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Using social media can harm students' chances for college admission. College administrators scan Facebook profiles for evidence of illegal behavior by students. [134] [135] A 2014 Kaplan Test Prep survey found that 35% of college admissions officers checked an applicant's social media to learn more about them, up from 10% in 2008. 16% of admissions officers discovered information that "negatively impacted prospective students' admission chances." Only 3% of students surveyed believed the content of their social media presence could hurt their prospects of admission. [76]

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Colleges and universities use social media to recruit and retain students. 96.6% of four-year institutions use Facebook to recruit students, 83.4% use Twitter, and 79.3% use YouTube. [183]Colleges and universities use Facebook apps and other social media tools to increase student retention. [77] Social networking sites are also being used to give students a support system at community colleges that consist mostly of commuter students. [78]

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Social networking sites harm employees' productivity. 51% of people aged 25-34 accessed social media while at work. [147] Two-thirds of US workers with Facebook accounts access the site during work hours [107] Even spending just 30 minutes a day on social media while at work would cost a 50-person company 6,500 hours of productivity a year. [108] 51% of American workers think work productivity suffers because of social media. [109]

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Social networking is good for the economy. Social media sites have created a new industry and thousands of jobs in addition to providing new income and sales. [31] A McKinsey Global Institute study projects that the communication and collaboration from social media could add $900 billion to $1.3 trillion to the economy through added productivity and improved customer service. [32] Facebook posted $1.26 billion for third quarter 2012 revenue, up from $954 million for third quarter 2011 earnings. [33] Twitter, a private company, earned an estimated $350 million in 2012 revenue. [34]

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Social media causes people to spend less time interacting face-to-face.
A Jan. 2012 Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School study found that the percentage of people reporting less face-to-face time with family in their homes rose from 8% in 2000 to 34% in 2011. [98] 32% reported using social media or texting during meals (47% of 18-34 year olds) [99] instead of talking with family and friends.

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Social networking sites facilitate face-to-face interaction. People use social media to network at in-person events and get to know people before personal, business, and other meetings. [23]Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project found that messaging on social media leads to face-to-face interactions when plans are made via the sites and social media users messaged close friends an average of 39 days each year while seeing close friends in person 210 days each year. [24]

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The use of social networking sites is correlated with personality and brain disorders, such as the inability to have in-person conversations, a need for instant gratification, ADHD, and self-centered personalities, as well as addictive behaviors. [81] Pathological Internet Use (caused or exacerbated by social networking use) is associated with feelings of loneliness, depression, anxiety and general distress. [95] The 2013 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is evaluating "Internet Addiction Disorder" for inclusion. A 2008 UCLA study revealed web users had fundamentally altered prefrontal cortexes [96] due, in part, to the fast pace of social networking sites rewiring the brain with repeated exposure. [97]

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Being a part of a social networking site can increase a person's quality of life and reduce the risk of health problems. Social media can help improve life satisfaction, stroke recovery, memory retention, and overall well-being by providing users with a large social group. Additionally, friends on social media can have a "contagion" effect, promoting and helping with exercise, dieting, and smoking cessation goals. [22]

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People who use social networking sites are prone to social isolation. Social networking can exacerbate feelings of disconnect (especially for youth with disabilities), and put children at higher risk for depression, low self-esteem, and eating disorders. [42] The "passive consumption" of social media (scanning posts without commenting) is related to loneliness. [115]

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Social networking sites help people who are socially isolated or shy connect with other people. [42] More than 25% of teens report that social networking makes them feel less shy, 28% report feeling more outgoing, and 20% report feeling more confident (53% of teens identified as somewhat shy or "a lot" shy in general). [14] Youth who are "less socially adept" report that social networks give them a place to make friends [43] and typically quiet students can feel more comfortable being vocal through a social media platform used in class. [44]Shy adults also cite social media as a comfortable place to interact with others. [45]

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Social networking sites entice people to waste time. 40% of 8 to 18 year olds spend 54 minutes a day on social media sites. [89] 36% of people surveyed listed social networking as the "biggest waste of time," above fantasy sports (25%), watching TV (23%), and shopping (9%). [90] When alerted to a new social networking site activity, like a new tweet or Facebook message, users take 20 to 25 minutes on average to return to the original task. In 30% of cases, it took two hours to fully return attention to the original task. [91] 42% of American Internet users play games like Farmville or Mafia Wars on social networking sites. [92]

