Social Networking
Some may wonder what is social networking? Social networking is software that allows people to come together around an idea or topic of interest. It has allowed for society to become more interconnected than ever before. Some people use social networks to find romance,such as in websites like Cupid or international cupid among many others. Still, there are multiple ways in which it can be used. A school could use blog software to bring together anyone who's writing about things like politics,computers, or Greek literature. Social networking can be used to organize activities, events, or groups to showcase issues and opinions while exposing their ideas to a wider audience. Additionally, just like it was stated in the article, "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting" by Frank Langfitt, "Professional recruiters have started hunting for job candidates using social networking technology". Now more than ever before, people are able to find jobs or look up candidates without having to do much work. Social networks have allowed employers to interview candidates without having to meet them in person. These listed and others like real-time sharing are some of the benefits created by social networking.
Social Networking and the effects on Body Image
Social media has become the primary tool that people use to communicate with others and view material. For some people there is not a day that goes by that they are not using one of their social media accounts. Social media allows you to have access to a number of things within seconds. Have a favorite celebrity? You are able to follow them on social media and keep up with what they are doing. In love with cooking? You can follow social media accounts that are dedicated to all things cooking. Because there is such an ease of access when it comes to social media, the content that is delivered through it can be extremely influential to people. In recent media coverage, body image and representation of all body types has been a hot topic. So naturally social media’s depiction of body image has an effect on individuals. The effect that social media has on body image depends on the content that the user is accessing.
By definition social media refers to “the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks (Tufts University).” Social media allows individuals to interact with other individuals instantly, and with the use of smart phones people are connected to their social media accounts throughout the entire day. There are different types of social media for different uses. For instance there’s Instagram, where users are able to share their pictures and videos. On Facebook people are able to engage with different individuals, while also being able to share their ideas and the ideas of others. Twitter allows users to share quick short ideas and directly interact with other people. There are different sites that allow individuals to blog, where they are able to share their thoughts and share it on a platform where other users can read what they are saying and make comments. There are plenty of social media sites out there, so whatever someone wishes to gain out of a social media site, they will be able to find it.
Social media has a lot of positive attributes. For example, it allows you to connect with people with whom you would have not been able to connect with otherwise. It’s great for businesses because they are able to market onto any platform and connect with their potential clientele. The fact that it is so easy to use, makes it that much better. But at the same time it has some negative attributes. Whatever you decide to share is being seen by a large audience. Your ideas are out in the open and you have no idea what type of impact it may have on someone. Some people are not conscious of this and share whatever comes to mind without being aware of or caring about the consequences.
It is also important to note that social media is everywhere. There is no real way of escaping it, unless you are unplugged. Since everything is digitized, everything has gone online. E-mailing is slowly replacing paper mail. Job applications are filled out online instead of in person on paper. Going apartment hunting can also be done online. And because everything is online there is also a large amount of advertising that is displayed to users every single day.
Social media plays a huge role in some individuals lives. Therefore, the content they are accessing is important as it can influence how they feel about themselves, especially when it comes to body image. The media is always making it known what they believe is beautiful. And this creates a standard for people. And in the past, and even as of right now the media portrays beautiful to be thin, white women or “physically fit” white men. So for those whose skin is a different tone, have different facial features or have a different body type it can create a negative body image for the individual.
One of the most common types of content seen online that has become part of our culture, and is used in social media is the “selfie”. A selfie is a picture that someone takes of themselves. Usually the goal is to have a good looking selfie in order to post it onto social media. According to a study, social media use “may have stronger associations with body dissatisfaction than other Internet-related activities because it is highly interactive and self-exposing, with others commenting on postings in a public manner (McLean).” So when girls are posting these photos it opens up the window for others to judge them and make comments about their appearance. This also causes more competition because it is more about who looks the best. Some girls go to the extreme and manipulate their appearance in Photoshop to make themselves appear thinner in photos. When girls post these manipulated photos and get positive feedback, it increases the chances of them doing it over and over again. Although they are receiving comments that make them feel good at the moment, they are becoming less and less satisfied with their un-manipulated body, the body that they are living with. Another study showed that the more frequently social media is used, over time there will be an increase in body dissatisfaction. This increased use of social media also leads to more appearance-related feedback from their peers. But “peer appearance-related feedback did not explain the effect of social network site use on body image because peer appearance-related feedback did not predict body dissatisfaction (Vries).” So although you open yourself up to more commentary from others it does not necessarily equate to this being the cause of body dissatisfaction.
