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Social media has been trying to work its way into education over the last few years, it provides visibility for colleges, and helps students connect. However, there has been resistance to maintain traditional education because of the environment the educators were raised in.- christian schneider

http://www.edudemic.com/social-media-in-education-2/

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New Event Uses Social Media To Make A Positive Change

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New Event Uses Social Media To Make A Positive Change

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Anna Farist

A group of friends started #Lunchbag to promote local hunger concerns.

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The Reporter: The Student Newspaper at Miami Dade College

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The Reporter: The Student Newspaper at Miami Dade College

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The Reporter is the student newspaper at Miami Dade College, covering MDC news for all eight campuses with offices in Wolfson, North and Kendall.

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Leslie Garcia

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Advertisement

Vanessa Hill's new 'BrainCraft' channel on YouTube focuses on psychology and human behaviour, highlighting her background in science education and social media. These videos tell entertaining and educational stories with paper craft and time-manipulated sketching. In her own words:

I find the brain and our behaviour so fascinating. I love to share interesting facts and studies I find with others. My background is in science education, my undergraduate degree was in Psychology and I now work in social media-It all seems to fit together really well to equip me to educate people in a fun way. I think people are really interested in self-directed education and come to YouTube ready to learn.

-Vanessa Hill

The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Carin Bondar

Carin Bondar is a biologist, writer and film-maker with a PhD in population ecology from the University of British Columbia. Find Dr. Bondar online at www.carinbondar.com, on twitter @drbondar or on her facebook page: Dr. Carin Bondar - Biologist With a Twist.

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Vanessa Hill's new 'BrainCraft' channel on YouTube focuses on psychology and human behaviour, highlighting her background in science education and social media. These videos tell entertaining and educational stories with paper craft and time-manipulated sketching. In her own words: I find the brain and our behaviour so fascinating.

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Texting, blogs, Facebook, gaming and instant messages might seem, to some, to be just more reasons to stare at a computer screen.

Thinking like that is so 2008, any middle schooler will tell you. Now a study that looked at the online habits of 800 teenagers backs them up.

Researchers in the study, titled the Digital Youth Project and conducted primarily at the University of Southern California and the University of California at Berkeley, found that in our increasingly technological world, the constant communication that social networking provides is encouraging useful skills. The study looked at more than 5,000 hours of online observation and found that the digital world is creating new opportunities for young people to grapple with social norms, explore interests, develop technical skills and work on new forms of self-expression.

"There are myths about kids spending time online - that it is dangerous or making them lazy," says Mizuko Ito, lead author of the study, which will be the basis of a forthcoming book, "Hanging Out, Messing Around, Geeking Out: Living and Learning With New Media." "But we found that spending time online is essential for young people to pick up the social and technical skills they need to be competent citizens in the digital age."

Co-author Lisa Tripp, now an assistant professor at Florida State University, says technology, including YouTube, iPods and podcasting, creates avenues for extending one's circle of friends, boosts self-directed learning and fosters independence.

"Certain technical skills in the coming years are not going to be just about consuming media," she says. "It is also going to be about producing media. It is not just about writing a blog, but also how to leave comments that say something. Learning to communicate like this is contributing to the general circulation of culture."

That means anything from a video clip to a profile page is going to reflect the self-expression skills one has, so teens might as well practice what will say who they are.

Social networking also contributes greatly to teens' extended friendships and interests, Ms. Tripp says. While the majority of teens use sites such as MySpace and Facebook to "hang out" with people they already know in real life, a smaller portion uses them to find like-minded people. Before social networking, the one kid in school who was, say, a fan of Godzilla or progressive politics might find himself isolated. These days, that youngster has peers everywhere.

"This kind of communication has let teens expand their social circle by common interests," Ms. Tripp says. "They can publicize and distribute their work to online audiences and become sort of a microexpert in that area." The study found that young people's learning with digital media often is more self-directed, with a freedom and autonomy that is less apparent than in a classroom. The researchers said youths usually respect one another's authority online, and they often are more motivated to learn from one another than from adults.

Parents, however, still have an important role to play when it comes to tweens, teens and social networking, the researchers say. They need to accept that technology is a necessary and important part of the culture for young people and, other experts say, be aware of with whom the teens are communicating.

Monica Vila, founder of theonlinemom.com, an online resource for digital-age parenting, says parents need to set parameters just as they would "at any other playground." "This kind of study puts a lot of facts behind the value of social networking," Ms. Vila says.

It is up to parents to monitor what is being expressed, she says. She recommends that parents "have a presence" in their child's online social network. That doesn't necessarily mean "friending," communicating and commenting, but it does mean having a password or knowing who your child's online friends are. One Fairfax County mother of a middle schooler, who asked that her name not be used to protect her daughter's privacy, says she was skeptical at first when her daughter wanted a Facebook page.

"I was hesitant for all the reasons we hear about, such as how it could bring in unwelcome visitors," the woman says, "but eventually I realized that this is the main medium for kids keeping in touch. It has gone from e-mail to IM to texting to Facebook in such a quick progression. [Social networking] is like the modern-day equivalent of the lunch table. If you are not on Facebook, then you are not in the loop."

The woman says she stays in the loop because she knows her daughter's password, and her daughter knows her mom can access her page whenever she wants - and can see who is there and what they are posting.

A few rules: no putting your exact whereabouts on your status update, and be aware of who is tagging you in a photo because if that photo contains unflattering behavior, it could come back to haunt you. Also, the mom has a Facebook page of her own, although she is not yet among her daughter's 100-plus friends.

"I have become accepting that there are more positives than negatives from social networking," the woman says, noting that she is pleased to see the connection of her daughter's network through various circles such as school and sports. "It is allowing a lot of dialogue among people who may not otherwise have a chance for a lot of dialogue." Those are all good rules and observations, Ms. Vila says.

"I like to catch parents before this whole process starts," she says. "That way you can set the ground rules early and [not] be trying to catch up. If your kids know that you have a presence in their online community, you are acting like a chaperone. If they won't friend you, you should at least have their password.

"It is not that kids are untrustworthy," Ms. Vila says. "It is that they often lack processing skills. Parents need to explain that images may be damaging. They may not be able to think past the next day, let alone what will happen when they are looking for a job six years later." Studies such as the Digital Youth Project and the report "Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies," issued recently by Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, show that social networking has earned a place in American culture from which there is no turning back, Ms. Vila says.

"A few years ago, parents were saying, 'I don't want any of that stuff coming into my house,' even about video games," she says. "Then they realized, 'I have no choice, it is all around me.' Now studies are saying technology is going to encourage skills for jobs we didn't know existed. At the very least, social networking is encouraging technology skills, and that is going to be essential to the digital economy." To read the full report from the Digital Youth Project, visit https://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/report.

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Texting, blogs, Facebook, gaming and instant messages might seem, to some, to be just more reasons to stare at a computer screen. Thinking like that is so 2008, any middle schooler will tell you. Now a study that looked at the online habits of 800 teenagers backs them up.

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Five ways social media has been used for good

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Five ways social media has been used for good

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Many people say that social media is completely bad. But there are many positive things about them. This article lists five ways that people use social media for good.

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Skip to content

We've looked before at how the internet and social media have been used by people to do amazing things and bring a little joy to the world. But, with so many good deeds going on across Facebook, Twitter and the internet as a whole, we've decided to show another few great examples of how the internet has been used for good.

As with all tools, sometimes social media isn't always used for the right purposes. There are some people who use it to offend, insult or demean other people. This was the case on Facebook, where several groups of people set up pages to make jokes and content about rape and domestic violence. While Facebook moderates such pages and takes down content which is deemed to be against its terms and conditions, these pages stayed up.

This spurred Laura Bates, Soraya Chemaly and Jaclyn Friedman into action and the three set out to get the content removed from Facebook. But early attempts to use Facebook's inappropriate content reporting system failed and contacting Facebook directly proved fruitless. So the trio took a different tact and took to Twitter to target advertisers. They prompted people to tweet to Facebook's advertising affiliates to tell them that their adverts were appearing alongside offensive content, with the hashtag #FBRape.

The campaign was a success with over 60,000 tweets sent and 15 major advertisers convinced to remove their adverts from Facebook. It was so successful that Facebook conceded defeat and issued a statement saying that they should not have allowed such content on the site and will be taking future steps to prevent this problem from reoccurring.

School kids are growing up in an unusual time. This is the first generation who have grown up with a truly ubiquitous internet, they're first for whom a time before Facebook is incomprehensible. How can those who grew up without the internet connect and teach this new generation for whom a keyboard may feel more natural than a pen? Well, an Amsterdam school has come up with a fun and inventive solution using Facebook's timeline feature.

To teach four periods of history: Magellan's voyage, the rise and fall of the soviet union, inventions of the 20th century,and Fashion from the 50s onward; the school uses the cover photos, which are the focal point of the page, to draw people in with eye-catching pictures such as a map of Ferdinand Magellan's voyage across the globe. Then by using the timeline feature, which allows people to add 'events' to a Facebook page, the school has detailed the major events of historical subjects. It's a simple and elegant solution that enables kids to learn historical information in a fun and accessible way.

The great firewall of China blocks off large parts of the internet and censors users in the country. Both Twitter and Facebook have been banned from the country for spreading dissidence, but even under such constraints people have found ways in which social media can do good.

Users on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, have exposed a number of government officials who are corrupt, such as Yan Linkun, an official whose destructive rampage after being left unable to board a flight was captured on video. This video, which showed Linkun smashing up an airport, was widely circulated amongst Weibo users and led to Linkun's dismissal from his position.

Reddit is an unusual cross between news aggregator and social network; it's difficult to define exactly what the website is. However, what is clear though is that there is a strong and vibrant Reddit community. We've covered before some of the nice thing done by Redditors, but RedditGifts is something slightly different, it's a more long-term and concerted attempt at good.

Born from the Reddit community, RedditGifts was a gift exchange scheme for Christmas 2009. The idea quickly took off and returned the next year, with over 17,000 people taking part. Since then the project has expanded, moving to its own site and making the gift-giving a year-round pastime, with themed gift exchanges throughout the year. One such exchange was 'redditgifts for the troops' which was participated in by over 3,000 people who gave over $20,000 of gifts.

Being struck by a natural disaster is truly tragic. People can have all their possessions torn from them in an instant. Though financially ruined, the thing that many people miss the most is their photos. It's impossible to put a price on sentimentality or the memories and emotions that a simple photo can bring back.

