Does anyone actually know how to define what it means to “follow” on social media, encompassing all the rules, hidden meanings, and structure of such a deceptively simple idea? This is the thought I had that inspired me to research the world of social media and attempt to dissect a small portion of the immense communication networking system of today. Being a seventeen-year-old girl, in today’s day and age; it is nearly impossible not to notice to the extreme attention social media has drawn as it expands and advances. I believe that the increasing trend of online public communications in the past decade has had a direct impact on society and class structure, specifically in the teenage community. It is unknown how much farther this trend will grow and to what extent social medias influences will affect users. The complex, precarious organism of social platforms difficult to interpret on a basic level. The growth of the technological world has introduced many new ideas and opened numerous doors for the business world as well as people of all ages. With these advancements comes many positive and negative repercussions. I plan to pull back the curtain and take a behind the scenes look into social media, digging deeper into the cryptic system that seems to be developing across all social media platforms.

The habit of excessive use of social media has taken the public by storm over the past few years “with over 750 million active users on Facebook and 50 million tweets issued daily” (Clemency). Its growth in followers and users has caused an increase in its power to manipulate the publics views on many social issues and topics. Medias influences on the public in general has grown to have a greater impact in the last few years as more networks have formed and become popularized around the world. Due to its relatively recent emergence, research studies about social media are limited. Many researchers jump between perception of social media as, “utopian and dystopian framings, stressing potential for empowerment and emancipation” or “the risks of deception and commodification” (Lomborg).

 Let me take a step back and lay down the basics of social media. The rise of computer mediated communications began in the early 2000s and has steadily grown to be a massive part of most people’s everyday life. It is difficult to track each site because all of them are constantly changing, “adding and removing central features” (Lomborg) on a normal basis as well as the continuous rise and fall of trending sites, fluctuating popularity. There are well over fifty social networking websites that exist in today’s online world. The four more popular sites are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. They are well known, most used, and they dominating the social communications domain. Some people believe they are expected to be on all of them, as new social norms display a dynamic - that it is odd to not have a profile on each of these platforms. It is challenging today to be involved and connected in many things without using social media accounts. At my high school nearly all clubs, sports teams, and even classes used social media as the main mode of communication. In many respects, Email is becoming a thing of the past, I wouldn’t be surprised if emails died out within the next decade. 

Facebook is a website used to connect with people. Facebook provides each user with a profile. This profile provides information about the user such as personal history, interests, pictures, and postings of their updated status. Other users can be friends with each other with accepted requests, allowing someone to view your profile and chat one-on-one in private messaging. Each person has the ability to “like” (approve of) and comment on someone else’s posts. Recently, utilization of this specific site has seemed to decrease in the teenage community however it is still one of the leading social networks. 

Instagram has the same core concept as Facebook. Participants have profiles that can be either private or public. The main idea is to post pictures onto your account with the intent that they will be “liked” and that other users will begin to “follow” you. This “follower” component gives Instagram a prevalent competitive characteristic. The amount of “followers” someone has or the amount of “likes” one receives, is closely monitored and considered. Both Instagram and Twitter have the option of private messaging a fellow follower. Twitter, again shares the concepts of following accounts and liking, or “favoriting” (the term twitter coined as a different way to say like). Twitter users can broadcast messages known as “tweets” to the general Twitter Universe. They are also able to ‘retweet’ a post, which means repost someone else’s tweet on their own wall. Twitter is more of a humor and current event based site rather than connecting with specific people. Accounts can post just about anything under 140 characters for their followers to view. 

Lastly, Snapchat is a social media site more unique than the ones listen above. Snapchat’s idea is to send pictures (taken on a smart phone) to Snapchat friends. These pictures only last for ten seconds and then suddenly disappear (supposedly forever). Users can also post a picture/video on your ‘story’ which lasts 24 hours for all your friends to view. It’s a pretty basic concept. The main appeal is the simplicity and semi anonymous ideal behind it. Facebook and Twitter are used more so by older and young adults whereas Snapchat and Instagram have a much more dominant young adult and teenage presence. Many social media websites have established age minimum requirements to access the site and create an account but these commonly are easily overridden and cheated.

