How many times have you ignored someone to look through social media? How many times have you or someone you know have been affected by what someone has said on social media? Social media causes us to disconnect from our surroundings but also allows us to connect with one another. Thus, social media is a double-edged sword. Therefore, I propose limiting social media through age. To do this, I propose enacting a limitation of social media usage on all citizens through creating an online identification number similar to a social security number. This online identification number is given at birth and is required for access to all social media websites upon registration. A system will be put in place that will only allow two hours of time to social media to each online identification number. Meaning, that each person would only be able to use social media for two hours. Thus, my proposal will limit social media in order for the benefit of our society.

The reason to limit social media is because social media limits your perspective of the outside world. This is due to the user becoming overly self-conscious as they seek the approval of others. An example of this would be when UCLA conducted a study of 32 teenagers: “The 32 teenagers, ages 13-18, were told they were participating in a small social network similar to the popular photo-sharing app, Instagram. In an experiment at UCLA’s Ahmanson–Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, the researchers showed them 148 photographs on a computer screen for 12 minutes, including 40 photos that each teenager submitted, and analyzed their brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. Each photo also displayed the number of likes it had supposedly received from other teenage participants — in reality, the number of likes was assigned by the researchers” (Wolpert, 2018). “We showed the exact same photo with a lot of likes to half of the teens and to the other half with just a few likes,” Sherman said. “When they saw a photo with more likes, they were significantly more likely to like it themselves. Teens react differently to information when they believe it has been endorsed by many or few of their peers, even if these peers are strangers” (Wolpert, 2018). A lot of people may say that the phenomenon of seeking approval from others is exclusive to teenagers, but Nathan Dewall, a psychologist at the University of Kentucky says, “that acceptance—in romantic relationships, from friends, even from strangers—is absolutely fundamental to humans” (Dewall, 2011).

Social media also provides a platform for individuals with heinous intentions to harm others. The reason heinous individuals thrive in social media is because social media provides anonymity. Anonymity allows people to commit more heinous actions than when a name is attached to their face. This is evident in widespread trolling done on social media. In order to know how anonymity protects trolls we need to know what trolls are and the reasons behind their behavior. Pam Ramsden, a psychology lecturer at the University of Bradford, defines trolling and their intents as “Trolling is a relatively new term that is used to describe online behaviour that is disruptive, offensive and hurtful towards other internet users. Trolls intend to provoke a reaction from others which allows for an escalation in their abusive behaviour. The extent to which they participate in negative behaviour can range from annoyance to extreme cruelty, such as posting abusive messages on memorial pages.” (Ramsden, 2017). Ramsden goes on to explain the reason why anonymity provides a perfect place for trolls “Trolling has been explained by a psychological concept called the “online disinhibiton effect”. This effect suggests that social barriers to negative behaviour are lowered because of the way the internet allows users to remain anonymous and invisible. People are allowed to express themselves more freely than they would in face-to-face encounters and disregard moral responsibilities. For anonymous users, there are no repercussions for bad behaviour” (Ramsden, 2017). Creating an online identification number would increase the accountability for these individuals who commit heinous acts, allowing law enforcement officials to react quickly. An online identification number will also force the trolling individuals to face social repercussions for their actions. Therefore, this proposal of limiting social media use should be implemented in order to protect the people from themselves.

There are a lot of valid concerns with this proposal. Firstly, a lot of people will claim that limiting social media is a violation of the First Amendment. People likely to use this argument are people who try to abide by the founding fathers wishes of this great nation the most. Secondly, that the beauty of social media is that the user does not need to use their true name, and that by attaching the user to an online identification number, that the proposal would defeat the purpose of social media. People likely to use this argument are people afraid that their comfortability of being anonymous will be compromised if online identification numbers are implemented. Thirdly, that politicians would use online identification numbers to commit heinous deeds. The people likely to use this concern in an argument are people who have no faith in the government. Fourthly, that the theft of an online identification number will have the same impact on an individual as a stolen social security number. As in, the stealing of an online identification number will cause the individual to face perils in employment and social circles as the thief could pretend to be the honest individual. The main opposition likely to use this concern into an argument would be people who have the utmost concern with safety. The fifth concern would be that businesses would need social media access much longer than two hours. The main opposition to use this argument would be businesses executives, businessmen and businesswomen.

Now, onto the first concern that people believe that limiting social media is a violation of the First Amendment. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of press, and the right to petition the government peacefully. However, freedom of speech does not include the right to make or distribute obscene materials or actions that incite harm to others (Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, n.d.). By limiting the amount of time used in social media and issuing an online ID we can monitor the obscene materials and the amount of actions that incite harm to others by holding them accountable.

The second concern that an online identification number will defeat the purpose of social media as it attaches the identity to the user. This is simply not true as there are many uses of social media that does not require people to be anonymous. Social media will facilitate communication, encourage collaboration, provide a platform for reviews and opinions, enable brand monitoring, allow political activity and news reporting, crowdfunding, and many other uses (Fernando, 2018).

