Benefits of Social Networking
The Benefits of Social Networking Social media sites do more good than bad. They allow people to reconnect and create relationships, show creative expression in a new medium, and also bring people that share common interests together. Mark Zuckerberg said, “At Facebook, we build tools to help people connect with the people they want and share what they want, and by doing this we are extending people’s capacity to build and maintain relationships. ” Social media sites allow people to create new relationships and give them the opportunity to reconnect with friends and family.
Increasing communication, even without being able to see a person, strengthens a relationship. Mike Chalmers wrote an article in USA Today that was about military families using Facebook and Skype to contact their families. Army Maj. Thomas Murphy would Skype with his wife and two daughters almost daily while his year in Iraq. “You could break away from the monotony of everyday stress and feel like you’re back home for a bit,” said Murphy, (Chalmers). The connection made his deployment more bearable and eased his return home, said his wife.
Bianca Murphy said, “He was part of their day-to-day life, so there was no adjustment that this was some stranger in a uniform,” (Chalmers). Some people have been able to keep friendships going after high school with social networking sites. Even though they can’t see that person as much as they once did they can see what’s still going on in their life. They’ve also been able to start new ones with the people they meet at college or work. Social media sites also allow for creative expression through blogging, messaging, photo storage, and much more.
AC. Lowney and T. O’Brien presented a case of a 30-year-old patient with pontine glioblastoma multiform. On admission to the Specialist Palliative Care Inpatient Unit, he had a complete right hemiplegia. He would communicate with the staff by using the notepad function of his iPad, and he would also use his iPad to update his blog. He’d updated the blog on an almost daily basis, describing his physical and psychological status, (Lowney). His blog also had messages of support from others with similar diagnoses.
Blogging was this patient’s way to express the existential distress he was feeling since he was diagnosed with pontine glioblastoma multiform. He felt cheated on life, and being unable to hold his 1-year-old son was dreadful to him, (Lowney). Social media sites are a great way to express thoughts and feelings. Blogging is able to help people emotionally heal by connecting with people who also have the same problems and receive advice. Blogging is a creative way to inspire people, (Lowney). Finally, social media sites have the ability to bring people with common interests together. Highlight, works by rummaging through your Facebook account to see whom you know and what topics you like, (McCracken). It uses your iPhone’s GPS to inform you when a fellow conference attendee who’s a former co-worker’s buddy is in your immediate vicinity or when a good-looking patron who loves the same bands you do sits down at the other end of the bar,” (McCracken). Social media sites like Facebook, give people the ability to click on pages you’re interested to see other people with the same interest.
Also, people who have a difficulty communicating in person could be more comfortable interacting over the sites, (McCracken). In conclusion, social media sites are able more good than bad. They allow people to reconnect and create relationships, show creative expression in a new medium, and also bring people together that share common interests. “The thing that we are trying to do at Facebook, is just help people connect and communicate more efficiently,” (Zuckerberg).