So, what is the problem? According to an article by Philippa Roxby, people are putting so much of themselves onto social media, that they are naturally comparing themselves to others. The problem with social media is that just because someone is exposing themselves to others, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are painting the whole picture. People usually share all of the positive things about themselves. No one really goes on to social media to display what they may think are their bad qualities. Caroline Nokes, who is quoted in the article, says that “Social media has a huge effect on young people's body confidence, because it cannot be ignored…they can make decisions not to look at magazines and TV, but social media networks are the primary way they communicate and their main channel to the outside world… But they are seeing the world through a filter, and that's not healthy (Roxby).” When most people go on to other people’s social media accounts they don’t realize that the images are false, and that is not what the person looks like in real life. So when they compare, they are comparing themselves to something that doesn't exist.
The fashion industry’s advertisements overwhelm women with images that represent what is considered to be the “ideal beauty.” Exposure to this type of media has shown to have lasting damaging effects on the sociological and psychological thoughts of women. Body dissatisfaction is defined as the negative evaluation or unhappiness with one’s body or certain body parts. Thin-ideal internalization characterizes the acceptance of society’s standards of thinness and is partly due to media exposure. Body dissatisfaction and thin-ideal internalization include statements assessing comparison like “I wish I looked like a Victoria’s Secret model” and “I often read magazines and compare myself to the fashion models, but I know I could never look like that”. Social comparison theory explains we seek to compare ourselves to others that we think we are similar to, as a kind of reiteration of our qualities and abilities.
Although the negative effects of social media on body image is clear. The user might be at some fault too. Referring to a commentary done by Julie Andsager, people know what their needs are and look for media that will meet those needs. This is known as the uses-and-gratifications approach. “The uses-and-gratifications approach is based on assumptions about individuals’ psychological traits, their motivations for selecting certain types of messages, and their level of involvement with the medium and/or the message (Andsager).” For example, if a girl is interested in becoming thin, she will seek out social media that is aimed at inspiring those who want to be thin. Just because users are searching for what they want, it does not mean that the content on social media doesn't need to change. If there was a better representation of people who looked like them and in a positive way, they would feel more comfortable with how they look and would not go searching for things that will negatively effect them. This change is happening. Those in the spotlight and have a huge following, have been sharing themselves in a more genuine way. This is creating trends where people are being more honest about sharing their true selves, instead of pictures that are Photoshopped or filtered. Behavioral psychologist Ivanka Prichard says “These trends in body honesty display the body in a natural way and highlight how functional the body can be. The female body is amazing and should be valued for so much more than just its appearance. Aiming to promote positive body image through these trends could help women around the world appreciate their bodies more. Being able to value, respect, love, and accept your body is linked to greater confidence, happiness, and participation in health behaviors (Fitters).” So those in the public eye should be conscious about what they are displaying for the world to see. Most celebrities have people who look up to them and will follow everything that they do. So it is crucial that they are aware of that and use their celebrity status to make a good impact. Furthermore, Amy Schumer and Melissa McCarthy have shared posts and videos combatting the bullying they have experienced for not being “thin enough”. They emphasize the important of being healthy and happy in their own skin (Leopold). Founder of Finding the Fabulous Laura Berninger offers a new perspective to look at the discrepancies between social media and thinness. Rather than demonizing the media, we can teach each other that just how real people write ugly things, real people can also change the message about body image. Rather than turning to a disorder, we can teach each other to eat healthy because we want to feel better about ourselves, not because society tells us we have to be skinny. Besides people in the spotlight using their platform to promote positive change, more body positive social media campaigns have been popping up. Some of the noteworthy campaigns are ones like #Fatkini, where women of all sizes are encouraged to post pictures of themselves in their bikinis. There is also the #ImNoAngel campaign from Lane Bryant, who is "aiming to redefine what society considers to be sexy by having women of all sizes submit photos of themselves using a ‘personal statement of confidence’ with the hashtag (Mckelle).” These are just two examples, but there are plenty more that are changing the standard of beauty. These campaigns are also shifting the fashion industry to include all body types. What is great about social media is that it allows businesses to interact with their consumers and consumers have no problem letting it be known to these businesses what they want. Thanks to social media women who are plus sized can voice their opinions and can say