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Impacts of Social Media on the Internet

As illustrated by Siddiqui and Singh, (2016) with the introduction of social media in the early 2000s, planet Earth has never been so small in terms of the ease of communication possible in present times. Since, its introduction, social media has functioned as a necessary tool in connecting people across various nations and starting up of bilateral talk amongst themselves. Allowing easy and quick transfer of information within its users, social media has led the internet transform into an online society. The increasing growth of users on social media platforms can easily be correlated with the growth of internet itself in terms of its usage worldwide. A frequent use of social media in recent times, have introduced internet as an essential part of public life in the society. Social-media has provided the internet with the power of influencing the views and opinions of public worldwide, thereby increasing the overall impact of internet in the real life of users. With everyone being online a majority of the time, social-media has largely affected the functionality of major broadcast media, promoting internet services as a major preference to capture a large amount of audience altogether. Social media platforms also now act as a prime means of capturing opinions of public related to a multitude of decisions that may influence their life. Therefore, a majority of business and governments worldwide consider internet based social media as a necessary aid to promote their policies. Order assignment help from our experts! 

This has led to the emergence of a new form of marketing online wherein many users can be captured with a minimum effort, giving birth to Social-media marketing. As a result of which, an increased use of internet in the marketing domain is observed, providing internet with a business friendly image. Nevertheless, the involvement of marketing on social media has also provided a huge aid to e-commerce platforms, increasing the popularity of internet as a revenue generating media. The rapid pace of development of social media platforms have also generated a need of possible advancements in the framework of internet itself, resulting in a regular up-gradation of internet services, positively impacting the process of internet usage. Furthermore, due to the diverse amount of content shared on social media, a need of professionals required to make possible the same is observed. This has resulted in high rate of job generation in the domain of internet services itself, making internet a major source of employment for individuals and organizations alike. Finally, the opportunity of worldwide self presentation, as provide by social media to its users have largely developed a user-friendly image of internet itself.

In the opinion of Anderson and Jiang, (2018), although a worldwide user representation as provided by social media has eased the transformation of internet into a global village. It can be stated that this has also provided a rapid increase in frauds and harassment faced by social media users online. With the increase in the online users subscribing to social media platforms, an increase in cyber crime is also observed worldwide. Social media being the main culprit behind the possible execution of all these crimes, internet services are usually blamed for the same. As more and more users are being affected by such acts, the credibility of internet services as a secure service is largely questioned. With increased usage of social media as a toll of polarization and fake news generation, it is the internet services that face a lot of criticism for the same. Furthermore, with the adoption of social media as a judgemental tool in the modern society, the internet is usually blamed for the online harassment and negative opinions faced by its users. Therefore, due to the above factors, the overall image of internet is negatively projected amongst its users worldwide. That had also led to widespread internet shutdowns and limitations forced on internet usage by various nations of the world, at various occasions.

Challenges and Measures related to Privacy and Security of users accessing Social Media Online

As Illustrated by Rousseau and Foulk (2018), with billions of active users accessing social media online, there lay large privacy risks to these users. With around one third of world population online there is an increasing trend of user data breach on these particular sites. Due to huge amount of personal data being stored on these sites, many users experience theft of personal data and stalking. Hacking of personal accounts on social media sites have also become a major threat to user privacy online. A majority of new users subscribing to social media sites online are more likely to face such threats. Being naïve, these individuals act as an easy target for hackers looking to blackmail users related to stolen private data. With a frequent occurrence of such incidents, users generally face challenges in protecting their private data online. These users must take up preventive measures in order to save their shared data online, from individuals trying to use up this data to harm the user in the long run.

In the Opinion of Bhansal and Bhandari, (2018) a lack of understanding amongst the social media users regarding the privacy settings used up by such sites is the main reason behind the frequent occurrence of user privacy breaches online. There are certain precautionary measures users can take to secure their private data online. Firstly, the users must carefully read and understand the privacy settings of any particular social-media platform. Possible changes in the user privacy settings may inhibit the accidental sharing of personal information with undesired users. Furthermore, limiting the sharing of current location data may help the user to eliminate any possible life threatening situations that may be possible in the real world. The user can also minimize the negative impact of private data breach by simply avoiding the sharing any confidential data online through social media. Finally, sharing information with only trusted and known users online can also eliminate the chances of possible user personal data breach in the near future.

As illustrated by Hiatt and Choi, (2016) the emergence of different social media platforms over the past decades have increasingly possessed security threats to the users accessing these media platforms online. A frequent increase in phishing and fraudulent attacks online, the users face various challenges related to user security. Social media platforms present themselves as an unsafe medium of communication for a majority of new as well as existing users. Professional hackers and frauds lay various traps to harm the users that might be unfortunate enough to fall prey to the same. Many users experience frauds and blackmailing in these social media platforms. Many times it is observed that planned attacks are targeted towards known personalities in social media platforms in order to harm and extort monetary returns from these users. The failure of a majority of social media platforms to prevent such attacks leaves the users largely at risk.

In the opinion of De Veirman, Cauberghe and Hudders (2017), most of the present security risks can be easily eliminated with the help of educating the users regarding various preventive measures related to secure internet usage. The users must firstly read and understand the security policies adopted by the social media platform in use by them, so that a basic idea if security threats that might be possible in the future must be determined. Furthermore, the users must not access their social media profiles over shared networks and devices. A possible solution to keep social-media accounts secured is setting up of unique and hard to guess passwords containing an array of numbers and special characters. The users must also prevent surfing unknown links and pages, so that there remains a minimal risk related to security to the user. Finally, the user must use a device secured with the latest version of antivirus installed, so that a minimal risk of malware and spyware harm may be possible. Need Assignment Samples?Talk to our Experts!

Comparison between What's app and Twitter based on Features, Applications and Suitability for Business

Based on the comparisons made above, it can be stated that WhatsApp and Twitter do work as efficient social-media sites. With billions of users online, these social media sites cater to a large amount of audience worldwide. Social media sites have provided an opportunity of worldwide self representation to its users. Such users are allowed to communicate with individuals of different nations having similar opinions and interests online. User based groups comprising members of diverse nations and cultures sharing information amongst themselves is a prime example of how easy and quick communication has become on social media. Even multinational-organizations and businesses deem social media platforms fit for communicating with their employees and customers (Privacy and Security in online social media, 2017). Also, the increasing use of social media by world leaders has proved the effectiveness of social media platforms as a communication tool. Nowadays, social media platforms are used by all the levels of communicators to express their views and ideas. Furthermore, the usage of social media platforms as feedback platforms by various world organizations and governments alike, do confirm the presence of social media at every level of communication.

Also, the increasing use of social media platforms in the field of human resource management and acquisition provide a clear perspective as to how easily these platforms have changed the inner dynamics of all the previous communication media. Therefore, social media can be recognized as a suitable and efficient communication tool in the modern world, expecting to only increase its grasp on the world population in the near future. don't worry get dissertation help london from UK's leading assignment helpers.

CONCLUSION

It can be concluded that in recent times, social media platforms do have major impacts on the internet. The impact was found to be both positive and negative depending upon the user and his/her interaction with the internet. It was further concluded that social media users faced challenges related to security and privacy when accessing social media online. It was also concluded that suitable measures based on user interaction and usage can successfully tackle most of the challenges posed. With the help of a comparative study it was further concluded that both YouTube and Instagram can be used as efficient tools for business sustainability in the near future. Finally, it was concluded that all the social media platforms can be recognized as suitable and efficient communication tools in the modern world.

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