As technology has become a crucial part of everyday life, the creation of social media and virtual communities have catalyzed incredible effects on society. I reason that although there are some negative side effects to these platforms the majority of society are benefited greatly from the everyday use of these technologies. I argue that the most important impacts that that social media and virtual communities have on society such as; relationships, weak ties, culture, and social capital are good.
Firstly, culture has been tremendously affected by the creation of these social media platforms. Castells argues that internet use has led to the production of more social autonomy creating a culture of autonomy (Castells 2014). Due to the internet …show more content…
The strength of a tie is described as a tie which is dependent on the emotional connection, given support, closeness, and time invested (Granovetter 1973). Online sites have been able to create the connection to building your network and ties. Overall, these platforms build weak ties which give access to unique resources and information more readily. Per Granovetter (1973) the most valuable weak tie is a bridge tie because it distributes an unlimited amount of information through a differentiated network which then connects individuals to a mass amount of informational support. This allows society to have the resources to connect with various individuals allowing them to have access to opportunities such as job openings. The main benefit to these weak ties is that they are not homophily allowing them to grow rapidly creating unique opportunities and rapid information distribution from a vast network (Granovetter 1973). These ties overall benefit society by connecting them to valuable mass information and allowing society to be more interconnected with one another than they ever have been before. These weak ties would not be able to continue to grow and stay vibrant without the host of a social media site or virtual …show more content…
These platforms have had positive impacts on relationships, weak ties, culture, and social capital. The ability to strengthen these core impacts have allowed society to become more progressive, interconnected, sociable, less judgmental, successful and gain individualism. Overall, society has chosen to continue innovating social media and virtual communities because their positive impacts have led to society feeling more connected and being more progressive than ever
Firstly, culture has been tremendously affected by the creation of these social media platforms. Castells argues that internet use has led to the production of more social autonomy creating a culture of autonomy (Castells 2014). Due to the internet …show more content…
The strength of a tie is described as a tie which is dependent on the emotional connection, given support, closeness, and time invested (Granovetter 1973). Online sites have been able to create the connection to building your network and ties. Overall, these platforms build weak ties which give access to unique resources and information more readily. Per Granovetter (1973) the most valuable weak tie is a bridge tie because it distributes an unlimited amount of information through a differentiated network which then connects individuals to a mass amount of informational support. This allows society to have the resources to connect with various individuals allowing them to have access to opportunities such as job openings. The main benefit to these weak ties is that they are not homophily allowing them to grow rapidly creating unique opportunities and rapid information distribution from a vast network (Granovetter 1973). These ties overall benefit society by connecting them to valuable mass information and allowing society to be more interconnected with one another than they ever have been before. These weak ties would not be able to continue to grow and stay vibrant without the host of a social media site or virtual …show more content…
These platforms have had positive impacts on relationships, weak ties, culture, and social capital. The ability to strengthen these core impacts have allowed society to become more progressive, interconnected, sociable, less judgmental, successful and gain individualism. Overall, society has chosen to continue innovating social media and virtual communities because their positive impacts have led to society feeling more connected and being more progressive than ever