Positives and Negatives Effects of Facebook and Twitter

Facebook

Positive Effect:

There is always that clear positive effect of Facebook and other social media websites. That clear positive effect is that you can stay connected with friends no matter what their location is as long as they have an account and access to it. But after doing some research on the positive effects of Facebook, I came upon a study called the Implicit Association Test. People were asked to look at their own Facebook for about five minutes and will further be examined to see how it affects their self-esteem as well as their performance in doing a simple cognitive task. The study stated that this is important because “feeling more positive about oneself may lead to less motivation to perform well on some types of tasks.” Catalina Toma, a UW-Madison assistant professor of communication arts, noted that the participants of the Implicit Association Test were seen to have an improved self-esteem after undergoing the test. After the participants gazed upon their respective Facebooks, the next part of the test was to see how quickly the participants would use positive or negative adjectives such as me, my, I, and myself. Toma said, “If you have high self-esteem, then you can very quickly associate words related to yourself with positive evaluations but have a difficult time associating words related to yourself with negative evaluations. But if you have a low self-esteem, the opposite is true.”

Negative Effect:

In today’s age, most people frown upon Facebook who did not grow up upon it. They feel as if Facebook is ruining the traditional way of making friends and can affect people’s communication skills. They feel this way because all they are really doing is typing while in front of a screen as opposed to talking in person. According to allbusiness.com, employers are not satisfied with the face-to-face communication skills of recent graduates. All forms of communication are good, but many worry that too much Facebook communication as opposed to face-to-face can ruin the emotional aspect of communication. Those emotions can be how you personally connect with another person when you see them smile or maybe even cry.

In July 2011, according to techrunch.com, nearly 85 percent of college students log on to Facebook every day. I am pretty sure that number has increased in the present time, but that alarming number is scary. Doing too much of anything is not good for anyone especially in this case. Too much time social networking can cause an affect on grades because you are busy doing updating your status and commenting with friends instead of studying for your upcoming midterm exam. Professor Swarndeep Gill of the CalU earth science department said, “College is not easy and takes a great deal of focus. There is little room for the distractions of Facebook when you want good grades.” As a current college student, I can agree with this. College is very time consuming and you are expected to plan your time out wisely without any distractions such as Facebook. Some people cannot decipher when enough is enough although. In the article, senior Allen Pine of CalU had said , “Doing my homework is important to me, but I can’t help getting caught up in the world of Facebook.” To my fellow college students, we have to wake up. We are the future!

Twitter

Positive Effect:

There is a saying that goes “small world.” Obviously the world is not small but if you ask me, social media such as twitter makes the world even smaller. That may sound like a bad thing, but it is actually very positive if you ask me. Twitter keeps the world connected. With numerous people who signed up worldwide, Twitter has everyone from celebrities to everyday working people sharing their thoughts and feelings.

The most positive effect of Twitter in my opinion is the hashtag (#), trending topic evolution. When you use a hashtag (ex: #Life) followed by a word of your choice, you now can see what other users worldwide are saying about that particular topic. This was a brilliant idea by the creators of Twitter implement this on their website because it is a way to see other people’s viewpoints on a particular subject where you can join in with one another. It can best be described as an online debate. You can tell others why you agree or disagree with them.

Twitter is basically a way to send your thoughts out to everyone. Scott Williams, Chief Solutions Officer for “Nxt Level Solutions” consulting company, wrote an article about 10 ways you can use twitter to make a positive impact. He did not necessarily elaborate on my idea of the beauty of the hashtag feature on Twitter, but he did elaborate on how Twitter is a place to share your thoughts. He tweeted from his Twitter the chorus to “I’m Just A Nobody” by the Williams Brothers, which said “I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody about somebody who can save anybody!” His tweet was retweeted over 100 times according to him. The retweet feature of twitter is when someone follows you or you’re following can click the feature and it will show what that person said on your Twitter. To make it clear and simple, retweeting is pretty much sharing somebody’s quote that they said on their Twitter with your Twitter followers. You never know what anybody is going through in his or her life. That one tweet from Scott Williams could have saved someone’s day that is going through something. Stay connected everyone!