This is something the people of Oklahoma found out when, in the May of 2013, a tornado struck and devastated the property and lives of many locals. There was an outpouring of sympathy and offers of help across social networks. Concerned Facebook users also set up groups such as "MAY 2013 Oklahoma Tornado Doc & Photo Recovery Page" and "Oklahoma Photo Rescue", to help comfort those who had been affected by the tornado.

In these groups users uploaded photos that were found amongst the rubble, with the hopes of identifying the owner and reuniting them with their pictures. Over 12,000 people joined the original Oklahoma photo group, with more joining the others and through the power of social media users banded together and helped return photos, and a little bit of joy, back to some Oklahoma residents.

These are just a few of the many examples of the internet doing good that happen everyday, if you have any you'd like to get heard, then speak up in the comments or send us an email at hello@reasondigital.com

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Five ways social media has been used for good | Reason Digital

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Skip to content We've looked before at how the internet and social media have been used by people to do amazing things and bring a little joy to the world. But, with so many good deeds going on across Facebook, Twitter and the internet as a whole, we've decided to show another few great examples of how the internet has been used for good.

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The upside of selfies: Social media isn't all bad for kids

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The upside of selfies: Social media isn't all bad for kids

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http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/21/living/social-media-positives-teens-parents/

Most of the time when we think of social media we start tallying up the negatives, but there are almost more positives than there are negatives for it. Social media keeps teens connected to the outside world, news, and important events that are happening.

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School's secret tweeter uses social media for good

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School's secret tweeter uses social media for good

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Mother Nature Network is the world's leading source for environmental news, advice on sustainable living, conservation and social responsibility.

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7 times social networking saved lives

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The "Tweetathon" was an event hosted by Joel Comm & Dan Nickerson to raise awareness & money for the "Water is Life" Campaign. A 12 hour campaign held on Feburary 12th to get clean water, sanitation and hygiene solutions to thousands who are in desperate need.

-Tyanna Cantrell

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This post was co-authored by Gradon Tripp and Matthew Knell, co-organizers of Social Media for Social Change, host of The SM4SC NYC fundraiser to benefit City Harvest.

We've all seen how social media is good for business. It helps build a brand, drives traffic and awareness and builds out communities.

But, what we've also seen is social media bringing together people to lend their time to important causes on a global level. By using the sites we LIVE on every day (don't tell me you haven't realized you've been spending about 30% of your day tweeting)-why not use all of these friends and followers to do something good?

While many people have ideas to start a charitable program or event, actually doing something isn't as easy. There is planning, event scouting, logistics, food, drink--you name it, it's tough. Typically, this process can take weeks or months to come together. But, with the help from online communities this process can become even easier, and the results can be nearly instantaneous.

Looking for motivation to start your own charity event using social media? We've put together a list of recent events that have used the success of past events and others to springboard their efforts.

1. Twestival

On 12 February 2009, 202 cities around the world held Twestivals, bringing together the Twitter community for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity: water. The total raised from the Global Twestival stands at $250,000 USD with numbers continuing to roll in. By organizing an event globally using Twitter as a driving force with additional information on Vimeo videos and Facebook pages, the event was able to provide clean water for over 17,000 people.

Twestival's success lies in its scale to change the world in a mass way on one single night, and by appealing to people to get together in person for the cause. To organize like this event, start with the basics and use the power of the tweet to spread the news.

2. Tweetsgiving

Tweetsgiving was a project of Epic Change that sought to demonstrate the power of Twitter and the social web by raising $10,000 in 48 hours to build a classroom at a school in Tanzania. The project was inspired by the TrickorTweet campaign organized around Halloween by @TheGrok and @ChrisBrogan. By using social media including blog posts and Twitter, the online event spread virally within a short amount of time to bring together those interested in contributing to a good cause.

Tweetsgiving worked best because it was able to appeal to donors' sense of holiday and giving within a short window of time, which drove a viral effect.

3. Tweetathon

Hosted by Joel Comm and Dan Nickerson, The Twitter Power Tweet-a-Thon was a 12 hour charity event on February 12th that played out concurrently in two social media venues; a live video broadcast on Ustream.tv and on Twitter itself, to raise money and awareness for Water is Life.

Tweetathon represented a low barrier to entry for users - all they had to do was watch. And many donors, who were typically comfortable with the concept of "online communities" didn't see the online nature of this as an impediment, rather, it was a way to unify people all around the world from their computer screens.

4. Well Wishes - TipJoy

Laura Fitton, or @Pistachio as she is popularly known on Twitter, had one goal this past holiday season: To save kids' lives. Not wanting to ask for too much in a time tough for everyone, she realized that if every one of her followers donated only $2 she could raise $25,000 and donate it to Charity: Water and build an entire water project for a school or hospital in Africa. The Well Wishes campaign has ultimately raised nearly $20,000 and is still going strong.

This was a Twitter only project, and worked because of Laura's goodwill, and the novelty and ease of use of Tipjoy's donation system. This proves also how simple tools that have been created to HELP social media spread can also help a good cause.

5. The Daniela Project

Critical Mass VP and well-regarded usability and branding expert David Armano sent a personal appeal to his readers to help a woman affected by domestic abuse, to find an apartment for her and her family. Within a matter of days, mostly in small amounts, his network came together to raise nearly $17,000, which went directly to help her.

David's appeal worked because it was authentic, honest and true, but also because people could immediately identify with the cause. By creating a relationship with a network, you can interact and provide value to the cause and give it a personal touch.

The art of fundraising is changing

These events illustrate the power that a small group of individuals and their networks can have to instantly and effectively change the world for the better, whether it be on a worldwide scale or to benefit one single individual in need. Knowing your audience, targeting marketing, appealing to the greater good, great timing, and a clear call-to-response help, but personal networks, trust and transparency have started to usurp years of tried and true offline fundraising techniques - and with more immediate impact. The art of fundraising is changing, and social media, like with so many other things, is helping to change the rules.
This post was co-authored by Gradon Tripp and Matthew Knell, co-organizers of Social Media for Social Change, host of The SM4SC NYC event on Friday, April 3rd. The fundraiser will combine live entertainment, invaluable networking, and fundraising into a single night of fun to benefit City Harvest, the world's first - and New York's only - food rescue program. All of the proceeds of the event go to charity. Tickets are on sale now at sm4scnyc.eventbrite.com.

Gradon Tripp is reachable via email at gradon [at] sm4sc [dot] com. He blogs about life at gradontripp.com and design at designboston.org. Matthew Knell is reachable at matt [at] sm4sc [dot] com and blogs about life and the Internet at tagsmith.org.
More charitable resources from Mashable:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Yuri_Arcurs

- DIGITAL CHARITY TOOLBOX: 50+ Ways to Get Your "Give" On

- Social Media for Social Causes Study: The Results

- 26 Charities and Non-Profits That Tweet

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5 Events That Have Used Social Media for a Good Cause

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This post was co-authored by Gradon Tripp and Matthew Knell, co-organizers of Social Media for Social Change, host of The SM4SC NYC fundraiser to benefit City Harvest. We've all seen how social media is good for business. It helps build a brand, drives traffic and awareness and builds out communities.

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With more and more getting information online, news has become more positive and less mean

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Daniel Acker / Bloomberg / Getty Images

The most read article of all time on BuzzFeed contains no photographs of celebrity nip slips and no inflammatory ranting. It's a series of photos called " 21 pictures that will restore your faith in humanity," which has pulled in nearly 14 million visits so far. At Upworthy too, hope is the major draw. " This kid just died. What he left behind is wondtacular," an Upworthy post about a terminally ill teen singer, earned 15 million views this summer and has raised more than $300,000 for cancer research.

The recipe for attracting visitors to stories online is changing. Bloggers have traditionally turned to sarcasm and snark to draw attention. But the success of sites like BuzzFeed and Upworthy, whose philosophies embrace the viral nature of upbeat stories, hints that the Web craves positivity.

The reason: social media. Researchers are discovering that people want to create positive images of themselves online by sharing upbeat stories. And with more people turning to Facebook and Twitter to find out what's happening in the world, news stories may need to cheer up in order to court an audience. If social is the future of media, then optimistic stories might be media's future.

"When we started, the prevailing wisdom was that snark ruled the Internet," says Eli Pariser, a co-founder of Upworthy. "And we just had a really different sense of what works."

"You don't want to be that guy at the party who's crazy and angry and ranting in the corner - it's the same for Twitter or Facebook," he says. "Part of what we're trying to do with Upworthy is give people the tools to express a conscientious, thoughtful and positive identity in social media."

And the science appears to support Pariser's philosophy. In a recent study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, researchers found that "up votes," showing that a visitor liked a comment or story, begat more up votes on comments on the site, but "down votes" did not do the same. In fact, a single up vote increased the likelihood that someone else would like a comment by 32%, whereas a down vote had no effect. People don't want to support the cranky commenter, the critic or the troll. Nor do they want to be that negative personality online.

In another study published in 2012, Jonah Berger, author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On and professor of marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, monitored the most e-mailed stories produced by the New York Times for six months and found that positive stories were more likely to make the list than negative ones.

"What we share [or like] is almost like the car we drive or the clothes we wear," he says. "It says something about us to other people. So people would much rather be seen as a Positive Polly than a Debbie Downer."

It's not always that simple: Berger says that though positive pieces drew more traffic than negative ones, within the categories of positive and negative stories, those articles that elicited more emotion always led to more shares.

"Take two negative emotions, for example: anger and sadness," Berger says. "Both of those emotions would make the reader feel bad. But anger, a high arousal emotion, leads to more sharing, whereas sadness, a low arousal emotion, doesn't. The same is true of the positive side: excitement and humor increase sharing, whereas contentment decreases sharing."

And while some popular BuzzFeed posts - like the recent " Is this the most embarrassing interview Fox News has ever done? " - might do their best to elicit shares through anger, both BuzzFeed and Upworthy recognize that their main success lies in creating positive viral material.

"It's not that people don't share negative stories," says Jack Shepherd, editorial director at BuzzFeed. "It just means that there's a higher potential for positive stories to do well."

Upworthy's mission is to highlight serious issues but in a hopeful way, encouraging readers to donate money, join organizations and take action. The strategy seems to be working: barely two years after its launch date (in March 2012), the site now boasts 30 million unique visitors per month, according to Upworthy. The site's average monthly unique visitors grew to 14 million people over its first six quarters - to put that in perspective, the Huffington Post had only about 2 million visitors in its first six quarters online.

