It’s all too easy to concentrate on the negatives and the illegalities of the World Wide Web. This year, we saw the dangers of letting politicians dwell on the dark side of the net when the diaster-waiting-to-happen SOPA was proposed.
Whilst writing a computing essay for class, I decided to go on a bit of a rant. Here is that rant, condensed and edited so we can remember why we love the web, and in particular, the social media.
The use of internet chat rooms & social networking sites, such as Facebook have changed the social landscape worldwide. People’s social lives have since gone up a gear, changing and moving at a rate much faster than ever before.
The usage of internet new communication media, such as chat rooms & social networks has allowed for the meeting of a wider range of people. This has had a positive and negative effect on the many different cultures of the UK, by allowing for the mixing of cultures. In this way, people can befriend those from other backgrounds, combating racism in the younger generations.
The rise of these social media has also reportedly meant less of a reliance on face-to-face socialising. The utilisation of these new technologies, often for free, seems to just make more sense than spending money on the bus or phone – but it is still face-to-face socialising and deep-level communication - more so when video calling is available in conjunction with VOIP. The use of programs such as Skype for video calling and, more recently the integration of video and e-mail into the Facebook messaging system are not only widespread, but free.
The social media have also been used to vastly improve the lives of those who, for whatever reason have found it difficult to socialize in the past. The social media has given a large voice to “the outcroud”, allowing the shy and reclusive to meet a greater range of people. However, they have also led to similar effects in many other strata of society. For example, the popular fantasy-world social network Second Life has special islands for those with cognitive disabilities, and the extensive APIs of popular sites has led to accessible spin-offs like “Easy Youtube” and “Simple Twitter” for those who for any reason may have trouble using the official sites.
Despite all this, the social media have allowed for news to travel much faster. Cory Booker, the Mayor of Newark in the USA was widely praised for his use of Twitter in the heavy snowfalls of 2010. He used his large follower base to prioritize the streets worst affected, co-ordinate the removal of snow, and get help to those who needed it, personally digging out a car and delivering diapers to one snowed-in family, as well as tweeting out to others to get help to those who he couldn’t get to.
Despite the negative effects it has had in the isolated cases shown, the vast majority of those using these technologies are positive, decent people. If you were to be in any doubt about that, you only need look into Facebook for example a few days after the UK summer riots – the fastest growing page was entitled “Not destroying your town because you’re a decent person” and showed a mass rejection by the people of the social media against the rioters. These tools are powerful ones, and it’s a shame the ones with the worst intentions seem to have the loudest voice.
I feel so cheap making a blog post from an essay!
