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Social networking sites increase social interaction and connections.

Social networking sites have a beneficial effect on our way of life. They increase our social interaction and give us more ways to make social connections. As long as the individual remembers and accepts that a decrease in privacy comes with that increased social interaction, then it is a benefit. It stops being a benefit when people forget about the decrease in privacy and do things through social networking sites that they may not want everyone to see. \Social networking sites are disasters. Social networking sites are nothing more than tools for narcissists. Social networking sites are increasing in popularity but are really destroying natural and healthy interpersonal relationships and foster ignorance of the human condition. Take this example, recently two girls fell into a sewer and though they had their cells phones with them, didn t have the common sense to call for help, instead they !ust updated their "acebook pages until someone figured out they were in trouble and called help for them. #elpful to us many ways Although we waste our time in chatting, we are totally updated with the present news which were happening around us. So, don t see social networking as threats but !ust as the opportunities where we can interact with the people globally. $ut we should be cautious when we are going to share our personal information. That would affect our career if something go public. Serves as an la%y attempt too see and talk to friends and family. &hy do we need a mediator for relationships we currently have and why do we always use the excuse for these sites' It helps me stay more connected to people. #ow( $y not seeing these people and getting a poor excuse of contact getting a single poke or like makes them feel close to you. And i am not talking about people that are far away i am talking about the friends and family you have right here in town. And guess what you don t ned "acebook for those people either there is phones you know and if your too busy then they probably don t matter all that much now do they. ). Social media*s revolutionary success has been much exaggerated T#+ examples of Iran and ,oldova, two countries where over-eager social networking enthusiasts attributed the label the .Twitter /evolution* to mass street protests, actually only shows the limit of social networking when it comes to creating meaningful political change. In ,oldova, still grim and 0ommunist two decades after the fall of the $erlin &all, Twitter was initially heralded as the reason that tens of thousands of disaffected citi%ens took to the streets to protest against rigged elections in 1223. $ut this wasn*t the case. As one of +urope*s least technological backwaters, ,oldova does not have many Twitter users at all and it transpired that the protests were most likely staged. 4ikewise in Iran, 5olna% +sfandiari wrote in "oreign 6olicy' 7&estern !ournalists who couldn*t reach people on the ground in Iran simply scrolled through +nglish-language tweets with the tag .Iran election*8Through it all, no one seemed to wonder why people co-ordinating protests in Iran would be writing in any language other than "arsi.9 1. ,uch of it is token at best S:0I;. "acebook friendships !ust aren*t strong enough AS 54A<&+44 said in his controversial =ew >orker article' 7The platforms of social media are built around weak ties. Twitter is a way of following ?or being followed by@ people you may never have met. "acebook is a tool for keeping up with acAuaintances you would not otherwise stay in touch with.9 The simple truth is that people are unlikely to take the high risks reAuired for a successful protest movement unless they have strong personal connections to others involved in the campaign. #aving these 7strong ties9 gives people the bravery to stand up against in!usticeB whether it*s starting a chant at a rally, throwing a brick at a policeman, sticking around for days at a sit-in or going on hunger strike.A4 media has done many extraordinary things in its short history, from reuniting long-lost friends to finding a bone marrow donor for a young woman suffering from leukemia. $ut when it comes to the business of saving the world it isn*t Auite so easy. ,alcolm 5ladwell uses the example of the "acebook group set up by the Save <arfur 0oalition. It has many thousands of members, but research showed that on average they*ve only donated nine cents apiece. ,erely re-tweeting or clicking the like button on "acebook is a thoroughly empty gesture C no more effective than wearing a 0he 5uevara T-shirt. 0elebrating social networking*s role in aiding activism is like celebrating the car that drove you to the protest. D. Social change reAuires hierarchies not networks A 0/E0IA4 distinction between traditional 7boots on the ground9 activism and its fledgling online