But Upworthy measures the success of a story not just by hits. The creators of the site only consider a post a success if it's also shared frequently on social media. "We are interested in content that people want to share partly for pragmatic reasons," Pariser says. "If you don't have a good theory about how to appear in Facebook and Twitter, then you may disappear."

Nobody has mastered the ability to make a story go viral like BuzzFeed. The site, which began in 2006 as a lab to figure out what people share online, has used what it's learned to draw 60 million monthly unique visitors, according to BuzzFeed. (Most of that traffic comes from social-networking sites, driving readers toward BuzzFeed's mix of cute animal photos and hard news.) By comparison the New York Times website, one of the most popular newspaper sites on the Web, courts only 29 million unique visitors each month, according to the Times.

BuzzFeed editors have found that people do still read negative or critical stories, they just aren't the posts they share with their friends. And those shareable posts are the ones that newsrooms increasingly prize.

"Anecdotally, I can tell you people are just as likely to click on negative stories as they are to click on positive ones," says Shepherd. "But they're more likely to share positive stories. What you're interested in is different from what you want your friends to see what you're interested in."

So as newsrooms re-evaluate how they can draw readers and elicit more shares on Twitter and Facebook, they may look to BuzzFeed's and Upworthy's happiness model for direction.

"I think that the Web is only becoming more social," Shepherd says. "We're at a point where readers are your publishers. If news sites aren't thinking about what it would mean for someone to share a story on social media, that could be detrimental."

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The most read article of all time on BuzzFeed contains no photographs of celebrity nip slips and no inflammatory ranting. It's a series of photos called "21 pictures that will restore your faith in humanity," which has pulled in nearly 14 million visits so far.

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Students use Twitter for school work - Yareli Alvarado

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Can anybody guess which are the most searched websites?
Including the search engines like Google, Wikipedia, and Yahoo...etc., social networking sites like Facebook & Twitter have also got ranked in top 10 most searched websites.

Of course for students, this answer will never be a wonder, because they know how important role these websites are playing. These social networking sites are making the world more open and accessible; people across different places are exchanging their views, sharing their experiences and increasing their circles.
TWITTER...I hope you people are very familiar with this name. It's helping us to communicate with our friends and family, teachers, sports stars, film celebs and political leaders...etc. We can tweet, retweet, search, reply and start conversation.

But do you know Twitter's role in education, and how it can even help us in our researches, studies and presentations? As an educator, you know that when students are given a writing assignment, many of them may need a bit of help to get it done on time. Did you know that it's possible to turn to Twitter for some help? The social media micro-blogging tool can help students write a great paper in a number of different ways.

Let me tell you some possible ways in which students can use Twitter for Research.

If you are given a topic which is not so familiar to you, you will be in a dilemma of how to approach or how to start with it. If Twitter is available, no need to worry. Just tweet a question with proper hashtags and see the response. If you are having good number of followers, your paper will almost be completed but don't be shy of asking your followers to re-tweet your request. Most people are ready to help you by contributing their valuable views.

Search for good sources

It's difficult to write everything in tweets as the numbers of characters in a tweet are limited, so the people prefer to give you some links or any web sources in the reply. You can use them for your paper.

Find the experts and scholars in the related field

Twitter has many members. You can directly access everyone's tweets. If you know anyone who is an expert in the field in which you are preparing a paper, get in touch with them by following and also mention them with a request in your tweet. You can reply personally if they have that option in their profile. It will be very helpful for your paper.

Participate in discussions

There are discussions taking place every day on Twitter. Conduct a search to see if someone is talking about the subject or your paper and join in to get insights about your topic. You need to know different key words for this option.

Check out Business Twitter feeds

Many businesses have Twitter accounts, and various governmental municipalities have set up their own feeds. These types of organizational content sources can provide a wealth of information and provide yet another potential source of useful information. Here you can get some statistical as well as practical information about your paper.

Use Twitter Follow Power

Many libraries and archives now have Twitter accounts. Make a point of following them online and ask for the information you need to help with researching and writing your essay.

Recent stories at your desk

This is the most important feature of twitter. If you search a key word, you will find more and more news feeds about that topic. For example, If India has won a match and you will search a key word Indian team, you will find number of creative sayings about the winning. People tweet in a great manner with their own style of creativity. Similarly search a key word related to your paper, you will get what people are talking about right now.

Real-world Info on the go

Connect with your followers to find out what is happening where they live. Being able to get a perspective from someone who can give you a direct report on an event or an issue will give your paper a depth that you can't get from other resources. Moreover, you may even conduct interviews.

If you're looking at sources of information for your paper but aren't sure about the quality of the information you have at your disposal, share your resources with fellow students and ask for feedback. You can get confirmation that you are on the right track or lead to better sources of information.

Here is another link to the tools and tips to help in research using twitter.

Twitter is a tool that can help students gather information to research and frame a good paper. When used correctly, it can help you find facts and make preparing a research paper a quicker and easier process. Enjoy Twitter Power!

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How Can Students Use Twitter For Research?

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Can anybody guess which are the most searched websites? Including the search engines like Google, Wikipedia, and Yahoo...etc., social networking sites like Facebook & Twitter have also got ranked in top 10 most searched websites. Of course for students, this answer will never be a wonder, because they know how important role these websites are playing.

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Facebook,Twitter, Social Networking: Good or Bad for Kid's Brain? 

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Facebook,Twitter, Social Networking: Good or Bad for Kid's Brain? 

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Mizuko Ito from the University of California says that social media is actually pretty helpful. Whether it's Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter; social media helps kids and teens to have more communication.

Jazmin Bravo

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Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and other social media sites are godsends to kids and teens who want to get in touch and know what is going on with their friends or relatives. By just opening an app or a website, they can communicate with and learn about all the people who are important to them (at least those who are signed in to the same network).

But like many things that people are passionate about, there are detractors to social networking. When it comes to kids and teens, an Oxford University study argues that social networking has bad effects on the kids' intelligence - and the damage could be long-term and irrevocable. On the other hand, defenders are quick to point out that kids on social networking are increasing their social interaction while wiring their brains to adapt to new technology.

BAD EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON KIDS

The one common bad effect of social media is addiction - the constant checking of Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or other social media updates. Experts believe that knowing what's going on with friends and what they are thinking or feeling can be addicting. Researchers at UCLA's Brain Mapping Center has found that being appreciated in social media through "likes" was seen in brain scans to activate the reward centers of the brain. This reward circuitry is particularly sensitive during adolescence, and this may partly explain why teenagers are more into social media.

For kids and teens, knowing how many people like what they posted, how many followed (or unfollowed) them, and knowing what people say about them also leads to compulsive checking. This addiction to social media could disrupt other worthwhile activities like concentrating on schoolwork, reading or engaging in sports. The heaviest social media users admit to checking their social media feeds more than 100 times a day, sometimes even during school.

Bad effects of social networking to kids and teens, according to psychologists or suggested by scientific studies, are as follows:

A 2015 U.K. Office for National Statistics finds that children who spend more than 3 hours each school day on social media sites are more than twice as likely to suffer poor mental health. Their immersion in a virtual world may cause these children to experience delay in their emotional and social development. According to the report, social media are potentially "a source of social comparison, cyber bullying and isolation", which could lead to mental health problems.

A report published by IZA Institute of Labor Economics even suggests that just one hour a day on social media can make a teen miserable. The study also theorized that this may be caused by issues of cyberbullying, an increase in social comparisons, and a decrease in real-life, face-to-face activities.

Another 2015 study by the British Psychological Society finds that teenagers being obligated to be responsive to social media (liking posts, answering texts and direct messages) throughout the day affect their mental health.

A University of Michigan study seem to indicate that in young adults, Facebook use leads to decline in subjective well-being. The more young adults use Facebook, the worse they feel moment-to-moment and the less they feel satisfied with their lives overall.

DoSometing.org, "one of the largest organizations for young people and social change", lists several bad effects of social media, which includes sleep disorder, depression, addiction, 24/7 stress, isolation, insecurity, and fear of missing out (FOMO).

FOMO or the fear of missing out on something important (like their friends' jokes, parties, activities and other ways of having fun) leads to depression and anxiety in teen social media users, according to a survey done by the Australian Psychological Society. FOMO is one of the main reasons for teenagers' heavy use of social media.

Screen relationships detract from spending time in real life relationships and developing social skills. According to Patricia Greenfield, professor of psychology in the UCLA College, the implications of her research is that when people use digital media for social interaction, they're spending less time developing social skills and learning to read nonverbal cues. "Social interaction is needed to develop skills in understanding the emotions of other people."

The results of a survey from the University of Glasgow shows that social media use particularly at night, with strong emotional involvement, led to poorer sleep quality, lower self-esteem, and higher levels of anxiety. This can be a problem since teens with low self-esteem grow up as depressed adults, according to previous studies.

Social networks are fertile grounds for bad influencers and anonymous venoms and hunting grounds for deviants and other predators.

For kids who crave attention, Facebook and other social network becomes a venue for them to act out. These kids may make inappropriate statements, pictures and videos that could ultimately harm them. Also, posts and materials that are published online tend to be permanent and may haunt them in the future.

A study by Larry Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University concludes that extended use of social networks like Facebook can result in a decrease in empathy among teens, and thus an increase in narcissism.

Young people who have a history of harming themselves or attempting suicide might be particularly vulnerable to negative messages posted online, new research shows. The new review, published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE, found that kids and young adults who have thoughts of self-harm or suicide actually spend more time on the Internet and are more often victims of cyberbullying than their peers who do not have such thoughts.

Some kids realize that spending a lot of time in social media results in wasted time, and this negatively affects their mood

Selfies, which became popular with the rise of camera phones, can trigger mental health conditions when a person becomes obsessed with looks. The Mirror, for example, recently featured a selfie addict who tried to kill himself when he couldn't take a perfect photo. According to Pamela Rutledge in Psychology Today, "Preoccupation with selfies can be a visible indicator of a young person with a lack of confidence or sense of self that might make him or her a victim of other problems as well. Excessive and increasingly provocative selfie-ing is a form of 'acting out,' a common behavioral pattern to get attention."

Educators also note that for kids and teens in social networks, there are no spelling and grammar rules. In fact it is cool to misspell and not make sense. Less sophisticated children will find it hard to differentiate between social networking communication and real world communication. In fact many teachers are complaining that social networking communication with misspellings and lack of grammar are seeping through student's school writings.

