easy it is to find someone on Google. Imagine the interviewing process for jobs what it would be like if they couldn’t look you up after the interview. They would have to decide how they feel about you based off of the face-to-face interaction you had. A few photos online should not define the person you are or the type of worker you are.

    I couldn’t imagine a time where social media wasn’t the most important thing. Social media is a way for people to communicate and show everyone else how their life is going. Social Media has always been an interesting topic to discuss because in some ways it has taken the importance away from face-to-face interactions, but in other ways has made it an easier way to stay connected with people. Social media looks different for everyone and is used differently for everyone.

  5. Nowadays, social media tends to be looked at in a negative way because many people believe it causes users to stray away from physical face to face interactions with other people. Others say that social media causes more problems than it solves such as bullying, mental health issues, and more. But from a college student standpoint, I think social media has become an important part of my life. Not because I want to showcase my life for the world to see, even though I do post on social media apps such as Instagram and Twitter, but because I think it is a great way to stay updated and connected with recruiters. In an article I read, Marquis Matson states eight positive influences that social media has on the recruitment process for both recruiters and students and those include: “increases in job visibility, higher quality candidates, better employer brand awareness, reduce cost of hire, opens the door to engagement, allows you to target your vacancies more, screen your candidates, and shortens hiring time” (2018). Sites like LinkedIn and Indeed are popular job search sites where students look for internships and jobs and recruiters are looking to hire talented students. With such a big boom in the technological industry, I think it is important to take advantage of all the resources we have at our disposal simply by just going online on your phone, laptop, or any device. With that being said, users of social media have to be careful what they post online because once something is posted, it is permanent even if you delete it.

    Resource: “8 Advantages of Using Social Media in Your Recruitment Advertising Strategy”
    https://recruitloop.com/blog/8-advantages-using-social-media-recruitment-advertising-strategy/

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