Survey Summary (Domestic)

At first, I would like to appreciate people who answered my surveys on Social networking services. I could get the answer from 22 people. All of the answers help us make our NGO. However the respondents were limited to teens to twenties, so the results might be inclined.

 

All of the respondents use SNSs. Most popular SNS which they use is LINE. And second is Twitter. LINE is now one of the communication tool like telephone or e-mails and it takes place these systems. I found the reason why LINE is located in the top is LINE is no longer just social networking services it is essential communication tool for them. Most respondents use SNSs for communicating with their friends.

 

Next, almost half of the respondents use it more than 3 hours each day. It causes less face-to-face communication. Most of the impressions of the SNSs were positive opinion such as convenient, fun or enjoyable, but there were some negative opinion. Some people worry about privacy and cyberbullying. I found this indicate one of the negative point of SNS. 70% of the respondents think SNS is necessary for our society. They couldn’t image the life without SNSs.

 

Through all my surveys, I found serious troubles on the SNSs. If you wrong the way to use SNSs, you may be involved cyber-crime. Our NGO will help those problems.

 

This is our NGO’s Blog; http://snseriouslyneedhelp.blogspot.jp/

Questions on social networking services(SNS)

1. First of all, what are social networking services(SNS)?

2. How are they different from social media?

3. When do we use Sns?

4. Where do we find out about these Sns?

5. How do Sns affect our lives?

6. What are the advantages of using Sns?

7. What are the disadvantages of using Sns?

8. Are Sns safe?

9. What can we do to prevent our privacy being leaked?

10. How does using Sns affect our lives?

11. Why is the topic social networking services considered controversial?

12. Are Social Networks like Facebook real communities? Why/Why not?

13. Are people who are on social networks entitled to privacy? Why/Why not?

14. Do social networks encourage people to have good “interpersonal skills”?

15. Do social networks prevent us from creating meaningful “face to face” relationships?

16. Are social networking sites effective, or are they just a sophisticated means for stalking people? Why?

17. Have you been contacted by a stranger? How did you respond?

18. Do you think you can be more authentic when you are online or do you think people like to be someone else and play with there identity? Why?

19. If you were told to "disconnect " (no smartphones or internet) for a period of two weeks, how easy or hard would it be for you and why?

20. What are the main reasons why social networking is so popular these days?

21. Are social networking sites generally beneficial to our way of life?

22. Why is social networking services seems to be necessary in our everyday lives while we didn't have much of these 15 years ago?

23. Why do people find it hard to communicate "face to face"?

24. How long do people use social networking services for? DO they use it for communication as hobby or for work?

25. What are some reasons that make social networking services necessary for students?

26. What information do you have on your sns?

27. What do you share on your SNS?

28. What is the difference between friends in real life and  friends on the SNS?

29. What do you think is the effect of SNS to students?

30. Should children be allowed to use SNS?

1. First of all, what are social networking services?

Social networking service (also social networking site or SNS) is a platform to build social networks or social relations among people who share activities, backgrounds, interest, or sometimes their real-life connections. A social network service consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his or her social links, and a variety of additional services. Social network sites are web-based services that allow individuals to create a public profile, to create a list of users with whom to share connections, and view and cross the connections within the system. Most social network services are web-based and provide means for users to interact over the Internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging. Social network sites are varied and they incorporate new information and communication tools such as mobile connectivity, photo/video/sharing and blogging. Online community services are sometimes considered a social network service, though in a broader sense, social network service usually means an individual-centered service whereas online community services are group-centered. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, pictures, posts, activities, events, interests with people in their network. These social networking services would be used among large category places such as classmates or workplace to connect with their friends.

2. How are they different from social media?

Social networking and social media are completely different. Social networking is an act of engagement. Groups of people with common interests associate together on social networking sites and build relationships through community, while on the other hand, social media is a way to transmit, or share information with a broad audience. Everyone has the opportunity to create and distribute. All you really need is an internet connection and you're off to the races.

So lets take youtube as an example. Broadcasting what you did today would be considering youtube as a social media. If you were to interact with the viewers through the comments in youtube, that would be considered as social networking.