Social media habits are also blamed for lack of sleep and sleep problems in teenagers. Bright light emitted from smart phones and tablets are thought to disrupt sleep cycles. For young people sleep is important for learning, the development of the young brain, as well as for growing and staying healthy.

Baroness Susan Greenfield , a top neuroscientist of the Oxford University warns about the lifelong effects of too much social networking:

Facebook and other networking sites "are infantilizing the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a short attention span and live for the moment". There is hardly any concentration skills required in participating in these social networking sites, and these train the brain to have poor attention span.

Kids are detracted from learning to communicate in the real world. There are reports from teachers that social networking is affecting kids' comprehension levels. Also, if kids communicate primarily through the screen they do not learn the subtleties of real life communication - such as body language, tone of voice, and subconsciously sensing the molecules that other people release.

Social networking sites make kids more self-centered. Since Facebook and other sites give kids their own page which is about them, it leads some vulnerable kids to think that everything revolves around them, a precursor for emotional problems in their later life. This might also result in inability to empathize.

These sites make kids prone to sensationalism.

A study by a team of economists at the University of Sheffield, shows that the more time children spend chatting on Facebook, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Instagram, the less happy they feel about their school work, the school they attend, their appearance, their family and their life overall. Children see their friends portraying themselves in idealized state when they post in social media. A vulnerable teen may suffer from depression when he reads great things happening to his friends, and his life is not so great in comparison. This effect was found to be worse for those who lack self-confidence. However, the study also found that teens in social media feel happier about their friendships.

Pediatricians observe that some teens suffer from "Facebook depression". After spending a lot of time on Facebook and other popular social networking sites, some teens become anxious and moody. Again, this seems to be caused by being exposed to friends whose idealized presentation of their lives appear to be superior to theirs. Teens who experience "Facebook depression" usually have trouble with social interactions in general, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Among the social networks, Instagram was found to be the worst for teens' mental health, according to a survey. Instagram, along with Snapchat, are said to be very image-focused and it appears they may be driving feelings of inadequacy and anxiety in young people.

GOOD EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON KIDS

On the other hand, other experts like the MacArthur Foundation see it differently. They claim that kids and teens are developing important technical and social skills online in ways that adults do not understand or value:

Mizuko Ito of the University of California states that "spending time online is essential for young people to pick up the social and technical skills they need to be competent citizens in the digital age". Kids are learning basic social and technical skills to fully participate in modern society. Kids learn to adapt to permanent and public socializing and managing elaborate network of friends and acquaintances.

Social networking makes kids more peer-based. Young people are motivated to learn from their peers online. They interact and receive feedback from one another. They are motivated to learn more from each other than from adults. Teachers and adults are no longer the only sources of knowledge.

It makes kids more networked than ever. It is easier for kids to make friends with people all over the world, most of whom they will never ever meet without these technological advances.

Kids communicate and interact more than ever.

Social networks actually make kids more relationship-oriented, considerate, and emphatic. Kids remember people's birthday and greet them. They comment on pictures, videos and status of their friends. They create longer term friendships by being in touch online even when friends are no longer physically meeting.

Professor Larry Rosen notes that teens are developing the ability to show virtual empathy for distressed Facebook friends and that the empathy is actually well-received by friends, positively influencing their mood. This virtual empathy, he says, can even spill over into the real world, teaching teens how to empathize with others in everyday life.

Lastly, The British Medical Journal disagrees with Susan Greenfield's claim that prolonged computer use can trigger "autistic-like traits" and aggression, and that her claims are not backed by scientific data. Instead, social networking "has been found to enhance existing friendships and the quality of relationships, although some individuals benefit more than others."

HOW PARENTS CAN MAKE THE MOST OF KIDS SOCIAL NETWORKING

Educate your child about the risks of social media and explain to him how it can be harmful as well as helpful. Teach your child about the danger of "oversharing", for example.

Encourage your kid to spend more time - considerably more time - in actual communication than "social networking communication".

Tell your kid to spend more time in real-life friendships and activities - Real face-to-face interaction is deeper and warmer than online friendships. Your kid learn more social skills in relating to and having face-to-face communication with his friends. Online friendships does not teach your kid to listen to subtle vocal cues, interpret body language, and adapt to different personalities - skills that are often important to survive in the real world.

Encourage your child's other passion or interest - Instead of constantly telling your kid to stop going online, discover his other interests and nurture them. Examples of these are sports, playing a musical instrument, writing, crafts, etc. Schedule these real life activities for him, or support him when he is engaged on non-online activities that he is passionate about.

Suggest to your kid to take advantage of social networking to enhance learning, to collaborate with fellow students, not just for "hanging out" and spewing nonsense. Teach your kid to differentiate between what has substance, and what is mere trash. You should also warn him not to engage in the darker side of social networking like cyberbullying, stalking, sharing inappropriate materials, etc.

If possible, supervise your kid's online activity to protect him from online predators and other dangers - Do not be deceived that your kid is online because of school research and studying. You should be constantly aware of what your kid does online or what he does in front of the computer.

If your child feels anxious about how her friends seem to be living a better life than her, remind her that the images and postings of her friends are curated, and does not represent the whole story of her friends' life, and they are probably just sharing the best parts. Tell your child to spend less time scrolling her feed if it makes her unhappy

Join the social media that your child belongs to so you will have a sense of how they work and understand the impact they can have on your child. Also if possible, follow your child so you are aware of her activities online.

When you join your child's social network, just lurk or be a silent, watchful friend. You may like but avoid or refrain from commenting as this may turn her and her online friends off.

Emphasize to your kid the difference between real-life and online relationships - Having 500 friends in Facebook, for example, does not necessarily mean that he is popular.

At an age when your kid can easily fall prey to bad online influences, have the computer screen readily visible to you by putting the computer in a place where you regularly pass by. Do not position it on a hidden corner or angle.

If your child seems upset after looking at her phone or device, ask her about it. A CNN study shows that if parents are involved with their children's social media activities, their children are less likely to be upset with what happens to them online.

Emphasize to your child the difference between writing and spelling for social networking and real world writing.

As in everything, use social networking in moderation. It cannot take the place of real-life relationships and other worthwhile pursuits like reading books and sports.

Reaction of father who has daughter who criticized him in Facebook:

See also thelist of best educational toys and gift ideas for children

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Social Media and Networking: The Good and Bad Effects on Kids - Raise Smart Kid

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Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and other social media sites are godsends to kids and teens who want to get in touch and know what is going on with their friends or relatives. By just opening an app or a website, they can communicate with and learn about all the people who are important to them (at least those who are signed in to the same network).

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Teenagers and social networking – it might actually be good for them

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Teenagers and social networking – it might actually be good for them

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In an essay for The Guardian a study was conducted and it showed that through social media teens learn new communication skills. With the new communication skills they are able to write and argue more complex topics in class. Also, most teens who text are more likely to spend time with that friend in person. -Yesica T

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I ask a teenage girl, how often do you text? "250 times a day, or something," she tells me. Shocking! The digital lives of teenagers have become the target of weekly attacks. In a recent essay for the Guardian, the novelist Jonathan Franzen bemoaned online socialising, arguing that it was creating a uniquely shallow and trivial culture, making kids unable to socialise face to face. Then the American comedian Louis CK proclaimed on TV that he wouldn't give his daughters cellphones for fear they wouldn't develop empathy.

There's also the scientist and writer Susan Greenfield's famously apocalyptic warnings: "We could be raising a hedonistic generation who live only in the thrill of the computer-generated moment and are in distinct danger of detaching themselves from what the rest of us would consider the real world."

As a parent of two boys at primary school, I'm not immune to worry about these issues. And you don't need to be a parent to fret about the effect of all this technology on young people. Newspapers are constantly filled with frightening accounts of pornography addiction and aggression supposedly caused by violent videogames - particularly now, as Grand Theft Auto V hits the shelves. But even when these titillating accounts touch on real concerns, they do not really reflect the great mass of everyday teenage social behaviour: the online chat, the texting, the surfing, and the emergence of a new teenage sphere that is conducted digitally.

That trend is real. Is it, as Franzen and the others fear, turning kids into emoticon-addled zombies, unable to connect, unable to think, form a coherent thought or even make eye contact? Could this be true?

I don't think so. Let's go back to that girl who texts 250 times a day. The truth is, she was an extreme case I cherry-picked to startle you - because when I interviewed her, she was in a group of friends with a much wider range of experiences. Two others said they text only 10 times a day. One was a Facebook refusenik ("I'm all Instagram, pictures of what I'm doing in the city, with my friends. We're visual people"). A few were devotees of Snapchat, the app that lets you send a picture or text that, like a cold-war communiqué, is destroyed after one viewing. One had a phone filled with charmingly goofy emoticons, another disapproved: "I'm a skilled writer," she told me. "People sometimes misunderstand tone, so you have to be precise." As it turns out, the diversity of use in this group of friends is confirmed by research. Fewer than 20% of kids send more than 200 texts a day; 31% send barely 20 or fewer.

New technologies always provoke generational panic, which usually has more to do with adult fears than with the lives of teenagers. In the 1930s, parents fretted that radio was gaining "an invincible hold of their children". In the 80s, the great danger was the Sony Walkman - producing the teenager who "throbs with orgasmic rhythms", as philosopher Allan Bloom claimed. When you look at today's digital activity, the facts are much more positive than you might expect.

Indeed, social scientists who study young people have found that their digital use can be inventive and even beneficial. This is true not just in terms of their social lives, but their education too. So if you use a ton of social media, do you become unable, or unwilling, to engage in face-to-face contact? The evidence suggests not. Research by Amanda Lenhart of the Pew Research Centre, a US thinktank, found that the most avid texters are also the kids most likely to spend time with friends in person. One form of socialising doesn't replace the other. It augments it.

"Kids still spend time face to face," Lenhart says. Indeed, as they get older and are given more freedom, they often ease up on social networking. Early on, the web is their "third space", but by the late teens, it's replaced in reaction to greater autonomy.

They have to be on Facebook, to know what's going on among friends and family, but they are ambivalent about it, says Rebecca Eynon, a research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, who has interviewed about 200 British teenagers over three years. As they gain experience with living online, they begin to adjust their behaviour, wrestling with new communication skills, as they do in the real world.

