The risks and benefits of social networking services Essay

The risks and benefits of social networking services - Essay Example research, it was found that through social networking sites are hugely favourable among people, especially young adults; they have been ignoring various dangerous attributes of these networking services. Social networking sites can be defined as virtual communities used by individuals for interacting and communicating with friends, families and also meeting new people based on similar or shared interests. Social networking services such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram have taken a critical important place in the lives of new age individuals. Apart from that, websites such as Facebook are known to increase the overall technical literacy of young adults. At the same time, these social media services are the cause of various positive and negative trends occurring in the society (Zafirovski, 2001). Therefore, it is important to understand the critical influence of these social media services so that negative consequences can be minimized and positive effects can be maximized. The objective of the present report is to understand the various risks and benefits of social networking sites. Recent research on usage of social networking services has suggested that the overall interest towards these sites is increasing in a substantial manner. At the same time, there contribution towards risks and benefits in an individual’s daily life is also heightened. The most common social networking services are instant messaging services, email and websites where information is shared. According to a recent survey conducted in 2011, it was revealed that almost 73 percent children as well as 47 percent adults are using these social networks (Red Crbit, 2013). Various benefits have been identified related to social media services and their usages (Cohn, 2010). By frequently using video clips, photographs and access to numerous articles, young adults gain a significant knowledge and understanding about the nature, production as well as usage of multiple content forms,