Social media is seemingly simple yet complex simultaneously. Breaking down the true definition of what social media is, and what it does for our society, is not something that can be done fast or easily. There are many factors of communicative networking that are disputed and disagreed upon by researchers, participants of the sites, and people in protest of them. I will be making four main arguments about my impression of social media and the waves it causes. The first is that this century’s youth is being essentially brainwashed by the social media takeover. Evidence to support this is the effect on self-esteem, the overuse leading to borderline addiction, and the social disconnect that occurs. Another statement I would like to make about communicative networking is that the ideals behind social media are corrupt. The hypersensitive system creates a self-destructive ecosystem. There is excessive cyberbullying, continuous changing of the interfacing of the sites, and a naturally forming food chain of social structure and competition. In addition, the expansion of social networking has introduced new ideals and dynamics in societal day-to-day life. My last argument being made is the danger that comes with online interactions of communications, specifically for teens and pre-teens. I also understand the many counterarguments that can be made against my stance such as: social media is meant to innocently connect people and share your life with friends and family. Social media is safe for teens and preteens when parents have access to implement safety block applications, which are designed to prevent bullying and stranger danger. The last main argument I expect is that social media is not addictive and involvement level is purely a personal choice.

Self-esteem has been a factor studied by many as having a direct correlation with social media. This idea is studied by Burrow & Rainone, in the article, “How many likes did I get?” their case study concludes that, “receiving positive feedback can signal acceptance within one’s social environment, we predicted that self-esteem would increase as a function of the number of likes one received on their personal photographs” (Burrow). An individual’s ‘popularity’ level online is established through the number of likes received, followers, etc. There is no true perception of what is real and what is fake anymore, due to the fact it is extremely easy and common to edit pictures and alter them to look completely different than the truth. These factors combined cause a direct impact on self-confidence and a blurred line of social standards for the teenage population. 

Another concept within social media is the disconnect created by the separation of the virtual world to reality. Evidence of this is found in the article, “how many likes did I get?” The hypothesis of one of the case studies is that, “individuals with strong civic and prosocial orientations tend to use Facebook for informational reasons rather than status enhancement or socialization” (Burrow). This develops the impression that being well liked and heavily involved online, can cause someone to be a loner in reality because of their extreme focus on a virtual world. By learning conversational, interaction skills online, there is an underdevelopment in having personal, real life social skills for the youth generation. The obsession with getting likes and boosting self-esteem through popularity is a far less meaningful purpose than striving for real life goals that are relevant in the community not just themselves.

The rapid expansion of social media in society is, in my opinion, essentially brainwashing people. There is a new level of obsession and necessity of being well liked online and being involved in social media 24/7. The actual science behind this is discussed in the article, “How many likes did I get?” stating that “receiving likes would broaden understanding of purpose as a source of psychological self-regulation and homeostasis” (Burrow). This just goes to show that social media activity is stress stimulating and toxic to the brain. The current generation of teens has been labeled by researchers as, “digital natives” (Hornsby) due to the rapid growth in usage within this age demographic. In the book It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens by Danah Boyd, the concept of device addiction is addressed. The idea however is challenged as it looks deeper to question why teens seem to be so addicted to social networks instead of how they are, this has already been established. In the book review of this book, Hornsby reiterates on this thought of “understanding their [teens] desire to socialize in this way” (Hornsby) as the answer to this addiction that has surfaced. 

The media has found a way to brainwash society into believing, supporting, and following whatever is relevant and portrayed. Recent studies have proven that social media influences people’s attitudes towards mental health. The case study, released by the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Saint Mary’s University, evaluates the outcomes of a campaign to raise awareness of mental illness through social media. The experiment concluded that “social media is an effective mechanism for increasing knowledge of mental health symptoms and awareness of service as well as for reducing stigma” (Livingston).  This is just one of many examples of the ways the media influences society. 

Another way social media has a manipulative hold on many users is through following of trends. Almost all fashion trends, bases of status or popularity and social trends stem from social media in today’s teenage world.  Teenagers are easily persuaded and influenced by what they see online because “adolescence is especially important for social cognitive development” (Sherman). Status has become something based on money, popularity, and looks and I believe social media is largely to blame for the proliferation of this. The heavy authority peers hold on each other is what fuels the following of how to act. In the experiment from Lauren Sherman’s research it was found that there is in fact a correlation between peer pressure influencing online and cognitive reactions, escalating adolescence participation in “risk-taking behaviors and increased desire to spend time earning approval of peers” (Sherman). I personally saw this pattern in my own high school experience. All fashion trends, ideas of popularity, and what defined someone as cool was a direct reflection to celebrity influences and online as well as real life statue. The response to scandals, rumors, and gossip fueled the social ladder and has a direct impact of your online profile as well as your reality profile. This negative trend created many problems with cliques, mean girls, and drama at my high school. 