Parents are wrong to worry that kids don't care about privacy. In fact, they spend hours tweaking Facebook settings or using quick-delete sharing tools, such as Snapchat, to minimise their traces. Or they post a photograph on Instagram, have a pleasant conversation with friends and then delete it so that no traces remain.

This is not to say that kids always use good judgment. Like everyone else, they make mistakes - sometimes serious ones. But working out how to behave online is a new social skill. While there's plenty of drama and messiness online, it is not, for most teens, a cycle of non-stop abuse: a Pew study found only 15% of teens said someone had been mean or cruel to them online in the last 12 months. As wrenching as the worst-case scenarios of bullying are, and as urgently as those need to be addressed, they are not, thankfully, a daily occurrence for most kids. Even sexting may be rarer than expected: Pew found only 4% of teenagers had sent a "sext" and only 15% had received one - less of an epidemic than you would imagine.

But surely all this short-form writing is eroding literacy? Certainly, teachers worry. Pew Centre surveys have found that teachers say that kids use overly casual language and text speak in writing, and don't have as much patience for long, immersive reading and complex arguments. Yet studies of first-year college papers suggest these anxieties may be partly based on misguided nostalgia. When Stanford University scholar Andrea Lunsford gathered data on the rates of errors in "freshman composition" papers going back to 1917, she found that they were virtually identical to today.

But even as error rates stayed stable, student essays have blossomed in size and complexity. They are now six times longer and, unlike older "what I did this summer" essays, they offer arguments buttressed by evidence. Why? Computers have vastly increased the ability of students to gather information, sample different points of view and write more fluidly.

When the linguist Naomi Baron studied students' instant messaging even there she found surprisingly rare usage of short forms such as "u" for "you", and as students got older, they began to write in more grammatical sentences. That is because it confers status: they want to seem more adult, and they know how adults are expected to write. "If you want to look serious," as the teenage Sydney told me, "you don't use 'u'." Clearly, teaching teens formal writing is still crucial, but texting probably isn't destroying their ability to learn it.

It is probably true that fewer kids are heavy readers compared with two generations ago, when cheap paperbacks spiked rates of reading. But even back then, as the literacy expert Wendy Griswold says, a minority of people - perhaps 20% - were lifelong heavy readers, and it was cable TV, not the internet, that struck a blow at that culture in the 80s. Griswold still finds that 15% or more of kids are deeply bookish. "The ambitious kids. I see no reason that says that it's going to change."

In fact, the online world offers kids remarkable opportunities to become literate and creative because young people can now publish ideas not just to their friends, but to the world. And it turns out that when they write for strangers, their sense of "authentic audience" makes them work harder, push themselves further, and create powerful new communicative forms.

Consider Sam McPherson. At 13, he became obsessed with the television show Lost and began to contribute to a fan-run wiki. "I jumped in and just started editing," Sam says. He developed skills in cooperating with far-flung strangers and keeping a cool head while mediating arguments.

This type of interaction online with strangers can make kids more community-minded. Joseph Kahne, a professor of education at Mills College in California, studied 400 teenagers over three years. Kahne found that teens who participated in fan or hobby sites were more likely than other kids to do real-world volunteering. Interestingly, this wasn't true of being on Facebook.

Indeed, you could argue that parents should encourage their kids to spend less time on Facebook and more on sites devoted to their obsessions. Take Tavi Gevinson, a 17-year-old student who founded and edits Rookie, a site that features articles by and for young women. She says online socialising is "the opposite of isolation - it's all about connection. I've made some of my closest friends online, through blogging communities."

Teachers who understand this insight have begun to transform their classrooms. One day I visited the class of Lou Lahana, a computer teacher at a school in a low-income area. I met one student who was frequently in trouble, with a bad truancy record and rock-bottom grades - a classic drop-out risk. But in Lahana's class, he had discovered a talent using 3D SketchUp software. The student began to produce gorgeous renderings of famous buildings, which Lahana posted online for the world to see.

"I could be an architect," he told me, as I watched him sketch a version of New York's Guggenheim Museum on screen. "This is the first thing I've seen where I thought, OK, I get this, I love this - I could do this."

Few would deny that too much time online can be harmful. As Louis CK points out, some of the dangers are emotional: hurting someone from a distance is not the same as hurting them face to face. If we're lucky, the legal environment will change to make teenagers' online lives less likely to haunt them later on. Just last week, California passed a law allowing minors to demand that internet firms erase their digital past and the EU has contemplated similar legislation.

Distraction is also a serious issue. When kids flip from chat to music to homework, they are indeed likely to have trouble doing each task well. And studies show that pupils don't check the veracity of information online - "smart searching" is a skill schools need to teach urgently. It's also true, Lenhart points out, that too much social networking and game playing can cut into schoolwork and sleep. This is precisely why parents still need to set firm boundaries around it, as with any other distraction.

But many teenagers recognise this. "Maybe it's a natural part of maturing," one girl says about her reduced use of social networking. "I try not to check Facebook until I've done my homework."

"You do not," laughs her friend. "I've seen you!"

"Well, it's discipline! I'm trying!"

So what's the best way to cope? The same boring old advice that applies to everything in parenting. "Moderation," Lenhart says. Rebecca Eynon argues that it's key to model good behaviour. Parents who stare non-stop at their phones and don't read books are likely to breed kids who will do the same. As ever, we ought to scrutinise our own behaviour.

As for young people, they are perfectly capable of considering the richness, and the contradictions, of their own experience. Tavi Gevinson knows there is a dark side to online life: "That's very sad to me and I wish it weren't true." Yet she sees powerful advantages. "For a lot of people my age, it's not like we meet online and only talk online. The goal is to meet in person and to forge that connection."
Topics

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Teenagers and social networking - it might actually be good for them

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I ask a teenage girl, how often do you text? "250 times a day, or something," she tells me. Shocking! The digital lives of teenagers have become the target of weekly attacks. In a recent essay for the Guardian, the novelist Jonathan Franzen bemoaned online socialising, arguing that it was creating a uniquely shallow and trivial culture, making kids unable to socialise face to face.

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The upside of selfies: Social media isn't all bad for kids

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The upside of selfies: Social media isn't all bad for kids

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Cinthia Clarin. How social media can positively affect teenager's self esteem.

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social media positive for teens? maybe! - cnn

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Social media positive for teens? Maybe! - CNN

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Social media positive for teens? It just might be, according to a recent report, which says it can build self-confidence and improve relationships.

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The Negative Effect of Social Media on Society and Individuals

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The Negative Effect of Social Media on Society and Individuals

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How social media can affect society- Zach M.

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The Negative Effect of Social Media on Society and Individuals

Many businesses effectively use social media to promote their products and connect with customers. However, social media can also pose a risk to companies. Not only can social media use interfere with productivity, but information shared on social networks can do real damage both to co-worker relationships as well as your brand.

Time Management

Most of your employees have social media accounts. Unfortunately, many have developed the habit of checking their accounts multiple times during the day, even when they are at work. Time spent on personal accounts is time that is not spent on work tasks. Even when an employee spends just a few seconds on social media, it can take several minutes to refocus on the task that she was working on before checking her phone. It is also time not spent interacting with colleagues and developing quality work relationships.

Mental Health

Many mental health professionals are deeply concerned about the impact that social media has on mental health. Some believe that the constant distraction of social media contributes to shortened attention spans. In addition, many people who regularly use platforms like Facebook or Twitter report high levels of stress.

Employee mental health can have a direct impact on your business. When employees are happy, confident and relaxed, they can be more productive and have better relationships with co-workers, clients and customers. Stress, on the other hand, contributes to multiple physical and mental ailments that can affect their work.

Spreading Untrue Information

The cry of "fake news" has become commonplace and consumer confidence in even traditional media outlets has been significantly eroded. Unfortunately, false, misleading, or confusing online content can harm your brand's reputation, upset even loyal customers and can dissuade people from even considering the purchase of your products or services.

Online reviews: Retailer and stand-alone review sites exist to help consumers make good choices. While many reviews on these sites truly reflect the experiences of others, some are not. Fake reviews that heap either praise or derision on a business are commonplace.

Unfortunate incident: Even well-run companies make mistakes or have an employee who behaves inappropriately. If a story regarding an incident goes viral, even if something like it has never happened before, your company may find itself in a lengthy online public relations battle.

Unclear or unreliable health information: Online rumors can get started about the safety of certain foods, products, ingredients or treatments that have little basis in fact. Unfortunately, social media users may continue to spread this misinformation, which may cause readers to avoid purchasing, or even considering the products or services referenced in these posts.

Political Lines in the Sand: In 2018, owners of restaurants and other businesses found themselves in the crossfire of intense political loyalties when they appeared to take sides, either on the left or the right. Even if your company doesn't take a side politically, the mere appearance of favoring one party over an other can cause political fallout with boycotts and fake reviews.

Online Bullying and Workplace Tensions

Many people think of cyberbullying as being a problem for young people. Unfortunately, adults may also bully each other online, and sometimes their targets are coworkers. Typical types of bullying include aggressive and unpleasant emails, private messages and public comments, putting unflattering or manipulated photos of the bullying target online. Employees who are victims of bullying often report experiencing extreme stress. which may eventually affect their performance.

Colleagues may also experience tensions if they follow each other on social platforms. While many workers are careful to avoid expressing opinions on controversial subjects at work, they may be less restrained online. If a colleague spots an opinion or meme that he finds upsetting, the disagreement may spill over into the workplace, potentially damaging morale and interfering with productivity.

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The Negative Effect of Social Media on Society and Individuals

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Social media has its benefits, but it also can have a negative impact on society and individuals, both of which can affect your business. From decreased work activity to untrue information spread via memes, media platforms deserve your attention, for the sake of your business and its reputation.

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Teens in survey paint positive picture of effect of social media on their lives

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Teens in survey paint positive picture of effect of social media on their lives

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The Washington Post did a survey to find out how teens teens use social media sites and texting in their daily lives. Studies showed that even though teens lives now seem to revolve around social media they still enjoy communicating face to face.

Amelia Beardshaw

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5 Ways to Use Social Media to Stay Positive

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5 Ways to Use Social Media to Stay Positive

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Post positive things to keep people happy.

Daisy Urquiza

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5 Ways to Use Social Media to Stay Positive

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Recent research says Facebook feelings are contagious. Here are five ways to use social media to spread positivity.

