Discuss the Influence That Social Networking Plays in...

Discuss the influence that Social Networking plays in society today? How, and to what extent, has it re-defined social relationships and is this generationally specific? Social Networking plays an important role in society today; it will be argued that social networking has redefined social relationships and that this effect is generationally specific (Salman,2009) Social Networking sites such as Facebook have had a profound effect on personal relationships. The twenty first century is an imprisoned atmosphere where the Internet is the most prominent method of communication. Its users will most probably argue that using these social networking sites have had no direct impact on how they interact with others or have any direct affect on†¦show more content†¦Valkenburg, Peter Shoulten (2006) investigated the consequences of friend networking sites with negative feedback illustrating a decline in self esteem and well being. However, the positive feedback indicated that social networking sites had increased their social self esteem and well being. Although the association between Internet use and subsequent social support is negative, the effect is not statistically significant. People who use the internet more subsequently reported larger increases in loneliness while greater use of the internet was associated with increased depression at a subsequent period (Social Tech Science, 2010). â€Å"Social networking displaces face-to-face time: an hour longer spent on the Internet has been shown to equate to half an hour less face-to-face time in a day† (Social Tech Science, 2010, p1). The explosion in Social Networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook is broadly regarded as an exciting opportunity, especially for youth as they are more inclined to embrace the new technologies that are becoming increasingly available, although a study conducted by Kennedy (2009) found that the fastest growing demographic on Social Networking Sites were women aged 55 and older, and Facebook users older than 35