Over the last decade the popularity of social networking sites has risen to a massive scale. People seem to love the idea of communicating with each other through pictures, videos, messages and voice mails than talking face to face.
It was mostly teenagers and young adults who used the social media but now, even our grandparents are catching up with the trend of following celebrities on Twitter and regularly updating their profile pictures on Facebook.
Nowadays, most of the youth spend hours on popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc. Our private space has been invaded by social media, there are very few things that others cannot find out about us with a click.
Similar to the characteristics of a young child who wants a new toy after he gets bored of playing with the old ones, the youth is also looking for new things to keep themselves busy and discard anything that is outdated.
Hence, the changing trend of social media! Earlier, a social networking website like Orkut was a fad amongst the youth. But slowly the interest of the youth developed and they wanted something new, that is when Mark Zuckerberg saw an opportunity in the social media market and invented a new social networking website called Facebook, taking the world by storm. His website gained popularity like an epidemic, making other social networking websites bite the dust.
Social media is a platform where the youth can form groups and discuss upon various topics ranging from music to education and politics to films. It is also an opportunity for young entrepreneurs to market their business ideas and promote them by creating a page. This helps the youth in building connections and opportunities for their career. One can showcase their talents here as well!
But every medal has its own reverse. So, there are some cons of using the social networking sites too.
The internet is a place to interact with new people and a way to expose yourself to strangers. One should be cautious while using social media. There are risks of your account being hacked by someone else and they can pretend to be you by stealing your identity in the virtual world.
People often create fake profiles of themselves and put display pictures of famous personalities. Many predators and sexual offenders are also found using social networking sites. They trick others into believing that they are trustworthy but instead deceive innocent people who are easy targets, especially young children.
This gives rise to crime and provides an opportunity for perverts and pedophiles to look for vulnerable victims on the internet. As most teenagers and young adults are looking to make new friends on social media, they are not exposed to the real world. They are unaware of the fact that it is a cruel world where people often take advantage of others for their own benefit. Parents should be careful regarding such matters and keep a check on what their children are up to.
Though social media has revolutionised the world by bringing us closer than ever, it should be used to stay connected with our family and friends i.e. for necessary conversations.
The future of social networking sites look promising but people will have to deal with the problems associated with it.