Celebrities on social media is one other major example of a manipulative influence. Their level of fame is defined through the amount of followers and likes they have, constantly having millions of people copying them and following their every move. The constant need for likes and followers for approval, the “attention economy” as Marwick describes it in her article on Instafame, is what makes these celebrities worshiped as social media gods. The entire concept of major public figures on social media is all a big hoax, most of them are not even behind the accounts, they hire someone to maintain the accounts for them. It is fascinating to me that people such as Kim Kardashian and even the new trend of internet famous stars have more followers and supporters than influential, important people. Ordinary people can become famous online by simply having aesthetically pleasing, well put together posts or have cute clothes or a nice body. These corrupt ideals of ranking have formed a misleading conception for most teenagers that participate on social media platforms. 

This identification of expansionism of social media leads me to my next point which is, just how big the extension of social networking has stretched. It is next to impossible to not see or experience first-hand social media exposure on a day to day basis in American culture. Social media has grown to be used for much more than just a communicative device for entertainment and leisure. In the article, “Social Media: not just for teens” the concept established is that social media is not only for teenage recreational use but can in fact be used as an effective marketing tool for businesses in the modern age. Patton offers ways that “the marketing opportunities are virtually unlimited” using twitter to “promote daily specials or news” and the upside that the social networking sites are essentially free publicity and promotion for a business (Patton). Many companies encourage business by creating promotions and deal competitions for rewards, mainly on Twitter which Shu-Chuan Chu defines as “a microblogging site that provides a public venue in which to observe peer consumers’ interaction with brands” (Chu). A specific example of businesses utilizing social media is hotel reviews, “about three quarters of respondent hotels have used social media as marketing or promotion tools” (Leung). Another article I studied that opened my eyes to the extensive possibilities that exist for business productivity through social media was ‘Social Media: the new hybrid element of the promotion mix” by Glynn Mangold. The article evaluates positive benefits of social media, through mass communications, promotions, and sponsorships companies have discovered an entire new way to gain business and successfully grow. ‘Companies can use platforms such as Facebook to interact with customers’ (Mangold). Social media is the new way to promote business through personal interactions with consumers. By creating a personal connection with the possible customer online, they will tend to choose that business over an unfamiliar, impersonal establishment. 

Although Social media has its beneficial side, there is also the ugly side no one wants to address which is the risk factors. Internet communication is dangerous for many reasons and providing a plethora of access to social networking platforms to anyone who has access to the internet. This means children with access to any electronic device that can operate it has access to social media networks with content and ideals way too mature, inappropriate, and advanced to be processed by the adolescent brain. As a result of this exposure, teens and preteens are developing mental ages ahead of their actual age. This advanced maturity influences peer pressure of risky-behavior causing “anxiety which leads to self-confidence” (Moore), according to Carol Kuhlthau’s study. There are private settings that can be implemented on some profiles however this doesn’t stop stalking, cyberbullying, and/or unwanted attention. According to Victoria Wang in her study on social media and strangers, “females under 16 were more exposed to both risk and danger on social media than males. Not because they put themselves at risk but because they were approached by strangers with fake personas” (Wang). Fake accounts and stalking is a serious flaw of social networking that is hard to prevent, and quite frankly, the sites do not show any sign of concern towards this issue. Another hazard social media has created is cyberbullying, which is bullying online, a very real problem at most schools. Cyberbullying is a problem that is being put into the hands of school administration to handle, however the technological advancement of the children makes this form of bullying extremely difficult to see and decipher what is a joke and what is an attack. A big factor of cyberbullying is gender, “females, more than any other groups, have been cyberbullied via social media tools” (Wang). Although bullying is something that has been around forever, this form is more dangerous because of the fact that things can be said then erased for anyone to see, things can be posted about others without their consent or approval causing drama and embarrassment. Cyberbullying has an element of complexity with “Contradictions and blurred boundaries” (Mawick-B) things get messy quickly. Many parents are, of course, concerned with the many risks that social media brings. There are ways for parents to monitor their children’s activity online and apply limitations however, “even though parents may place limits on adolescents’ social media use, these limits may drive use of other forms of media and limits are not associated with less social media use compared with adolescents whose parents do not place as many limits on their social media use” (Len-Rios). All in all, social media provides an increase in online communication risks because it is something new and not well monitored yet. Just another reason supporting the statement that social media is a convoluted system that has yet to be pinned down. 