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The Positive Impact Of Social Networking Sites On Society [Opinion]and social networ

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The Positive Impact Of Social Networking Sites On Society [Opinion]and social networ

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It's a big part of everyone's life these days and there are many benefits of to why it can be positive in our lives. -Shelbie C.

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Social networking isn't for everyone. However, it's now such a massive part of all our lives, whether we embrace or reject the notion, that it can no longer be ignored. Are social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter a force for good or evil? As with most questions there are multiple angles to approach this quandary from.

Friends!

The rise of mobile phones helped change this, connecting people in a new way, but then social networks sprang up and the whole idea of friendship changed again. And there's no going back.

It's entirely possible to have hundreds of friends on Facebook. They may not be friends you know on a personal level and spend time with in the real world on a weekly basis. But they're friends nonetheless. There are several people I consider friends who I have never met - in fact, I may never meet them - but that doesn't lessen the connection we have thanks to social networks.
Social networking sites can help you make and keep friends.
Empathy

They generally do care, and will tell you so. They will listen to what you have to say, and help you deal with any problems you may be facing. If this isn't the case, then you may want to find new friends.

The point is that by all of us sharing our experiences, both good and bad, on social networking sites, we're able to empathize with each other. A friend may have gone through a similar ordeal that you are currently going through, and they will be able to help you get through it.

You'll also be able to see for yourself that they made it out the other side, that this issue didn't derail them, and that they are perhaps better for the experience.
Social networking sites can act as a kind of group therapy session.
Speedy Communication

One of the reasons I dislike making phone calls is the unnecessary banter they necessitate. You can't just say what you want to say and then hang up. Because doing so is seen as downright rude. Instead, you have to swap pleasantries before saying what you want to say, and then swap more pleasantries before the conversation comes to a natural conclusion.
Social networking sites allow you to live a life unhindered by small talk.
In Touch With the World

It isn't just your inner circle of close friends and even closer family members that social networking sites allow you to communicate with easily and effectively. Social networks have the power to open the world up to you, making it a smaller place than it has ever been before.

So much so that I actually haven't a clue where many of my contacts reside. When it comes to social networks everyone is equal, regardless of location.
Social networking sites have made the world a smaller place. And then some.
Building Relationships

As painful as break-ups can be, they can sometimes be the right thing for all concerned. What's to say that the new relationship, founded on the steps of Facebook, isn't the one that will last? Even if it doesn't turn into a spectacular coupling, it could be the friendship that is needed at the time. Which has to be a positive thing.
Social networking sites can help foster friendships and perhaps more besides.
Finding Common Ground in an Open Society

As previously mentioned, social networking sites can help you find people you share interests with. Facebook, for example, asks you to list who and what you are interested in right from the start. This makes it much easier to find common ground with other users.

On Twitter you should be following those who have something to say that you're interested in, making connections with like-minded individuals much easier than it is offline.
Social networking sites make fitting in easier, as long as you open up a little.
Are Social Networks a Force for Good or Evil?

As with most things in life, there are positive and negative sides to social networking, both of which we have now explored. My ultimate belief is that when used in moderation, with checks and balances on how younger people in particular are using them, social networking sites are neither good or evil. They're somewhere in between.

Does this make you feel better about social networking sites and the effect they could be having on society? Or will you remain wary in spite of these examples of the positive impact of social networking sites on society? Whatever your thoughts on the subject, we'd like to hear them in the comments section below!

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The Positive Impact of Social Networking Sites on Society

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Social networking isn't for everyone, but it's now such a massive part of all our lives, whether we embrace or reject the notion, that it can no longer be ignored. But are social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ a force for good or evil?

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The upside of selfies: Social media isn't all bad for kids

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The upside of selfies: Social media isn't all bad for kids

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http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/21/living/social-media-positives-teens-parents/

Most of the time when we think of social media we start tallying up the negatives, but there are almost more positives than there are negatives for it. Social media keeps teens connected to the outside world, news, and important events that are happening.

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The upside of selfies : all social media isn't bad for kids

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social media positive for teens? maybe! - cnn

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Social media positive for teens? Maybe! - CNN

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Social media positive for teens? It just might be, according to a recent report, which says it can build self-confidence and improve relationships.

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Researchers found using social networks can spark a natural high leading to a relaxed heart rate and lower levels of stress and tension.

While it seems like a solitary activity, the interaction with others via these networks has a positive effect on body and mind, said joint American and Italian research.

And that buzz could explain the massive success of social networking in general and Facebook in particular.

University researchers in Milan wired up 30 students aged 19-25, monitoring the reactions of their brain, blood pressure, skin conductance, pupil dilation and heart rate.

These readings show levels of arousal, excitement, stress and relaxation said the study for online journal Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking.

The students were then given three minute exercises - either looking at panoramic landscapes, a short time on Facebook or a complicated mathematical task.

Not surprisingly the first made the students the most relaxed and the maths test made them the most stressed.

But the Facebook time threw up a whole new set of unexpected results that were neither stressed out or over relaxed.

Instead they found it brought out reactions suggesting the person had found high levels of attractiveness and arousal.

The research was conducted jointly by the Auxologico Italian Institute, the Catholic University, both in Milan, and the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

It found: 'The success of social networking sites might be associated with a specific positive affective state experienced by users when they use their account.'

However, Lady Susan Greenfield from the University of Oxford recently warmed over-using social networks could shorten the attention span, encourage instant gratification and cause a loss of empathy.

And last year a U.S report suggested using websites like Facebook could be fuelling the rise of sexually transmitted diseases among young adults.

The study from Florida's Seminole County Health Department reported large rises in cases of chlamydia and syphilis.

Intervention specialist Preston Boyce told ClickOrlando.com: 'They're using the social networks. They're not talking to their parents, and they're hooking up with people that they really don't know anything about.

'They're contracting diseases, and then they go their separate ways.

'There wasn't a bond that was developed in the first place, so they're just meeting people, and that bond wasn't there so it's easy to walk away after the first time.'

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Facebook is GOOD for you: Social networks relax the heart rate and trigger 'a natural high'

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Researchers found using social networks can spark a natural high leading to a relaxed heart rate and lower levels of stress and tension. While it seems like a solitary activity, the interaction with others via these networks has a positive effect on body and mind, said joint American and Italian research.

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School's secret tweeter uses social media for good.

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School's secret tweeter uses social media for good.

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A boy uses twitter to boost the spirits of his fellow students at Boyle County High School. Using twitter he creates an anonymous profile that represents the school and can raise fellow students spirits. -Austin Backus

http://tweentribune.com/tween56/school-s-secret-tweeter-uses-social-media-good

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Could you listen to 160 hours of Nickelback for charity?

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Could you listen to 160 hours of Nickelback for charity?

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A RELEVANT Magazine editor agreed to listen to nearly one week straight of nothing but Nickelback to raise money for charity:WATER to build wells in Africa. This is the story of the success of the project. - Mr. Johnson

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There's a perfectly legitimate reason why RELEVANT podcast editor Jesse Carey is listening to Nickelback for one week straight: He's raising some serious money for charity.

"The idea of a week of listening to Nickelback was too hilarious not to do," Carey told the Daily Dot via email. "They occupy such a weird place in pop culture: They're super popular, successful and have sold like 50 million albums, but are so loathed by so many other music fans. They seem to have a degree of self-awareness and sense of humor with their cultural status and polarizing identity that sort of makes the idea more fun."

When Carey posted his fundraising page earlier in February, he set an initial goal of $5,000 to put towards clean water projects carried out by nonprofit Charity: Water. But just a few days after announcing his Nickelback endurance challenge, he passed his goal and set his sights on $10k. After one day into his challenge, he's at $14k and rising.

"Evidently, I vastly underestimated people's curiosity to see what would happen to a human being after getting exposed to more than 160 consecutive hours of Nickelback," Carey wrote. "After all, this type of experiment would be far too unethical for any medical researcher to conduct. I'm not entirely sure what I'm attempting is even legal," he joked.

On his fundraising page, Carey reveals his so-called "keys to victory" for surviving this grueling week of auditory torture: Frequent stretching, hydration, and psychotic breakdown avoidance.

But when we caught up with him at the end of Day One on Monday, it seemed that avoiding such a breakdown might prove impossible.

"The toughest moment was 12:01 Sunday night, moments after the challenge began," Carey wrote. "It felt like hours had passed, but I looked down and realized I was less than halfway through a single song. That's when I realized the gravity of my decision. I hit rock bottom within a minute of the challenge beginning."

He even posted a video to convey his fragile state of mind:

Carey has two passengers along for this wild, ear-assaulting ride: His wife and 2-year-old son. But he's sparing them as often as possible by wearing earbuds. Even at night.

"Regrettably, I said I would listen around the clock," he admitted. "The first night was a fever dream of guitar solos and lyrics that mostly consist of extremely thinly veiled, non-ironic innuendos."

And as if watching a man go slowly insane by listening to too much Nickelback wasn't enough, Carey has included an added incentive for those following the campaign. He's promised donors that if he can somehow reach the $100,000 mark, he will "undergo a full Chad Kroeger makeover."

"My hope is that at the end of all this, the doctors will be able to help me achieve a full recovery-mentally and physically," Carey said. "I'm not getting my hopes up, though."
Screengrab via Nickelback/YouTube

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This guy is listening to Nickelback for a week straight

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There's a perfectly legitimate reason why RELEVANT podcast editor Jesse Carey is listening to Nickelback for one week straight: He's raising some serious money for charity. "The idea of a week of listening to Nickelback was too hilarious not to do," Carey told the Daily Dot via email.

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Social media helps students find friends 

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Social media helps students find friends 

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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/28/social-networking-benefits-validated/?page=all

Ariel

Kids who are interested in weird things can display it on their social media page to find friends who have that strange thing in common.

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20 Ways to Use Social Media for Social Good

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20 Ways to Use Social Media for Social Good

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This gives you 20 different ways to use social media for good.

Tommy.O

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Along with losing weight and breaking bad habits, each year many people make a resolution to do more good in their community. What does that have to do with social media?

I truly believe that social media has the power to make the world a better place -- and many others believe that too. 98% of nonprofit organizations have a Facebook presence, and 72% are establishing themselves on Twitter ( source). Whether you're a nonprofit or a for-profit organization, you can successfully use social media for awareness of your cause, fundraising, community growth, engagement, and more.

Here are 20 ways to do just that.

1. Use the social web to develop contacts within similar organizations in order to create awareness and transfer helpful information.

