Negative effects Facebook has on society
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The negative effects of Facebook are no
different than any other social media site. People can become addicted and infatuated
with Facebook and wasting a lot of time on it. When on Facebook there is a lot
more to do than just look at peoples status updates and pictures. Facebook has a
large gaming community which is made up of games Facebook users can play with
their own friends. These games are simple time-based games that take a while to
be rich in the game. There is an option for these players to spend their own
money on this virtual game to be able to buy items in their game. According to the
article from Forbes.com 1.6% Of
Facebook Users Spent Over $1 Billion On Virtual Goods out of the 955
million Facebook users, 15 million have spent their own money on Facebook
games. Even though it is only 1.6% of Facebook users it is still 15 million
people. For the first half of 2012 these users have spent $1.26 billion on
virtual games. I see this as being a negative because the small percentages of
people that do spend their money on Facebook spend a lot. If they do spiral out
of control on spending their money on these games it can lead to losing
personal assets that they can no longer pay for, such as their car, house, or
not being able to send their children to college.
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Facebook is a great way to spread information,
especially false information. Not only is Facebook a great way to find out the
ending to a show or movie you have not seen yet, but there have been cases of
people spreading false information about huge events. From the article Misuse of social media could wreak
havoc, warns World Economic Forum “More than 500 million people have signed up to Twitter, and one billion to Facebook in less than decade. There have been
several incidents over the past 12 months, where false information transmitted
on the internet, or by text message, has had serious consequences” This shows
that through all these people connected on these sites it is very easy to
spread false information which can lead to severe consequences.
Positive effects Facebook has on society.
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Almost everywhere you go you see the Facebook
logo. Many stores have them because it is completely free advertising.
Advertising can be very expensive especially if you have a small budget.
Facebook is a great way for companies to keep their followers up to date on
sales, hours, and specials they will have. From the article How to advertise your business for free “Setting up a business page on Facebook is free, and
allows you to interact with your customers and other businesses. Host giveaways
limited to people who "like" your profile or share one of your posts,
and offer special Facebook-only deals via messages to customers who follow your
activity. Many businesses forgo creating their own website and simply list
their Facebook pages as their business sites.” This is amazing for
businesses just starting out. If you do have the money to spend on more
advertising Facebook also offers paid advertising to reach out to more
potential customers.
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Facebook
is great for meeting new people. Facebook makes it easy to find people with the
same interests as you, just simply find people who like the same things as you
do on Facebook and reach out to them. From the article How to Find People with the Same Hobbies on Facebook “One of the
benefits of social media is being able to make new friends based on common
interests and hobbies.” This article also
tells you how to find those people with the same interests. This is a great
benefit for social media in general and Facebook for getting it started and
possible.
Facebook definitely has a wide
range of positive and negative effects on society. If the negative effects were
so bad Facebook wouldn’t be the way it is today. There are so many positives
that outweigh the negatives. With every good thing come negatives. The
negatives of being addicted to Facebook or spending money on virtual games can
be controlled by people themselves. The negative of false information being
spread will have to have high consequences so people won’t be tempted in the
first place.
Works Cited
Goodwin, Bill. "Misuse of Social
Media Could Wreak Havoc, Warns World Economic Forum." Misuse of Social
Media Could Wreak Havoc, Warns World Economic Forum. Tech Targed, 08 Jan.
2013. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
"How to Advertise Your Business
for Free." WikiHow. MediaWiki, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
Weedmark, David. "How to Find
People With the Same Hobbies on Facebook." How to Find People With the
Same Hobbies on Facebook. Demand Media, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
Yung-Hui, Lim. "1.6% Of Facebook
Users Spent Over $1 Billion On Virtual Goods." Forbes. Forbes
Magazine, 02 Aug. 2012. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
