Advantages of Social Network Sites

Other sites do not thrive on commonality but diversity in sex, race, language, religion and educational levels. A social network site is a system that allows an individual or group of individuals to create a public or semi-public profile and connect with other individuals within the same system. Each social network site has features that make it differ from another. The main concept of social networking sites allows participants to communicate online with members of their offline social network and sometimes strangers. This paper will explore the benefits of social network sites. Governments, local authorities and the media use these platforms during disaster outbreaks to generate community awareness. During hurricane Sandy, there were power shortages in some areas of New York and New Jersey therefore receiving information through radio or television was impossible.

Social media became the only way information on weather could be communicated to individuals (3). Most companies are using social media to contain the impact of a crisis on the public (Derani & Naidu 658). In this technologically advanced age, information is shared very fast and easily. Nowadays, schools and colleges are embracing and adopting technology as a pedagogical tool. Teachers are using these sites to link with students and share information on school assignments, class schedules and course details. Students are able to ask questions and follow up on class discussions on these forums. Most schools have gone ahead to create their own social networking sites for safeguard privacy and allow for effective communication (Srivastava 11). Communication happens in real time and students are able to freely interact with each other and their teachers.

Studies have shown that most use them as ‘relationship anchors’. They are used by people to validate offline relationships. Facebook for example, has a feature that allows one to comment or update their relationship status. Most young people use this feature to endorse offline relationships with their partners within their online community (Utz & Beukeboom 513). Social networking sites are beneficial for maintaining contact in a world that is time-limited. Companies have taken the step to advertise job vacancies on platforms such as Facebook, Linkedin and twitter. It is therefore easy to access this kind of information and match your job interests to the available opportunities. Most college students use social media sites when looking for internship opportunities because that is what is familiar to them (Jones et al.

This job search strategy is cheaper than the traditional forms of newspaper advertisements or job placement officers. Jones et al. When it comes to the millennials, participation of political aspirants as well as their peers on social network sites has encouraged most of them to take part in voting and political change. (Halpern et al. 320) reports that when more political information circulates over SNS, there is reported more voter participation. One explanation posed by the study is that presence of political information serves to educate and inform on civic education those who were previously uninterested on political matters. Also, political parties or affiliates tend to recruit supporters through Facebook or Twitter and therefore more people are influenced through this contact (323). Works Cited Arif Mohaiin Sadri, Samiul Hassan, Satish V.