cousin is that people organise themselves on the internet in a much more democratic way. 5ladwell explains' 7"acebook and the like are tools for building networks, which are the opposite in structure and character to hierarchies. Enlike hierarchies, with their rules and procedures, networks aren*t controlled by a single central authority. <ecisions are made through consensus and the ties that bind people to the group are loose.9 #ierarchies are much more likely to get people to stick their heads over the parapet C cult leader Fim Fones could never have persuaded 322 people to commit mass suicide if he*d shared his decision making process on "acebook G. Social networks are an ever changing fad I= T#+ Internet*s short history there have already been an alarming number of websites that have faded out. $ebo was replaced by ,yspace, and ,yspace by "acebook. Steve $allmer, the ,icrosoft 0+:, argues that individual social networks such as "acebook risk being exposed as a 7fad9. ,r $allmer highlighted that 5eocities, an online community that was bought for H; billion by >ahooI in )333, 7had most of what "acebook has.9 $ut since then 5eocities has passed out of favour. :ne organisation may build up a large network of people all gearing up to be heard, but soon the novelty of the site will wear off and the next fad will arriv. Sites like "acebook and Twitter are changing politics T#+ first great example of regime change being brought about by a status update may not yet have happened, but we mustn*t underestimate the power that this newfound interconnectivity gives us. 4ook at the success $arack :bama*s 122J election team had in mobilising people to donate, !oin his campaign, turn up at rallies and fly to "lorida to convince their grandparents to vote <emocrat. Since then, the other side of the American political spectrum have got in on the act and now Tea 6arty candidates are canvassing on social media. And look at what happened after $urmese monks protested against the ruling military !unta*s repression in 122K. The "acebook group .Support the ,onks 6rotest in $urma* had as many as DD2,222 members and mobilised thousands to take to the streets around the world.e forcing them to start from sAuare one again. 5ood old fashioned physical change comes from true believers, it is a force that builds and builds, and doesn*t have to adapt to the changing ways of the intern1. 4ook at the money that social networking raises "AI/ enough, the fundraising response to the crisis in <arfur wasn*t mindblowing. $ut !ust look at what happened after the #aiti earthAuake brought devastation to the poverty-stricken 0aribbean island. After this, &yclef Fean C a former member of the "ugees with #aitian connections C used Twitter to urge his followers ?he has now over ).Lmillion@ to donate HG to the disaster relief fund. The message went viral and millions were raised in days. =ot only that, but social networking sites like Twitter proved useful as ways of co-ordinating rescue and humanitarian missions on the ground.et. ;. Fust you wait. This technology is going to change the world T#+ empowerment that social media*s interconnectivity is going to give us as the internet matures as a form of communication will be immense. There are already several cases of how text-messaging has influenced politics. In the 6hillipines, text messages like' 7:ther students are already marching. &here are you(9 saw 6resident Foseph +strada forced from office in 122). It was a 7coup de text,9 he lamented. Text messages are also thought to have brought about a last minute surge in support that led to /oh ,oo-#yun*s surprise victory in South Morea. Twitter has only been going since late 122L, so it*s no surprise that it*s yet to dominate political discourse in ,oldova. $ut when we reach the point at which more and more people are carrying smartphones around, and as many people can Tweet as can currently text, then we*ll see social media*s full potential. D. ,ass mobilisation needs mass media behind it &IT# social networking the power to determine what events are newsworthy is no longer held by newspaper editors, television executives and radio producers. It*s held by anyone who can persuade others to read their comments or click on a link. :f course, you need people whose bravery can be recorded, but for their defiance to have the maximum political impact you need the millions around the globe who use "acebook and Twitter to disseminate the stories of their struggles and spur protesters on to keep taking risks. +ffective activism reAuires both the woman wishing to throw herself in front of a horse and the eyewitnesses who*ll recount the tale. "or decades, the situation in Mashmir has been glossed over by the Indian middle classes who have allowed themselves to be satisfied by the .blame 6akistan* discourse found in the media. That

was until recently, when Indians could follow people tweeting live from Srinagar and watch videos of riots on >ouTube. These new methods of accessing information, 4eo ,irani writes, meant that this year, even the Times of India, famously a source of .sunshine news,* reported that 7more civilians in Mashmir have been killed by India than by militants.9 G. The best organisations creatively marry networks and hierarchy +N+= Twitter has its own system of hierarchies, as there will always be users whose celebrity gives them more followers and more clout. 4ook at how Stephen "ry*s tweets carry weight. :r at how &yclef raised so much money for #aiti. And what does or doesn*t go onto a "acebook group is decided by its admins, so power is in fact held by a very small group. #aving a loose, democratic power structure might mean there are organisational tensions, but it doesn*t necessarily stop things from getting done.

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