The Use of Social Media as Social Support
By: saqer alsuleimani
ID: 113087
October 9,2018
Number of words: 292
Social media is used to document memories, learn, explore things, self-announce and form friendships. For example, they claim that communication through web-based services is more private than in real life. Furthermore, Renee and Willman (They are authors of “Networked” book) argue that everyone has the potential to become content maker. Creating content gives individuals access to a wider audience. Moreover, they can positively affect their social status and obtain political support. This can lead to influence on issues of interest to the person. As a concrete example of the positive effects of social media, the authors used the Egyptian Revolution in 2011, where people use Facebook to hold meetings, protests, etc.
Nowadays, anyone can access social media easily in any time and in any place. For example, many American get their news online rather than newspapers or the radio, and some of them who say they get news from e-mail updates or social media sites. According to a report published by CNN. The survey shows that Facebook and Twitter have made news more likely to share experiences than they used to. People also share news articles and comment on others' posts. According to CNN, in 2010 a statistic that 75% of people got their news via re-forwarding and sending by email or posts via social media, while 37% of people shared news via Facebook or Twitter.
Social media have a positive impact on adolescents with mental health problems, the opportunity to make friends and to find adequate support through the use of social networking sites. When the individual relates to a small group of adolescents who support him in the social network, these links represent the boundary between living in isolation and finding support.