3. When do we use sns?

     People around me would use social networking sites to get the latest information, scubas what is going on around the world or to know about favorite band’s next live day. There were some people who said they use it to get the test questions to even worse, bullying as in saying negatives things to people you don’t know for stress reduction. Other than school, other people said they would use social networking services to meet new people and make friends with same interests, get information around about there job, for managing parties and such.

4. Where do we find out about these "sns"?

      Many people find out about social networking from people around their friends. Then how do those people find out about social networking services such as twitter and Facebook? Those people again would find out about them through people around them. One powerful reason could be is that social networking services gets lots of sponsors from companies, and those company gets their workers to advertise these social networking sites. Another powerful reason is, these sns are spread through social media. For example there is a social networking service “GREE” that is quite famous in Japan. On television, this group would advertise an interesting game. They would say, that if you were to play the game you have to sign up on GREE. 

      Nowadays, there are many things you can do by having a facebook account. Even if you don't have a cell phone number, you can start line by just having a facebook account. 

5. How do Sns affect our lives?

    First, it has made it easier for us to make friends. To think about how people used to carry around huge boxes named cell phones, it must have been hard to get in touch with people compared to now. Having thousands of friend with the same hobby on social networking sites can be possible. Being able to make that much friends connects to building up a relationship and getting in touch withe world. People may have stronger thoughts about breaking up when sns is connected, but on the other hand lets use them positively. Wouldn't you think it would make our sns last longer? 

     With many friends and the world open to you, you could understand about whats going around in the world, letting you have an opportunity to leap out into the world. 

     Only looking at good parts of social networking services, they seem great tools, but they could be dreadful on the other hand. Most people on social networking sites seems to be self-centered and attention seeking. We like to talk about ourselves and we sometimes even post our lunches everywhere. We also get distracted by sns during test week when even though we have to study, we end up using most of the tim on sns talking with friends about how bad our exam results will be. 

     Another huge problem is about privacy. Most people would write their information on Facebook, form their real names to their family, friends, nationality, birthday…………and so on. We don’t have much resist even though we don’t write all this on a board and show it off in public.

6. What are the advantages of using sns?

Some good points of using social networking services can be…

1. Keeping in touch with our family.

Some people may work abroad, some others may study abroad. Thanks to sns you can keep in touch from anywhere, no matter how far you are.

2. Stay on tune by the latest information

Getting the latest information can turn out to become handy when you're using sns. Many people love gossips. Some students might use sns to get latest information about there lectures’ homework:)

7. What are the disadvantages of using sns?

Some negative points of using social networking services can be…

1. Risks

Giving away too much of our information can later on turn into huge privacy problems. Some others might use these leaked information by disguising themselves as the victim and hack into problems, so even if they were to be caught, the hack might seem the victim had done it.

2. Lack in communication

You may think “What!?” or more like “how is that possible?”. What we mean here is that we lack in the communication of face to face. There are some sns where you can face chat like skype and LINE, but there are other sns like twitter where you don’t have f2f. Face to face is quite important. Online? Who can tell if you are lying or not?

8. Are sns safe?

Are sns safe?

First of all, let’s look over the word ‘safe’.

In the dictionary(online), it is defined

1.

a. Free from danger or injury; undamaged or unhurt

b. Not exposed to the threat of danger or harm

c. Usable in specified conditions without being damaged. Often used in combination

2. Free from risk

3. Affording protection

4. Baseball Having reached a base without being put out, as a batter or base runner.

Looking at the definition of ‘safe’, we could see that sns are far from safe. Most people use their real name and address and family members and photos of themselves on Facebook. They are exposed to threat.

But still we use sns. That is because they are supposed to be safe. If you locked you're account and changed you're settings to something like public→only friends could see, then everything besides you're name is exposed to the world.

So, in result, sns are both safe and not safe.