that just because they don’t look like the standard of beauty does not mean that they are not confident. Plus sized women want the same opportunity to dress fashionably and for retailers to make clothes passed a size 12. “According to NRF data, only about $17-19 billion of the $100 billion fashion industry is composed of plus-size clothing, but 67 percent of American women are size 12 or above (Milnes).” Since women are talking, retailers have been listening and making clothes passed a size 12 and have been using real representations of what our society looks like. Besides retailers, other companies have taken notice of the need for more diversity. The toy company Mattel recently released a new line of Barbies, who come in different shapes, sizes, skin tone and hair textures. This representation is very important because for some little girls their favorite thing to do is play with their barbies. And they should not have to wonder why they don’t look like them. Building confidence should begin at a young age, so if representation and diversity start when someone is a child it will lead to a more positive outlook about themselves when they are older. All of the change that is happening is a great and positive thing but some people disagree. One blogger Alice Greschkow thinks that the body positive movement is not doing what people think it is doing. She believes that it is leading people to only think about what they look like rather then what is on the inside. I do see the point she is making and I agree that issues of personality and being an overall good person is important too. But as an individual, we have to live with the body we are in, no one else. We have to be confident and comfortable in the body we have. Too many people think that they need to alter their body because of what is represented in the media. So I believe that the body positive movement is making a good impact on our society. The most important thing to take away from everything is how to use social media so it can be good for you and effect you in a positive way. A few ways to go about this is asking yourself what role social media plays in your body image. Does it have a positive impact? Negative? Or if you're not sure, you can also take a look at the types of social media accounts that you follow and the message that they are conveying. And if you don’t think that your use of social media is impacting you in a positive way, you can think about the ways to change that. For example, instead of posting negative quotes, it might be helpful to post more positive and inspirational quotes. If you are the type of person to get into arguments on social media you can think about how you can have more positive interactions with others (Tartakovsky). Besides analyzing the content you follow on social media you can also think about how it makes you feel on a deeper level. Does not receiving likes on your image bother you? Are you constantly comparing yourself to others? Why is it important for you to be connected on social media? And does scrolling through social media make you feel bad about your body image? Asking yourself questions like this can help you get a grasp of what social media does to you (Weiner). There is no ignoring social media. So whether or not it impacts an individuals' body image negatively or positively depends on a variety of things. User content, media representation, and how the user uses social media all play a very important role on body image. But it’s also important to dig a little deeper and find out how you feel about yourself and how you can improve your confidence. Social media should be a fun way to express all the things that make you, you. It should show that you are unique and that it is okay to be different then what the media portrays to be the standard.
Examples of Social Networking Services
Facebook 
Facebook is the most popular online social media and networking service in the world. It is a for-profit corporation with its headquarters in Menlo Park, California. Facebook was created back in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, along with his Harvard college dorm mates Saverin, McCollum, Moskovitz, and Hughes.
Facebook was originally created exclusively for Harvard students, then it was eventually expanded little by little to anyone age 13 and over with a valid email address by 2006.
Users are able to access Facebook from a large range of devices, such as desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, smart TVs, as long as it is connected to the internet or a mobile network. After the user registers for an account, they can create a user profile where they can tell other users about themselves. Users can add other users as friends, and can exchange messages, status updates, and share images and videos and links. They can also receive notifications whenever a friend posts an update. Aside from friends, users can block people they deem to be unpleasant and the users feed will exclude everything from blocked users. Facebook makes most of its revenue from onscreen advertisements.
Facebook, inc. held its initial public offering in Feb 2012, and began to sell stocks to the public three months later. It reached an original peak market capitalization of $104 billion. On July 13, 2015, Facebook became the fastest company in S&P 500 to reach a market cap of $250 billion.
As of March 31, 2016, Facebook has more than 1.65 billion monthly active users.
Reddit 
Different from Facebook, Reddit is a social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website. Reddit users, referred to as redditor, can submit contents such as text posts, or direct link to elsewhere. Redditors can then vote these posts up or down depending if they like it or not. Lastly, there is a comment section where redditors can discuss the contents of the original post.