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Social media helps empower business women. Being able to connect on social networking sites gives business women a support group not readily found offline where female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are outnumbered by male CEOs 15 to 485. [15] Many social media sites are dominated by women: 72% of Pinterest users are women, 58% of Facebook users, 62% of MySpace users, 60% of Yelp users, and 53% of Instagram users. [16] Business women useTwitter chats to support each other, give and receive peer knowledge, and have guest "speakers" share expert knowledge. [17] One.org helps African women entrepreneurs connect on social media to grow their businesses. [18]

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Social networking sites can lead to stress and offline relationship problems.
A University of Edinburgh Business School study found the more Facebook friends a person has, the more stressful the person finds Facebook to use. [87]According to a Feb. 9, 2012 Pew Internet report, 15% of adult social network users had an experience on a social networking site that caused a friendship to end, 12% of adult users had an experience online that resulted in a face-to-face argument, and 3% of adults reported a physical confrontation as the result of an experience on a social networking site. [88]

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Social networking sites allow people to improve their relationships and make new friends. 70% of adult social networking users visit the sites to connect with friends and family [12], and increased online communication strengthens relationships. [13] 52% of teens using social media report that using the sites has helped their relationships with friends, 88% report that social media helps them stay in touch with friends they cannot see regularly, 69% report getting to know students at their school better, and 57% make new friends. [14]

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Students who are heavy social media users tend to have lower grades. Students who use social media had an average GPA of 3.06 while non-users had an average GPA of 3.82 and students who used social networking sites while studying scored 20% lower on tests. [84] College students’ grades dropped 0.12 points for every 93 minutes above the average 106 minutes spent on Facebook per day. [85] Two-thirds of teachers believe that social media does more to distract students than to help academically. [86] The Sep. 2, 2014 Learning Habit study published in the American Journal of Family Therapy found that grades began a steady decline after secondary school students reached 30 minutes of daily screen time (time spent using an electronic device such as a computer or mobile phone). After four hours of screen time, average GPAs dropped one full grade. [184]

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Social networking sites help students do better at school.
59% of students with access to the Internet report that they use social networking sites to discuss educational topics and 50% use the sites to talk about school assignments. [9] After George Middle School in Portland, OR introduced a social media program to engage students, grades went up by 50%, chronic absenteeism went down by 33%, and 20% of students school-wide voluntarily completed extra-credit assignments.[10] [11] A Jan. 2015 study published in the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology said college freshman should use social networking sites to build networks of new friends, feel socially integrated at their new schools, and reduce their risk of dropping out. [182]

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Social networking sites lack privacy and expose users to government and corporate intrusions. 13 million users said they had not set or did not know about Facebook's privacy settings and 28% shared all or nearly all of their posts publicly. [81] The US Justice Department intercepted 1,661 pieces of information from social networking sites and e-mails in 2011. [82] The 2009 IRS training manual teaches agents to scan Facebook pages for information that might "assist in resolving a taxpayer case." 4.7 million Facebook users have "liked" a health condition or medical treatment page, information that is sometimes used by insurance companies to raise rates. [81] [83]

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Law enforcement uses social networking sites to catch and prosecute criminals.67% of federal, state, and local law enforcement professionals surveyed think "social media helps solve crimes more quickly." [5] In 2011 the NYPD added a Twitter tracking unit and has used social networking to arrest criminals who have bragged of their crimes online. [6] When the Vancouver Canucks lost the 2011 Stanley Cup in Vancouver, the city erupted into riots. Social media was used to catch vandals and rioters as social networking site users tagged the people they knew in over 2,000 photos posted to the sites. [7] [8]

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Social media enables the spread of unreliable and false information. 49.1% of people have heard false news via social media.[1] On Sep. 5, 2012 false rumors of fires, shootouts, and caravans of gunmen in a Mexico City suburb spread via Twitter and Facebook caused panic, flooded the local police department with over 3,000 phone calls, and temporarily closed schools. [79] Shashank Tripathi, tweeting as @ComfortablySmug, spread false information in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy by tweeting that the New York Stock Exchange was flooding and that the power company would cut off electricity to all of Manhattan; the bogus information was picked up by national news outlets including CNN and the Weather Channel. [80]

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Social networking sites spread information faster than any other media. Over 50% of people learn about breaking news on social media. [1] 65% of traditional media reporters and editors use sites like Facebook and LinkedIn for story research, and 52% use Twitter. [2] Social networking sites are the top news source for 27.8% of Americans, ranking close to newspapers (28.8%) and above radio (18.8%) and other print publications (6%). [1] Twitter and YouTube users reported the July 20, 2012 Aurora, CO theater shooting before news crews could arrive on the scene [3], and the Red Cross urged witnesses to tell family members they were safe via social media outlets. [4]