The third concern that politicians would use online identification numbers to commit heinous deeds is valid. However, is this not the fault of the people who elected these vile politicians. The wise John Locke says, “that where the society is dissolved, the government cannot remain” (Locke, 1764). Thus, if the people find out that the online identification numbers were being used by politicians in a villainous way then they must oust those politicians when election time comes.

The fourth concern that the theft of an online identification number could inflict massive damage onto an individual similar to the effect of a social security card being stolen. The possibility of an online identification number being stolen is something that cannot be denied as the possibility of theft exists. However, first we must dismiss the notion that an online identification number will be have similar safe-guards as a social security card. Pre-2011 social security cards were something fairly easy to hijack as the first three numbers were according to the state the person was registered (Morse, 2011). In order to avoid the security problems that a social security number has, the online identification number will be a product of random number generation with computers and will consist of twelve numbers opposed to nine total numbers in social security numbers. The increased total amount of numbers and the fact that the numbers will be randomly generated will make the online identification number secure.

The fifth concern that businesses will need more than two hours of social media access is another valid concern. The proposal will consist of a provision for businesses and the self-employed that allows them twenty-four-hour access to social media. Twenty-four-hour access will be achieved by giving each business a special online identification number and each self-employed person a separate online identification number for business purposes of promoting their business. To obtain this separate online identification number, the business or self-employed person must apply for this number. If self-employed they must list why their business is a business and not a hobby, similar to the tax code provisions. If they can prove that their business is a business and not a hobby, then they will be granted the special online identification number.

Overall, the implementation of our proposal of online identification numbers will ultimately cause the limit of social media use to fall to two hours a day. I desperately urge you, the person who has the power to implement this proposal, to deeply think about all the concerns that people have with this proposal, the people themselves, and you will reach the right answer.

Works Cited

Fernando, P. (2018, April 04). Social Media and its uses. Retrieved July 29, 2018, from https://www.liquidlight.co.uk/blog/article/social-media-and-its-uses/

Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (n.d.) What Does Free Speech Mean? Retrieved July 29, 2018, from http://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/about-educational-outreach/activity-resources/what-does

Wolpert, S. (2016, May 31). The teenage brain on social media. Retrieved July 29, 2018, from http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/the-teenage-brain-on-social-media

Dewall, N. C. (2011, August 12). Social Acceptance and Rejection: The Sweet and the Bitter. Retrieved July 29, 2018, from https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/social-acceptance-and-rejection-the-sweet-and-the-bitter.html

John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, ed. Thomas Hollis (London: A. Millar et al., 1764). Retrieved 7/29/2018 from the World Wide Web: http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/222

Morse, S. P. (2011). Decoding Social Security Numbers in One Step. Retrieved July 29, 2018, from https://stevemorse.org/ssn/ssn.html

Ramsden, P. (2017, February 27). Internet’s cloak of invisibility: How trolls are made. Retrieved July 29, 2018, from https://theconversation.com/internets-cloak-of-invisibility-how-trolls-are-made-73220

Should Companies Pay More Attention to Social Media?

In the internet age, social media is more prominent.

By David Benalcazar

July 18, 2018 9:00 p.m. ET

Many small businesses and even larger companies believe that being online is unnecessary because it will cause public relations disasters and will raise costs that the benefits of social media are not worth it. These worries are true. However, this can all be avoided if social media is used effectively.

According to Pew Research Center “Roughly two-thirds of U.S. adults (68%) now report that they are Facebook users, and roughly three-quarters of those users access Facebook on a daily basis. With the exception of those 65 and older, a majority of Americans across a wide range of demographic groups now use Facebook”. Pew Research presents some important information in that a whole lot of Americans use Facebook and their use is frequent.

The reason this is important to companies is because social media is where their consumers are. Companies can take advantage of social media in many ways but the two biggest being advertisements and consumer data.

You might think that consumer data buying and selling consists of two types of companies. First, the companies that sell consumer data (Twitter, Facebook, etc.). Second, the companies that buy consumer data (Walmart). Instead, it is not so simple as almost all companies collect their own consumer data.

After collecting data on their own customers, companies then buy and sell that data to create a bigger data pool. They interpret this data using computers to break down this large pool of data into smaller understandable insights. Consumer data is extremely valuable to companies as it helps identify consumer trends and allows companies to adapt their goods and services.

All this said, social media is a goldmine in consumer data as social media is used frequently and by a large portion of Americans. By having such a large portion of Americans using social media it allows social media companies (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to have a huge amount of consumer data. By having a larger amount of consumer data, it makes the predictions and insights that the computers translate into knowledge much more accurate. This is mostly referring to indirect consumer data tracking rather than direct consumer feedback.

Direct consumer feedback is also an important thing for companies to pay attention to in social media as a single image of something scandalous can cause the company to plunge into chaos. On the other hand, a heart-warming picture of the company helping the community will help the company obtain a positive image. A positive image means a stronger brand as different thoughts, other than what the company does, is associated with the company.