Contents are submitted into categories or area of interest called "subreddits". Subreddits are consisting of contents which share a common topic such as news, science, gaming, movies, music, etc. Each one of these subreddits are moderated individually from one another. For every single possible topic there is a corresponding subreddit with its own group of subscribers. On the slim chance that a topic does not exist, the user can also create their own subreddit.
As of 2016, Reddit has 542 million monthly visitors (234 million unique users), ranking #11 most visited website in the US and #25 in the world.
Reddit was founded in 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian. Then in 2006 Condé Nast Publications acquired the site and Reddit became a direct subsidiary of the parent company, Advance Publication in 2011. As of August 2012, Reddit operates as an independent entity although Advance is still the major shareholder. Reddit is based in San Francisco, California.
SnapChat 
As more and more people are using social media apps to connect with a wider circle, the concept of privacy and discretion has become more important. Many Facebook users were dismayed as the company made it easier for advertisers and people outside a user's circle to see a user's posts. Those who value privacy and not having a long social media history available long after the user has matured would be a primary population for Snapchat, an image messaging and multimedia mobile application. One of the principal concepts of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are only available for a short time before they become inaccessible.
Snapchat is a relatively simple application that allows a user to send "snaps": photos or a short videos, which can be edited to include filters and effects, text captions, and drawings. "Snaps" may also include text messages, which are deleted a few seconds after being read by the recipient.
Since the applications inception in 2011, Snapchat has been a famed idiosyncrasy to an avid social media consumer. The ability to send and receive ‘self-destructible’ messages was a new and exciting gimmick that quickly captivated smart phone patrons. Although, the application was immediately criticized for promoting ‘sex-ting’ due to its underlying message of ‘privacy-sensitive content', its users demonstrate that it is used for a variety of creative endeavors which include drawing on photographs and for sending non-sensitive, in-the-moment content, challenging the never forgets nature of the Internet. Instead of sending a photograph via text message, a smart phone user can now send one over snapchat and reduce the number of storage that would be absorbed otherwise.
In October of 2013, Snapchat introduced its ‘story’ feature which would allow a user’s content to be available for 24 hours before self-destructing. Snapchat ‘stories’ are often regarded by many of its prospects as a ‘day in the life’ of the person that created the story. Over time, Snapchat added a plethora of more features to enhance the quality of the photographs and videos. Geofilters were introduced as a facet that added your location in fancy fonts to content; if the user is at an event and one of the attendees had made a filter to an event, that geofilter would appear. These very filters can only be applied in the places where the event or neighborhood is at. It is created using an online geo-fence. Interactive filters were brought to the forefront of snapchat and took the applications popularity to an entirely new level. Snapchat introduced facial recognition that would allow patrons to try on different things such as a virtual hat or makeup; other interactive filters allow for facial distortion. All of these prevailing features can be sent personally to a fellow snap chatter or as an upload to the story. Snapchat which was originally thought as a way to send private messages is now celebrated as focusing rather on the ‘fun’ factor and the change in social media norms introduced by ephemeral content.
Snapchat was created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown who are former Standford University students. According to statistics released by Snapchat users were sending about 2 billion videos vides which grew to 6 billion in November 2015. By February 2017, Snapchat had reached 160 million active users.
Instagram is a social media application that allows its users to share photos and videos to their followers. When it first launched Instagram Instagram was founded by Kevin Systorm and Mike Krieger and launched in October of 2010 and since then has grown to become one of the most popular social media apps. After its initial launch Instagram gained one million users and has continued to grow to 700 million users as of 2017. The app was only available on iOS devices but two years later the app became available to Android devices as well.
The app allows users to post photos and videos where they can add filters or text to enhance their content. The app introduced hashtags as a way to facilitate the search for specific images; popular hashtags include #ManCrushMonday #WomenCrushWednesday. Instagram is also able to connect to other social media applications like Twitter and Facebook so a user can share their content with ease. More and more celebrities have become active users of Instagram to give their fans a view into their private life. Companies hire celebrities to promote their products to their followers by post photos of them using a certain product. It has been estimated that a total of one billion photos have been shared on the app.