2. You've got the facts, statistics, research, and institutional knowledge already, so provide this knowledge as content to share.

3. Let the passion for your cause come out and highlight the stories that tug at heartstrings. Use pictures, videos, and a narrative to tell the human stories that inspire.

4. Use your social presence to create new relationships and strengthen existing ones. Share updates about your programs, mission, and events to show donors how their funds are used.

5. Coordinate your social media outreach with your events and promotions.

6. Once you've created your campaign and call to action, make it easy for people to donate. Get the essentials (name, address, email, and payment info) and let them be on their way.

7. Connect and develop relationships with social media leaders to further spread your message and have a supportive voice.

8. Spread positive messages to gather interest. Sharing positive volunteer experiences might encourage others to learn more about you or share your message.

9. Thank your community. Whether it's a donation, a comment on your blog or a helpful recommendation, it's important to acknowledge the kind gesture.

10. Dissect your social media data to find insights that benefit your community. Use data to uncover areas in need and find ways to get involved.

11. Promote your events. Attract a larger following by sharing your message on the social web.

12. Share messages about others more than messages about yourself. Retweet other organizations' posts, share web content relevant to your industry and post kind words and questions.

13. Use social media to uncover the language of your constituents. Use that knowledge to shape the content and messaging you use to communicate.

14. Use social media to reveal data about your audience. This includes market demographics, relevant conversations, where they spend time on social media channels.

15. Use social media to gather feedback via surveys and polls. Ask questions and crowdsource new ideas.

16. Describe your social media objectives specific to the results you want. Go deeper than "increase brand awareness" to "increase brand awareness by 10% in the next six months via a targeted social media campaign."

17. Ensure your social media goals are measurable. Having a specific objective will clearly show whether results were met.

18. Set achievable social media goals. Your goal of 90% customer satisfaction may be plausible so consider what's feasible when setting your objectives.

19. Ensure you have the resources for your social media plan. Get the tools and staff in place to meet your objectives.

20. Get specific with your social media objectives with a time frame. This makes them real and tangible.

What other tips can you share from your social good experiences?

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20 Ways to Use Social Media for Social Good

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Along with losing weight and breaking bad habits, each year many people make a resolution to do more good in their community. What does that have to do with social media? I truly believe that social media has the power

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http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/21/living/social-media-positives-teens-parents/

Grace Roa

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The upside of selfies: Social media isn't all bad for kids

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The upside of selfies: Social media isn't all bad for kids

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Austin H

Not everyone today on social media is getting online to call people out for not being "cool" but they are getting onto say powerful and nice things to people out there that deserve a nice comment.

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social media positive for teens? maybe! - cnn

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Social media positive for teens? Maybe! - CNN

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Social media positive for teens? It just might be, according to a recent report, which says it can build self-confidence and improve relationships.

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5 Ways To Use Social Media To Stay Positive

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5 Ways To Use Social Media To Stay Positive

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Kelsi Fredette

How Facebook and other sites posts can transform your mood.

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5 Ways to Use Social Media to Stay Positive

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Recent research says Facebook feelings are contagious. Here are five ways to use social media to spread positivity.

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Facebook,Twitter, Social Networking: Good or Bad for Kid's Brain?

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Facebook,Twitter, Social Networking: Good or Bad for Kid's Brain?

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Many people have different opinions about social media. Whether it is good or bad for us. Especially teenagers. -Marisa D

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Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and other social media sites are godsends to kids and teens who want to get in touch and know what is going on with their friends or relatives. By just opening an app or a website, they can communicate with and learn about all the people who are important to them (at least those who are signed in to the same network).

But like many things that people are passionate about, there are detractors to social networking. When it comes to kids and teens, an Oxford University study argues that social networking has bad effects on the kids' intelligence - and the damage could be long-term and irrevocable. On the other hand, defenders are quick to point out that kids on social networking are increasing their social interaction while wiring their brains to adapt to new technology.

BAD EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON KIDS

The one common bad effect of social media is addiction - the constant checking of Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or other social media updates. Experts believe that knowing what's going on with friends and what they are thinking or feeling can be addicting. Researchers at UCLA's Brain Mapping Center has found that being appreciated in social media through "likes" was seen in brain scans to activate the reward centers of the brain. This reward circuitry is particularly sensitive during adolescence, and this may partly explain why teenagers are more into social media.

For kids and teens, knowing how many people like what they posted, how many followed (or unfollowed) them, and knowing what people say about them also leads to compulsive checking. This addiction to social media could disrupt other worthwhile activities like concentrating on schoolwork, reading or engaging in sports. The heaviest social media users admit to checking their social media feeds more than 100 times a day, sometimes even during school.

Bad effects of social networking to kids and teens, according to psychologists or suggested by scientific studies, are as follows:

A 2015 U.K. Office for National Statistics finds that children who spend more than 3 hours each school day on social media sites are more than twice as likely to suffer poor mental health. Their immersion in a virtual world may cause these children to experience delay in their emotional and social development. According to the report, social media are potentially "a source of social comparison, cyber bullying and isolation", which could lead to mental health problems.

A report published by IZA Institute of Labor Economics even suggests that just one hour a day on social media can make a teen miserable. The study also theorized that this may be caused by issues of cyberbullying, an increase in social comparisons, and a decrease in real-life, face-to-face activities.

Another 2015 study by the British Psychological Society finds that teenagers being obligated to be responsive to social media (liking posts, answering texts and direct messages) throughout the day affect their mental health.

A University of Michigan study seem to indicate that in young adults, Facebook use leads to decline in subjective well-being. The more young adults use Facebook, the worse they feel moment-to-moment and the less they feel satisfied with their lives overall.

DoSometing.org, "one of the largest organizations for young people and social change", lists several bad effects of social media, which includes sleep disorder, depression, addiction, 24/7 stress, isolation, insecurity, and fear of missing out (FOMO).

FOMO or the fear of missing out on something important (like their friends' jokes, parties, activities and other ways of having fun) leads to depression and anxiety in teen social media users, according to a survey done by the Australian Psychological Society. FOMO is one of the main reasons for teenagers' heavy use of social media.

Screen relationships detract from spending time in real life relationships and developing social skills. According to Patricia Greenfield, professor of psychology in the UCLA College, the implications of her research is that when people use digital media for social interaction, they're spending less time developing social skills and learning to read nonverbal cues. "Social interaction is needed to develop skills in understanding the emotions of other people."

The results of a survey from the University of Glasgow shows that social media use particularly at night, with strong emotional involvement, led to poorer sleep quality, lower self-esteem, and higher levels of anxiety. This can be a problem since teens with low self-esteem grow up as depressed adults, according to previous studies.

Social networks are fertile grounds for bad influencers and anonymous venoms and hunting grounds for deviants and other predators.

For kids who crave attention, Facebook and other social network becomes a venue for them to act out. These kids may make inappropriate statements, pictures and videos that could ultimately harm them. Also, posts and materials that are published online tend to be permanent and may haunt them in the future.

A study by Larry Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University concludes that extended use of social networks like Facebook can result in a decrease in empathy among teens, and thus an increase in narcissism.

Young people who have a history of harming themselves or attempting suicide might be particularly vulnerable to negative messages posted online, new research shows. The new review, published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE, found that kids and young adults who have thoughts of self-harm or suicide actually spend more time on the Internet and are more often victims of cyberbullying than their peers who do not have such thoughts.

Some kids realize that spending a lot of time in social media results in wasted time, and this negatively affects their mood

Selfies, which became popular with the rise of camera phones, can trigger mental health conditions when a person becomes obsessed with looks. The Mirror, for example, recently featured a selfie addict who tried to kill himself when he couldn't take a perfect photo. According to Pamela Rutledge in Psychology Today, "Preoccupation with selfies can be a visible indicator of a young person with a lack of confidence or sense of self that might make him or her a victim of other problems as well. Excessive and increasingly provocative selfie-ing is a form of 'acting out,' a common behavioral pattern to get attention."

Educators also note that for kids and teens in social networks, there are no spelling and grammar rules. In fact it is cool to misspell and not make sense. Less sophisticated children will find it hard to differentiate between social networking communication and real world communication. In fact many teachers are complaining that social networking communication with misspellings and lack of grammar are seeping through student's school writings.

Social media habits are also blamed for lack of sleep and sleep problems in teenagers. Bright light emitted from smart phones and tablets are thought to disrupt sleep cycles. For young people sleep is important for learning, the development of the young brain, as well as for growing and staying healthy.

Baroness Susan Greenfield , a top neuroscientist of the Oxford University warns about the lifelong effects of too much social networking:

Facebook and other networking sites "are infantilizing the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a short attention span and live for the moment". There is hardly any concentration skills required in participating in these social networking sites, and these train the brain to have poor attention span.

Kids are detracted from learning to communicate in the real world. There are reports from teachers that social networking is affecting kids' comprehension levels. Also, if kids communicate primarily through the screen they do not learn the subtleties of real life communication - such as body language, tone of voice, and subconsciously sensing the molecules that other people release.

Social networking sites make kids more self-centered. Since Facebook and other sites give kids their own page which is about them, it leads some vulnerable kids to think that everything revolves around them, a precursor for emotional problems in their later life. This might also result in inability to empathize.

These sites make kids prone to sensationalism.

A study by a team of economists at the University of Sheffield, shows that the more time children spend chatting on Facebook, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Instagram, the less happy they feel about their school work, the school they attend, their appearance, their family and their life overall. Children see their friends portraying themselves in idealized state when they post in social media. A vulnerable teen may suffer from depression when he reads great things happening to his friends, and his life is not so great in comparison. This effect was found to be worse for those who lack self-confidence. However, the study also found that teens in social media feel happier about their friendships.

Pediatricians observe that some teens suffer from "Facebook depression". After spending a lot of time on Facebook and other popular social networking sites, some teens become anxious and moody. Again, this seems to be caused by being exposed to friends whose idealized presentation of their lives appear to be superior to theirs. Teens who experience "Facebook depression" usually have trouble with social interactions in general, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Among the social networks, Instagram was found to be the worst for teens' mental health, according to a survey. Instagram, along with Snapchat, are said to be very image-focused and it appears they may be driving feelings of inadequacy and anxiety in young people.