9. What can we do to prevent our privacy being leaked?

How can we stop privacy form leaking?……Well, now that is quite a tough one. You see, for an example, lets say you are signing up to Facebook. You are new. So the site tells you to enter your full name, gender and birthdate. Now that is already 3 things you have given out to the public. You keep on going with the sign up. Later on it tells you to provide your hometown, which school you had educated in, your hobbies, your family…and so on. You're giving away tons of information just to get the sns to find ‘suggestions’ of your friends. 

So how do we prevent all this from getting into the wrong hands? Well there should be some options where you can change the settings, so only your friends could access your personal information. 

Another sns famous in japan, mixi, is quite an interesting sns. You can start off by a nick name and when you add friends at school through face to face communication, you can show them your personal information. So as long as you don’t become friends with someone you don’t know, then your information wont be leaked, when using that sns.

Preventing 100% can be extremely hard, but by the way you use sns, you can prevent privacy from leaking.

10. How does using Sns affect our lives?

By providing the latest information faster and quicker than any other media, even radio or tv, sns can become deadly useful. Lets take Twitter as an example. One kid saw his teacher being caught by the police. That kid might find it interesting so that kid will tweet(when posting on twitter you say tweet). Friends of this kid will find it interesting, so they'll retweet this post. Before you know it, this post will be known to many students at that school in a nick of time. 

Back in the past when there were no such thing as sns, people would have been using paper and pen. This would have a hard time spreading. Therefore, sns plays a huge role in society now.

11. Why is the topic social networking services considered controversial?

So far we mainly talked about how convenient and useful social networking services are how they seem to become an essential part in our lives. But, did you know, you can sometimes lose your job or even worse, not get applied to the job you applied for, because of something you posted or tweeted? Most people nowadays don’t think twice before they tweet or post. They post or tweet whatever that comes to their mind just to get attention. Well, we sure can get attention, and we think it just flies away. But, in some studies it is suggested that more than 80% look at a prospective employee’s social networking accounts before making a final hiring decision. Which means that the line drawn between either getting the job or not getting the job can all come down to what you post or tweet. 

The thing that people don't realize is that what you post or tweet most certainly reflects your employer, your friends and your family and even worse, your job. Social networking services has made everyone lose their common sense, manners, and we somehow have forgotten how to respect each other’s opinion. Some now lack in the ability to talk face to face. 

Are social networking services that necessary, when we humans are becoming less human like? In the past humans didn't have much hard days without social networking services. Our parents say they didn't need such things. 

Social networking services may have become much useful in our everyday lives, now, and it may help us in many ways, but do we really need sns?

12. Are Social Networks like Facebook real communities? Why/Why not?

yes and no.

In this world there seems to be two societies. An offline society where people talk face to face. Another society is an online society, where people get together on the internet.

So, some people may consider communities online the same as offline communities. Online communities may talk about the same topic as offline communities. Online may have even more attendance, because you can join the talk anytime, anywhere. 

On the other hand, some others may say it is not a real community. No ones there. They are some random people with same opinions or idea. You don't talk face to face. The word community comes from the word commute. To commute means to get sympathy through mutual communication. So the point is, there is no meaning unless you don't talk face to face and exchange ideas using our mouth.

13. Are people who are on social networks entitled to privacy? Why/Why not?

Depends. Just because you are using a social networking service, doesn't mean that use have the right to look at anyone’s privacy. You may be entitled to look at your friends privacy, but most of the information, you may know already because you are friends with them offline. Sometimes, some people who like to construct a society online gives out part of their private information such as hot and sexy selfies to fish people to make them become their fan. These information can be seen to you, but also to the world itself too.

14. Do social networks encourage people to have good “interpersonal skills”?

No.

What are Interpersonal Skills?

Interpersonal skills are the life skills we use every day to communicate and interact with other people, both individually and in groups.  People who have no problems with communicating with others mean that they have high interpersonal skills.

Employers often seek to hire staff with 'strong interpersonal skills’ because they want people who will work well in a team and be able to communicate effectively with colleagues, customers and clients.