Advertising through social media is important to companies because it brings the advantages of (1) stronger brands and (2) increased revenue. According to Australia’s Department of Industry, “If you choose to advertise in social media, the ads can either link back to your business’ social media page or sometimes to your website. This can mean that you’re able to benefit from social media without needing to have a channel”. By taking the interested viewers from social media platforms and guiding them back to the company’s website; the website will receive more traffic volume. By simply increasing traffic volume onto the website, it increases the number of buyers.

Some may refute that advertising on social media costs more than it is worth. However, the reason advertising on social media costs so much is because companies value it highly because of the advantages of building a stronger brand and increased revenue.

Advertising in social media builds stronger brands. According to Australia’s Department of Industry through “Using social media allows your customers to connect and interact with your business on a more personal level. If you already have an established brand, social media might be an opportunity to further develop your brand and give your business a voice”.

To get a business to a more personal level, the brand must be able to evoke thoughts in consumers other than what the company generally does in business. For example, Wendy’s regularly banters on Twitter, almost as if Wendy’s is a real person. This can be seen in Wendy’s response to someone asking the location of the nearest McDonald’s… “Straight downhill”. By commenting like this, Wendy’s can engage with the audience and have people talking about them. This spotlight is something companies consider highly valuable as it can ultimately contribute to increased revenues.

Overall, there are many reasons for a company to pay attention to social media. Consumer data opportunities and advertising being two of the biggest reasons. Many companies are already on social media because of these upsides. Not to mention the fact that social media continues to grow and will continue to grow for the foreseeable future. Finally, after everything, if a company is not already on social media then the first thing they should do is create and engage with people on social media.

Social media, something that connects everyone in the world together. However, how does it connect to me? By looking through all my social media accounts: Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Snapchat. I come to see that social media reflect pieces of me.
Reddit typically has a young audience and has a upvote-downvote system that is supposed to stimulate engaging conversation. Reddit is a place where I go to view things that are going on in the soccer world, rap music world, and the business world. Reddit has essentially replaced TV news for me. Along with research, I go to Reddit to interact with other commenters and go deep in thought about specific companies and why they are undervalued or overvalued according to Price-Earnings Ratio and so on. On the other hand, Reddit is also a place for my so-called shower-thoughts. Meaning, that when I think something random I find interesting I just comment it down on Reddit. Overall, Reddit represents my hobbies.

Twitter used to be mainly about celebrities and while that is still a big part of it, now it seems to have become a place where you see fiascos take place. From Kanye West’s Twitter meltdowns to your next-door neighbor calling out the kids who knocked down his garbage can… Twitter has it all. I never take place in those fiascos because I do not like myself to be in the drama. This is because I know subconsciously that while drama may be fun for a bit. Drama brings more drama until eventually you are completely swamped in it. Twitter is the observant side of me, as I never want to take place in what usually goes on in Twitter, but it certainly is fun to observe!

Facebook is probably the most-widely used social media platform. This is because most people, me included, use Facebook as a connection facility. Facebook is where everybody I remotely know is a “friend”. There is also a greater importance on family on Facebook as saying happy birthday to relatives seems to be something I do everyday on Facebook. Throughout my social media I keep a friendly tone but on Facebook I might seem even more friendlier, which might be subconscious because everybody that knows me is on it. However, Facebook Messenger must be the biggest thing I use on Facebook as a lot of people I know are foreign to the U.S. and do not have compatible texting systems or simply no texting option at all. Facebook represents the part of me that wants to get along with everyone.

LinkedIn is a primarily business-professional social media platform where employers, job recruiters, and job seekers all come together. LinkedIn is something that I put tremendous effort into creating and it is something that I continue to put effort into updating. The reason I put so much effort into maintaining my LinkedIn account is that it is fast-becoming my most important thing when applying for a job. I have my own resume of course, but with a LinkedIn account I have found that applying to jobs is easier because of LinkedIn’s easy-apply button. This allows you to send your LinkedIn profile as your job application to wherever you are applying. Because I am using my LinkedIn profile as my application I had to make it so it is essentially a superior resume. Even though I maintain my LinkedIn profile quite well and use LinkedIn to apply for jobs; I do not really interact much on LinkedIn aside from saying the customary congratulations to people on their new jobs. Overall, LinkedIn represents my professional side.

Snapchat is a social media platform that is typically used by a young audience to post stories (usually little snippets) of what goes on in their daily lives. I used to use Snapchat a lot, but unfortunately Snapchat changed their best features in an infamous update that resulted in users, including me, bashing the change. I post nothing on my stories, but a lot of hooliganism goes between my friends and I in a Snapchat group. Otherwise, I use Snapchat to relieve some boredom by looking at some stories hoping that some of them are funny and interacting with some friends until I eventually come up with something better to do. Snapchat is the hooligan side of myself.

Overall, by going through all my social media accounts I have determined that all of them have some part of me and hold some importance to my life. Whether this is my hooligan side shown on Snapchat or the professional side shown on LinkedIn; my social media accounts are all me.

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