Cultural topics

3. Social networking

Almost everyone in the UK is connected to one social media network or another. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram etc. Social networking sites allow people to communicate with one another more easily than ever before. Organising group activities, sharing information, or just having a chat are all good reasons to keep logging on.

Social networking allows businesses to advertise to customers, receive feedback and respond to comments in real-time.

Social networking enables the government, police, and health services to release up-to-date bulletins to citizens about ongoing emergencies. The information contained in social networks can be used to track down criminals or missing persons, to evaluate potential new employees or employers, and even romantic partners.

But social media also has a dark side. False information and fake news can spread just as quickly as real data, and can make it much more difficult for someone to work out the truth of a situation.

People can be distracted by social media to such a degree that it impacts on their education or employment. Others use it as a substitute for real human friendships, steadily becoming more isolated from the community around them.

And, just as social media can help individuals find positive and affirming groups, it can also provide a banner for hate groups and extremists to organise themselves around.

In the end, social networking is one of the most powerful tools developed for the Internet, and it has profoundly affected every culture interacting online in one fashion or another.