No matter how hard it may to talk face to face in reality, it is a piece of cake when using sns. You don’t get so pumped nor will you get shy. It is quite simple to lie so, why bother trying to explain yourself as the pimp you are in real life. There is no need of any interpersonal skills online.You don’t tamper over your words because, you can think over what you're going to send. Its not like you're going to write, H-H-H-Hello, I-I-I-I’m f-f-f-fine unless maybe, you're writing a story:)

15. Do social networks prevent us from creating meaningful “face to face” relationships?

Yes. The more you get into the world of communicating using social networking services, the more you start to lack in the confidence of interpersonal skills, leading you to have difficulties when communicating face to face. You could plan a hang out with a few cool friends you made through the social networking systems, but why bother go out of you're perfect world to communicate with someone else when you know you're poor talking face to face. Even if these people met, it would not be as "deep" as regular hangouts, where the people are not some random strangers from the internet.

16. Are social networking sites effective, or are they just a sophisticated means for stalking people? Why?

The modern technology may have made it easier for people to stalk others. In the past stalkers had to use so much of there time to find where their victims would head off to or like where their victims lived. Nowadays, just going through your victims profile page, you could get loads of information. Location easy, but also, the victims friend’s, find out about the victim’s feelings, what kind of talk that person does. So scary, just to even think of it. Social networking services had made huge innovation to the stalkers. Our digital lives give stalkers the opportunity to gather large amounts of information and insight into us. If they can access an email account, they can read our correspondence, find contacts, send out emails that can embarrass people around them. Social networking has become too effective for even stalkers, but would you go that far to end up your rest of your life? 

17B. Have you been contacted by a stranger? How did you respond?

No, I have never been contacted by a stranger. I also have not contacted with a stranger, I only contact with my friends who I actually met. I think SNS can be a dangerous tool, because it don't need face-to-face communication. The user can tell a lie easily and it cause cyber crime, so I don't contact with stranger on the SNSs.

17A. Have you been contacted by a stranger? How did you respond?

Being contacted by a stranger is an everyday event. Sometimes I tweet about the latest jailbreak information. Right now iOS 8.4 is jailbreakable(2015/7/6), although there are not much weeks compatible. The famous “Activator” is still not compatible so it is quite a damage to jailbreakers. Whenever I tweet about such things, texts from strangers are like an uproar. Getting texts from strangers is not that rare, especially if you use twitter. Some people have over 10 thousand followers, but they all can’t possibly be friends from offline. By posting something on twitter and if that post is interesting, you could get many strangers’ attention. So, whenever I get a message from a stranger, I usually do my best to give them the best answer.

18. Do you think you can be more authentic when you are online or do you think people like to someone else and play with there identity? Why?

People become more active with stranger friends than disguising themselves.

Nowadays, there are two types of people that get along with strangers online. One are those who complement their offline social life with their online friends, and the second group are those who pretty much replace their offline social life with the online one meaning, they are more authentic online. Some of these people are bullied in their offline social life. 

Although interacting with others offline gives us an experience which is hard in our offline life, an online social life also offers something which offline life does not. Social networking services like Facebook offer users a window to a world of ideas, cultural differences and perspectives that we would otherwise not easily have access to in real-life. 

One reason for the reliance on online social communications is of its flexibility. There’s simply little or no commitment to the relationships made online. We can simply start an online conversation with almost anyone, any time and end the relationship there and then, without carrying expectations to contact each other again. We don’t actually have to fix a time and location to meet up with the other party. 

Disguising….

We may not disguise ourselves as someone else in sns but most people act differently online than they do in real life, mainly because we want to show ourselves off to people to get them to think you're great.

19. If you were told to "disconnect " (no smartphones or internet) for a period of two weeks, how easy or hard would it be for you and why?

Two weeks of no internet connection in Japan. Now that is huge. Now internet means no connection to your friends, no latest information on classes, parties, events, volunteering, coupons, and so on. I do not think I can bear any life without internet. Being used to this extremely convenient life, with free wifi almost anywhere, it would be tough for me to live without internet.

20. What are the main reasons why social networking is so popular these days?

I think there are three main reasons to why social networking services are so popular these days. First of all, they're free! Almost anyone is weak to free. Free dessert, free soda, free snacks…, we’re all quite weak to the word “free”.

