Online socialization is the process of communicating with other people either within the country or in far countries through the use of the internet whereby videos, music, pictures or statuses are updated. Facebook in Europe for example, has become a fast socializing network opportunity and very famous which has rendered most of the users to make self-representations (Gunn & Nancy 2012, 1). Social network sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have increased the number of users including the old people as they are accessible to all.
From the article on online socialization, there are some conclusions one can draw from it. Social trends have been one of the main topics in the online socialization. The Facebook platform had been created specifically for young campus students as one way of helping them know each other, but nowadays even old people are using Facebook whereby they create profiles. These profiles include new social trends in terms of the pictures one uploads. Both old and young people are in constant competition on the profiles they use on their Facebook pages.
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Facebook is strongly associated with the types of social capital where it is used as a bridge to networking (Nicole, Charles & Cliff 2007, 1143). Social capital which is another conclusion from the article is determined by the number of friends one has, and this becomes an essential aspect of one’s life that they can take pride in. The friends that one makes through online socializing may be important some day in creating business opportunities. Another conclusion one can draw from online socialization is social compensation where most people who are not popular in real life gain popularity from social networking platforms.
In the bar graphs presented, two elements are presented by the information that is; the relationship between age and the frequency of using online socialization and also the relationship between age and the frequency of using online socialization for school work. According to the bar graph, the young people from ages 18-24 use more of the online socialization than those from ages 25 and above for networking, and this is as a result of young people being idle. People from ages 18-24 also use online socialization for schoolwork purposes than those aged from 25 and above years as the ones from ages 18-24 are in school and use some online educational platforms for their advantage.
Online socialization is a social issue that affects the whole society as a whole. For example, in Germany whereby the Mafia used networking as a way of publicly proclaiming organizations that they disliked socially in which case it was a blow to the government as stated in the article, and this led to the government enacting laws against such organizations. Online socialization also makes the process of socializing with real-life people hard on those who are used to online socialization and is seen as disrespect by the older people. According to the article, in some of the countries such as Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia, there were demonstrations against the denial of access to social media by the authorities.
Online socialization could easily lead to human suffering such as depression in cases where one doesn’t get many friends as compared to their friends. This may lead to depression and stress as others may think that their profiles may not be good looking which leads to low self-esteem among online users. Online socialization could lead to social disorganization in cases where one questions the type of friends that they get who do not contribute to their social capital or their popularity in their online platforms.
Recommendations
Monitoring of young people especially kids whenever they access the internet; the Internet is an open social platform, and this increases the possibility of risks of the accessors in experiencing problems such as cyberbullying. Enactment of laws that govern online socialization and the violation of the policies should be subject to being charged in a court of law. Government provision of job opportunities to the young people to limit the time spent on social media could help reduce the addiction.
In conclusion, online socialization is a good way of communication especially if the person lives far. Online socialization could be used by people with similar interests to their advantage in their daily lives. However, the usage of online socialization is more common among young people than in older people; young people are idle in most cases. Online socialization has its advantages and disadvantages but very useful to the users if used for the right purpose.
References
Ellison. B., Steinfield, C.,7 Lampe, C.(2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), 1143-168.
Enli, G.S., & Thumim, N. (2012). Socializing and self-representation online: exploring Facebook. Observatorio (OBS), 6(1).