As I have unpacked each of my arguments about social networking and its risks I can’t help but consider the many refutations that exist on this issue. I went directly to the most knowledgeable, pro-social media supporter I know, my twelve-year-old, social networking enthusiast, all things online fanatic, sister. She had a lot to say about social media and its wonders, being the best invention to connect people no matter how far, providing an outlet for expressing themselves and sharing interests. To this I say there is no less personal way to contact a friend or family member from a far distance as through technology. Pick up the phone and call them or send them a letter, which is rare these day making it more special. 

Social media cannot use the argument that it is beneficial as a new source of current events because communication of news was completely independent and functional before social media. There are many other sources of news it is a matter of laziness to go on twitter and see the news versus reading a newspaper or watching the news. There is much more digression of rumors and false news now that everything is communicated on social media. Anything said online can be believed and/or altered into something completely different. 

I disagree with social media being an outlet of creativity and free expression due to the fact there are extensive lists of prohibited things to post and people tend to get offended very easily at ‘free expression’ in fullness. Social media has become more of a follow the leader game than connecting with those who have similar interests, the online communicative network is a shark tank and everything you post is dissected and judged by the people who see it. This puts a higher risk of bullying, circling back to lowered self-esteem. Social media is a self-destructive vicious cycle with negatives that outweigh the benefits. Social networking is unsafe even with options of private accounts, blocking, and parental control software’s. In today’s day and age of amazing technological advancements and the still unperfected development of the internet there are many loopholes and gaps in social media and these safety preventative devices making them ultimately ineffective. 

My argument that social media causes rushed development and maturity still stands even with the counterargument that social media cannot change a person on its own, to change someone influences of people at school, people who they live near, friends, or even family members is a crucial part. This is true, however, as a user of social media and a part of the generation that transitioned with the rise of social networking, I’ve observed advanced adulthood is worse than before social media was introduced. The middle schoolers of today look and act older than my current age, and I most definitely was not at the maturity that they obtain when I was in middle school. This is just one person’s experience, but as an observer of this revolution it’s hard to not notice the obvious affect social media has had on society. 

Lastly to refute the statement that, social media can help people who may be shy in real life to express themselves in a way that is comfortable to them, there is evidence that denies this. Social media has been proven to be addictive and caused disconnect from reality. The idea that social media is not addictive is completely irrational in my opinion. The constant notifications, reminders, marketing tactics, adds that are everywhere make it close to impossible to not encourage overuse of social sites. There is evidence, in a research video I watched, that “sending and receiving social media messages has been shown to release dopamine (a chemical released in the brain that is often directly correlated to addictive drugs and activities)” (Sinek).  For people who are shy social media induces social anxiety and is an added stressor to fit in, put themselves out there, and not be knocked down or bullied. If anything social communications to people who feel disconnected in real life as is, is a disaster not a sort of saving grace. 

Social media is an immense domain of communication that is still not fully understood and developed. What is understood is the structural dynamic and its impact on society. Throughout my research, I have formed my stance on social media which is, it has grown to be social platform that is extremely manipulative and influential in current culture. Online communicative networking causes distortion to self-esteem, social skills, and principles of trend following, status and popularity. Businesses and celebrities utilize its upsurge of usage to their personal benefit, brainwashing people into following a source and identity that is unknown. The risks of online networking are not worth the benevolent expansion of communication it brings society. The ever changing infrastructure of these websites causes constant progression of all the negative factors I have discussed. I chose to define the idea behind following and liking and believe I disassembled this concept and its underlying motive to a degree. However, there are still many other undefined parts to social media that have yet to be dissected. It is unknown how much farther the habits of society on social media will develop or the succession of the destructive factors listed will continue. To prevent the social media movement from spiraling out of control the continuation of research and reaching deeper for answers on the never-ending questions is vital. 

The bigger picture here is that social media is something relevantly new to society and the reaction is still running its course. There are notable positives and negatives to the addition of such an expansive spectrum of communications. Social media is a complex world that no one person completely understands. The dynamic is different for every circumstance and different situations support or don’t prove my stance. I can only provide the combination of personal experience, knowledge and the research I found to display what understanding I took to progress towards defining social medias ecosystem. Social networking has a fresh energy of communication that is both exciting and terrifying, however the only way to unpack the concept deeper is with time and research. 
