Virtual Selves

            Social media has become one of the most relevant ways to interact with the outside world. It seems nowadays that social media is everywhere. It has many benefits to the consumers and society, including:

 advertisement opportunity and long distance video communication. Social media also gives people the opportunity to meet each other that may never have, however social media also poses a safety risk to ignorant and vulnerable people.

            Social media has many things to offer the online community. One of these things is advertisement opportunity. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Tumbler, the list goes on. Think of the sheer amount of people that visit the sites per day. Millions. Millions of people that would otherwise be unexposed the substance of what is social media. With such a tool as powerful social media, a small mom and pop business could easily be turned into a household name within a matter of hours. According to forbes, social media marketing increases brand recognition, “Every opportunity you have to syndicate your content and increase your visibility is valuable. Your social media networks are just new channels for your brand’s voice and content. This is important because it simultaneously makes you easier and more accessible for new customers, and makes you more familiar and recognizable for existing customers. For example, a frequent Twitter user could hear about your company for the first time only after stumbling upon it in a newsfeed. Or, an otherwise apathetic customer might become better acquainted with your brand after seeing your presence on multiple networks.” When people view advertisements through social media, they are more prone to holding on the information because there is a more personal connection.

            Of the many things that social media is good for, is long distance instantaneous communication. Think about how hard it would be to have a face-to-face conversation with someone 10,000 miles away before social media became widely available. That's right, it was impossible. Imagine how difficult it would be to interact with people you don't see day to day? Social media platforms like Skype, FaceTime, and snapshot allow users to do what used to be the impossible. This opens up many opportunities for the individual consumer but also for business. Long distance video communication has essentially replaced the conference call. Social media is changing the world for the better: “Our increasing on-line connectedness has changed our perceptions of our social world. Decades ago, our social networks were decidedly local; we primarily spoke with our neighbors and nearby friends and family members. More recently, we have become, in Wellman’s words, “glocalized,” simultaneously involved in both local and long-distance relationships. This was certainly enabled by long-distance phone service, which largely put one household in touch with another. More recently, though, the rise of personal cell phones and social media have allowed us to stay in touch with other individuals regardless of location. This, according to Wellman, is “networked individualism.” We no longer require homes, offices, or cafes to stay in touch with people; we can do it wherever we happen to be.”

            One great thing about social media is, it brings people together. There're so many opportunities to meet new people, especially ones that you wouldn't have met otherwise. If only localized interaction was available today much less would be accomplished in the world. Recently corporations have been throwing events for specific social media applications. Events like vidcon, magcon, and blehcon. These type of events facilitate possible friendships and other relationships. Without social media, millions and millions of people would have never had the chance to interact. “The idea is simple,” USA Today explains, “make your initial meeting online. Then meet in person, in the real world. Entrepreneurs are running with the concept. For instance, Eddy Lu and Daishin Sugano created Grubwithus, a social dining network that brings people together over tasting menus at restaurants. "Grubbers" can browse and reserve seats at meals online or from an iPhone, and then show up, meet new people, eat and chat.

            Social media poses a large safety risk to most people that engage with social media. According to SANS institute Risk assessment of Socal Media, “Results of a September 2011 survey state, 63% respondents indicated “that employee

use of social media puts their organization’s security at risk” while 29% “say they have

the necessary security controls in place to mitigate or reduce the risk” (Ponemon Institute, 2011). In another study 49% of executives surveyed said that they feel that the use of social media could damage company reputation, yet in that study “only one in three companies addressed those concerns” (PRNewswire, 2009). These two studies indicate that social media poses a substantial risk to the organization but the risk itself is not being adequately addressed. For these types of risks the organization has less control because they do not own, manage or controlled the systems.” People who are naturally vulnerably to suggestion are suseptible to being finessed by predators. I feel as if every day I hear a new story about someone being, "catfished." Predators make fake profiles on different social media platforms such as instagram, and Facebook. However the real danger is the fake profiles on social media pre-adult dating apps such as hot or not, or tinder. Predators make the fake account, then being to interact with people through the app. Once they find a vulnerable person they lurer them into face-to-face interaction. Once this happens, the possibilities are endless, sexual assault, kidnapping, and even homicide have sadly become commonplace in these types of horrid situations. The only thing that people can do to protect themselves, besides abstaining from social media is educating themselves. I consider myself a very tech savvy person. I feel that if everyone had as much knowledge as I do about social media, the world would be a much safer place, however we wouldn't be safe from everything. Recently someone discovered a security in the social media platform, Instagram. Instagram is an app where you can edit and publicly (or privately if your account in on private mode) post photos for other people to like and comment on. One feature of the app is naming the location of where the photo was taken. At first glance this seems fool proof. It's not. Anyone can click on the location. And view it on a map. Almost every day I see locations tagged as, so and so's house. All you have to do is click on the tag and instantly one can figure out where So-And-So lives. The worst part is this reveals the poster's current location! The only way to prevent people from this type of danger is to educate.

In conclusion social media has many benefits to consumers and society's talk, including:

 advertisement opportunity and long distance video communication. Social media also gives people the opportunity to meet each other that may never have, however social media also poses a safety risk to ignorant and vulnerable people.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/08/11/the-top-10-benefits-of-social-media-marketing/

http://www.psmag.com/nature-and-technology/networks-changed-social-media-internet-communication-82554

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/19/internet-grub-social-networking/1846299/