GOOD EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON KIDS

On the other hand, other experts like the MacArthur Foundation see it differently. They claim that kids and teens are developing important technical and social skills online in ways that adults do not understand or value:

Mizuko Ito of the University of California states that "spending time online is essential for young people to pick up the social and technical skills they need to be competent citizens in the digital age". Kids are learning basic social and technical skills to fully participate in modern society. Kids learn to adapt to permanent and public socializing and managing elaborate network of friends and acquaintances.

Social networking makes kids more peer-based. Young people are motivated to learn from their peers online. They interact and receive feedback from one another. They are motivated to learn more from each other than from adults. Teachers and adults are no longer the only sources of knowledge.

It makes kids more networked than ever. It is easier for kids to make friends with people all over the world, most of whom they will never ever meet without these technological advances.

Kids communicate and interact more than ever.

Social networks actually make kids more relationship-oriented, considerate, and emphatic. Kids remember people's birthday and greet them. They comment on pictures, videos and status of their friends. They create longer term friendships by being in touch online even when friends are no longer physically meeting.

Professor Larry Rosen notes that teens are developing the ability to show virtual empathy for distressed Facebook friends and that the empathy is actually well-received by friends, positively influencing their mood. This virtual empathy, he says, can even spill over into the real world, teaching teens how to empathize with others in everyday life.

Lastly, The British Medical Journal disagrees with Susan Greenfield's claim that prolonged computer use can trigger "autistic-like traits" and aggression, and that her claims are not backed by scientific data. Instead, social networking "has been found to enhance existing friendships and the quality of relationships, although some individuals benefit more than others."

HOW PARENTS CAN MAKE THE MOST OF KIDS SOCIAL NETWORKING

Educate your child about the risks of social media and explain to him how it can be harmful as well as helpful. Teach your child about the danger of "oversharing", for example.

Encourage your kid to spend more time - considerably more time - in actual communication than "social networking communication".

Tell your kid to spend more time in real-life friendships and activities - Real face-to-face interaction is deeper and warmer than online friendships. Your kid learn more social skills in relating to and having face-to-face communication with his friends. Online friendships does not teach your kid to listen to subtle vocal cues, interpret body language, and adapt to different personalities - skills that are often important to survive in the real world.

Encourage your child's other passion or interest - Instead of constantly telling your kid to stop going online, discover his other interests and nurture them. Examples of these are sports, playing a musical instrument, writing, crafts, etc. Schedule these real life activities for him, or support him when he is engaged on non-online activities that he is passionate about.

Suggest to your kid to take advantage of social networking to enhance learning, to collaborate with fellow students, not just for "hanging out" and spewing nonsense. Teach your kid to differentiate between what has substance, and what is mere trash. You should also warn him not to engage in the darker side of social networking like cyberbullying, stalking, sharing inappropriate materials, etc.

If possible, supervise your kid's online activity to protect him from online predators and other dangers - Do not be deceived that your kid is online because of school research and studying. You should be constantly aware of what your kid does online or what he does in front of the computer.

If your child feels anxious about how her friends seem to be living a better life than her, remind her that the images and postings of her friends are curated, and does not represent the whole story of her friends' life, and they are probably just sharing the best parts. Tell your child to spend less time scrolling her feed if it makes her unhappy

Join the social media that your child belongs to so you will have a sense of how they work and understand the impact they can have on your child. Also if possible, follow your child so you are aware of her activities online.

When you join your child's social network, just lurk or be a silent, watchful friend. You may like but avoid or refrain from commenting as this may turn her and her online friends off.

Emphasize to your kid the difference between real-life and online relationships - Having 500 friends in Facebook, for example, does not necessarily mean that he is popular.

At an age when your kid can easily fall prey to bad online influences, have the computer screen readily visible to you by putting the computer in a place where you regularly pass by. Do not position it on a hidden corner or angle.

If your child seems upset after looking at her phone or device, ask her about it. A CNN study shows that if parents are involved with their children's social media activities, their children are less likely to be upset with what happens to them online.

Emphasize to your child the difference between writing and spelling for social networking and real world writing.

As in everything, use social networking in moderation. It cannot take the place of real-life relationships and other worthwhile pursuits like reading books and sports.

Reaction of father who has daughter who criticized him in Facebook:

See also thelist of best educational toys and gift ideas for children

Comments

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Social Media and Networking: The Good and Bad Effects on Kids - Raise Smart Kid

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Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and other social media sites are godsends to kids and teens who want to get in touch and know what is going on with their friends or relatives. By just opening an app or a website, they can communicate with and learn about all the people who are important to them (at least those who are signed in to the same network).

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Many studies have been done on how Facebook can change someone's life. Researchers have found that even within a few hours of using Facebook people's mood dropped.

http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/how-facebook-makes-us-unhappy

-Tiffany Lyle

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Instagram for doctors' lets medics share photos to solve mystery cases

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Instagram for doctors' lets medics share photos to solve mystery cases

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http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/10/tech/figure1-photos-medical-app/index.html

Using Social Media would allow doctors to communicate with their patients easily by showing them things like the patients X-Rays. Personal information would be removed such as Name, Case Numbers, Illness, etc.

-Dilan Patel

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"I'm a very visual learner. Most doctors are ... and we like to talk to each other," explains third-year medical resident Sheryll Shipes of Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial, in Texas.

Last year Shipes began using Figure1, a photo-sharing app through which healthcare professionals can share photographs and information about their patients for both learning and diagnosis purposes. "It's now my medical guilty pleasure," she adds.

It may ring alarm bells regarding patient confidentiality but founder Josh Landy, an intensive care specialist at Scarborough Hospital in Toronto, Canada, vows that anonymity, ethics and patient approval are at the core of the technology. He says his objective is the sharing of knowledge.

"People (already) share cases through text and email," he says.

As a medic himself Landy understands the need to seek external opinions when treating a variety of patients. One day, when looking around his hospital unit, Landy realized how commonplace this virtual sharing was among his students as their hands were occupied not with stethoscopes, but smartphones. They were in search of a second opinion -- and now they can get third, fourth and fifth opinions in a single click, with his photo-sharing app.

"We looked at how people are using their smart phones," he explains, having seen many cases being shared between doctors using this medium. "I wanted a way to present all those cases ... to create a global knowledge notebook."

Feedback from the community

Launched in May 2013, Figure-1 enables users to take an image, remove any identifying information, and upload the image for feedback from the community of healthcare users accessing the app. Those not uploading use the app as a learning tool to expose them to conditions and symptoms they may not otherwise see. "It's medical education," says Landy.

In developing the app, Landy ensured anonymity would become standard through the removal of any identifying features, names, numbers or case information when images are uploaded. All images undergo additional verification before becoming publicly available and patients must also give their permission for their photos to be shared.

Whilst the general public may have interest in medical images, Landy stresses the importance of targeting mainly those working in healthcare. New users are asked for occupational information upon registering and only healthcare professionals can comment or add pictures.

The app is now available in 19 countries and as of summer 2014 there were 150,000 users, according to Figure-1. The number is expected to be higher today with images in the library being viewed on average 1.5 million times a day. The greatest popularity lies in the continent of origin, with Figure-1 now being used by 30% of U.S. medical students, including Shipes.

"It's classic medicine, digitized," says Shipes. Having used Figure-1 religiously over the past year, Shipes readily sings its praises after the app helped her diagnose a patient with an unusual skin disorder causing blisters on certain parts of her body. "I uploaded it to Figure-1 and someone told us exactly what it was," she says. The condition turned out to be common to Latin America and Asia but rare in the United States. "We would never have known that one."

Now Landy hopes word will spread even further. "It's overdue for a tool like this," he concludes. "I'd like to see it everywhere."

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'instagram for doctors' lets medics share patient pics - cnn

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'Instagram for doctors' lets medics share patient pics - CNN

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"I'm a very visual learner. Most doctors are ... and we like to talk to each other," explains third-year medical resident Sheryll Shipes of Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial, in Texas. Last year Shipes began using Figure1, a photo-sharing app through which healthcare professionals can share photographs and information about their patients for both learning and diagnosis purposes.

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Teens use social media to provide anti-bullying and positive mental health message

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Teens use social media to provide anti-bullying and positive mental health message

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Holden lee

Two teens are using social media to promote positive mental health messages and help stop bullying. The guy also set up a facebook page in 2012 after the death of his friend along with his website called Teen Support Network.

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Updated October 10, 2014 12:56:11

Two Adelaide teens are using social media to promote positive mental health message and tackle bullying.

William Russell set up a website, Teen Support Network, and a supporting Facebook page in 2012 following the death of his friend, Tony.

Tony had suffered severe depression due to bullying he received about his sexuality leading up to his death by suicide in September 2011.

Mr Russell wanted to honour his friend and a promise he had made to do something to support other teenagers facing bullying.

Millie Warne has experienced bullying herself from a very young age and what began as social exclusion in Year 4 escalated during her teen years.

"Years 8 and 9 were the worst years I had of bullying and Year 10 was pretty bad too," Ms Warne said.

With friends suffering similar circumstance to her own, Ms Warne was inspired by Mr Russell's Facebook page.

She created a Facebook page herself called, What About Me as place to offer positive reinforcement for teenagers and acceptance for those who might feel socially shunned or depressed.

The pair now have more than 12,000 followers.

A gateway to help

Both Mr Russell and Ms Warne stipulate their pages are not there to offer an alternative to seeking professional help.

"We help people that have been bullied a lot, [who may be doing] self-harm, that are feeling a bit suicidal at times," Ms Warne said.

They both use their pages to stimulate conversation and encourage those at risk to seek further guidance or help.

"A lot of young people can't talk to their parents or their caregivers or whoever is looking after them, so it is good that they can have someone else to turn to," Ms Warne said.

Ms Warne said her first goal is to encourage teenagers to talk with their peers about their problems and then find ways to encourage the person to address their concerns with an adult.

Both Ms Warne and Mr Russell have plans to study counselling, with hopes to gain employment in the mental health industry.

"I would like to do some courses in counselling and get What About Me to be a proper, professional organisation," Ms Warne said.

First posted October 09, 2014 14:53:04

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Teens use social media to send positive mental health message

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Updated October 10, 2014 12:56:11 Two Adelaide teens are using social media to promote positive mental health message and tackle bullying. William Russell set up a website, Teen Support Network, and a supporting Facebook page in 2012 following the death of his friend, Tony.

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Carly Childers

How twitter can be used as a powerful Educational tool. As you see in the picture below teachers started to use twitter to interact with students when not in the classroom.. Twitter has also came a reminder to a lot of students about test, quiz dates and reminders for homework.