The popularity of other social media apps like SnapChat has pushed Instagram to continue growing and improving their application. In 2016 Instagram introduced Instagram Stories where users are able to share photos or videos and add filters or text but would disappeared from their profile after 24 hours. They then introduced live video to Instagram Stories and the feed would disappear as soon as the user ended their feed. As of January 2017 Instagram Stories has 150 million users and has actually surpassed SnapChat.
Nearly a year prior to the admittance of Snapchat a crisp new application was introduced to the social media world. Instagram was born in October of 2010. The premise was to upload a single photograph or video which may include a filter of choice that would alter the color scheme of the photo and a caption; once uploaded “followers” of the user can then comment on or like the content. This platform allowed for user’s to create an online personality with pictures that highlighted some of the best times in their lives without having to upload multiple pictures from a single event. Simply pick the best one and add it to the profile. The filters are a hallmark to the Instagram lover for it is goes beyond simply uploading the photographs. For, it is a unique way to post pictures and videos using their smartphones, apply different manipulation tools – 16 filters– in order to transform the appearance of an image. Instagram provided a transformative way to share pictures. Hashtags provided the ability to sort pictures for all users through categories to provide a way to find similar photographs. Businesses began to use Instagram when tagging a location was introduced. Restaurants could now create a profile and share the food that they serve; this also would allow other users to tag their meals if they chose to upload them to Instagram as well.
It is found that Instagram users have a certain type of what content they choose to upload to this platform; Instagram photos can be roughly categorized into eight types based on their content: self-portraits, friends, activities, pictures with embedded text, food, gadgets, fashion, and pets. Whereas Snapchat users may send mundane everyday pictures to one another, Instagram pictures hold more meaning. This did not bode well with Instagram. For the platform, too, wanted users to have more fun and join in on the ephemeral experience that Snapchat users were experiencing. Thus, three years following the commencement of Snapchat Stories came Instagram Stories and the battle to be the more dominant social media platform began.
Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you answer the question, "What are you doing?" by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called "tweets", to your friends, or "followers." Twitter was developed in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone and Evan Williams and launched in July of the same year. Twitter is the place to find out about what’s happening in the world right now. Whether you’re interested in music, sports, politics, news, celebrities, or everyday moments. You can share information with people that you wouldn't normally exchange email or IM messages with, opening up your circle of contacts to an ever-growing community of like-minded people. Twitter is known as a way to get your thought out very easily. To associate in a conversation thread or connect them to a general topic, members can add hashtags to a keyword in their post. Hashtags make it very easy for users to connect with the people that are talking about the same things, and see different options.
As of 2016 Twitter is estimated to have 319 million monthly active users the site can have 100 million users post 340 million tweets a day. In 2015 it was announced that Twitter had purchased Periscope which is an app that allows users to live stream videos.
Tumblr
Tumblr is a microblogging and social networking website that allow its users to post photos and videos and it creates a short-form blog. Tumblr users have access to dashboards which is a live feed of recent posts made by the blogs they follow.For the dashboard individuals are able to upload images, videos, quotes, text post or links to other sites. Tumblr also allows its users to connect their blogs to other social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook which will be immediately updated once they post. The site also lets users to schedule their posts and can delay the posting by hours or days. Tumblr posts are usually accompanied by tags which can make their post easier to find by other users.
The site was founded by David Karp in 2007 and was purchased by Yahoo! in 2013.As of April 1, 2017 the site has over 341.8 million blogs and approximately 555 million monthly visitors. Over 32 million posts are created on the site each day and has received more than 13 billion global page views. Tumblr is especially popular for teenagers and college aged individuals.
Pinterest is a web and mobile application and is a system that allows users to discover information on the web. The site requires users to register and allows them to upload, save, sort and manage images also known as pins to their boards. Boards are places where users can save and organize the photos and videos they liked and these bards can be dedicated to a specific interest. It allows users to ave recipes, style inspirations, parenting hacks and it serves as a catalog of ideas.
In the initial launch of Pinterest the website only had 10,000 users but the when it launched as iPhone app the number of users increased. As of August 2012 the site had 11.7 million users and is the fastest site in history to break into the 10 million visitors mark.Pinterest CEO, Ben Silbermann describes the application as less of a social networking site and more as an application where users are inspired to do things.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lauren-berninger/stop-blaming-the-media-fo_b_4633388.html