Negative Effect:

Twitter is very hands-on and easy to use. That may sound like a positive thing, which it is, but it can also be very negative as well. What you tweet can be seen by anyone rather your account is security protected or not. If you post something and one of your followers retweet it, the discussion of your tweet can be seen elsewhere now. A life lesson my parents taught me at a much younger age is that you never know who is watching, but always remember that somebody is always watching. I think some people, especially celebrities, forget that and do not realize how much of what they say or portray can have a positive or negative impact on someone else.

Some celebrity tweets I found when doing research that were really funny to me were from actress, model, and recording artist Lindsay Lohan and rapper Lil Jon. Lindsay Lohan has over 7 millions followers on twitter and Lil Jon has over 900,000 followers on twitter so we know that numerous people are watching their twitter. Lindsay Lohan once tweeted “WHY is everyone in SUCH a panic about hurricane (i’m calling it Sally)..? Stop projecting negativity! Think positive and pray for peace.” The fact that she asked why people are worrying and panicking about a hurricane is very alarming to me and funny at the same time. The alarming part is what it is wrong with her and it is funny to me that she was actually stupid enough to tweet this. Rapper Lil Jon had once tweeted, “WAS RUSHIN HOME TO TAKE A DUMP AND GOT CAUGHT BEHIND A SCHOOL BUS DROPPIN KIDS OFF!! LONGEST 30MINS OF MY LIFFFEEEE!!” That was flat out too much information for anybody to know. My message to the world is simply that we have to wake up and be smarter about what we tweet. 

My Conclusion

My stance on social media sites is that the negatives do not outweigh the positives. The only negative effect that I feel is worth mentioning is the fact that face-to-face communication skills are diminishing now because of social media. People are becoming extremely lazy and prefer to talk online as opposed to in person. The lacking of face-to-face communication is unfortunate but it is a choice. When you choose to be on Facebook or Twitter as opposed to going outside and hanging out or engaging in a physical activity of some sort, you will suffer. But as far as the negative effect of what you put on these social media sites can come back to haunt you does not grant me any remorse for people. People do stupid things in the world everyday, but once again, that was their choice. The same goes for social media. What people say or portray on their accounts is exactly why it is their own account. The world is about judgment and ownership. You have to make the judgment if something is right or wrong and realize that you will have to take ownership of whatever actions will follow because of your decision. It is that simple!

Works Cited

Benwell, Shelley. "Sorry, There Was a Problem." - AlphaGalileo. Taylor & Francis, 4 June 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. <http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=131774>.

"Facebook May Have Positive Effects on Self-esteem and Behavior (Video)." Examiner.com. N.p., 1 June 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. <http://www.examiner.com/article/facebook-may-have-positive-effects-on-self-esteem-and-behavior>.

Shaulis, Marlee. "Facebook Has Negative Effects on College Students." CalTimes RSS. N.p., 16 Nov. 2011. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. <http://sai.calu.edu/caltimes/index.php/2011/11/16/facebook-has-negative-effects-on-college-students/>.

Williams, Scott. "10 Ways You Can Use Twitter to Make a Positive Impact." ChurchLeaders.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. <http://www.churchleaders.com/worship/worship-articles/164669-scott-williams-10-ways-you-can-use-twitter-to-make-a-positive-impact.html>.

"25 Of The Worst Celebrity Tweets Of All-Time." Uproxx RSS. N.p., 25 June 2011. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. <http://www.uproxx.com/slideshow/2011/06/25-of-the-worst-celebrity-tweets-of-all-time/>.

Ames, Zach. "20 Dumbest Celebrity Tweets." SMOSH. N.p., Mar. 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. <http://www.smosh.com/smosh-pit/photos/20-dumbest-celebrity-tweets>.