 Sns gives you the opportunity to meet new people. Social networking gives people an opportunity to meet new people around the world. Users of these sites have access to millions of profiles from around the world. Before the advent of social networking sites, chat rooms were the only way to meet new people on the internet. But, the main drawback of chat rooms was that you may not know the person with whom you are interacting with. The introduction of profiles on social networking sites allowed people to know more information about a person before they interact with them.

 Another reason is because, sns are so easy to use. Popular social networking sites are built in such a way that they are very much user friendly. Most sites are so easy to navigate that you don't need much knowledge of the internet. In fact, they offer a better way of connecting with new people compared to internet channels like bulletin boards and emails. The mobile versions of these social networking sites are even more user friendly allowing lot more number of people to connect through them.

Sns are also very useful to make friends with the same hobby. All you do is make a small group online. These groups allow people to share their interests and hobbies with similar people.

  Business too, can turn into help to reach their potential customers easily. Unlike search engines like Google, social networks have developed targeted a ad solution such as Google adsense; using which businesses can reach its potential customers basing on the profiles of its users. Social networks also have unique access to the most personal information of its users like their hobbies, interests, places frequently visited, etc. which help businesses in targeting their advertisements properly.

21B. Are social networking sites generally beneficial to our way of life?

I think no. Most people nowadays, especially those who post a lot are becoming more and more narcissists. They are becoming much more self-centered, Social networking is  destroying natural and healthy interpersonal relationships and foster ignorance of the human condition. Let’s say one kid is being bullied. Others around him would not stand up for the bullied but rather take the video of the fight and spread it online.

Another strong opinion is that the security is not strong. Some random stranger can even save your selfies. How scary is that!

And because, so many small children playing games connected to the sns, some believe that can do things they do in the games, which later on turns into huge crimes.

22. Why is social networking services seems to be necessary in our everyday lives while we didn't have much of these 15 years ago?

Social networking is important for many different reasons. These lets people stay in touch with each other more easily and reconnect with people they have met before but have lost contact with. These sites also make it easy to connect with people who share interests with you, even if you are not located very near each other physically. You can also use these sites to organize events quickly and easily and on very short notice.

Social networking is also becoming increasingly important and useful in business. As more and more people are using sns, businesses are discovering that they provide a very powerful marketing platform that can spread news about their products or promotions through word of mouth, without as much expense. 

 Think of social networking as a free way to promote yourself or your business as well as a great way to keep in touch with friends and family. Marketing is most powerful if you can keep your name in front of your audience on a regular basis. Social networking is an effective marketing tool for both businesses and individuals. It's as easy as taking a couple of seconds to update your status daily. You can use social networking to say great and positive things about yourself or your business. If you are looking for a job, you want to essentially publicize all the things you can't fit into your resume. Social networking provides a platform to promote your skills in a planned campaign. If you've got the chance, you'd take it right? Thats what sns are nowadays.

23. Why do people find it hard to communicate "face to face"?

Look around at a restaurant and you have a hard time finding people who don’t have their heads down using their cell phones to text, Tweet, or update their Facebook statuses―all while sharing a meal with others at their table.

So, why do people have hard times talking face to face?

Here are some reasons:

 People are feared of being judged. Many feel afraid that if they talk they'll have people look down on them. 

 Some people have difficulty speaking because they're thinking too much about what to say, what they're feeling, what are the right words,…and so on. The more they think about it, the more they have hard time putting the words into sentences and communicating. Often they eventually lose track of the conversation and suddenly the moment has passed and they feel as though they simply can't speak anymore.

 When talking to person, no matter how much you're close friends, you feel anxiety. And this anxiety affects our physical movements. They can make it feel harder for you to move the muscles in your face. Anxiety can cause some of the movements that you used to be natural to become unnatural, and some of the automatic movements to become more manual. If you think so much about each muscle movement, eventually those movements will become harder and less natural.

24. How long do people use social networking services for? DO they use it for communication as hobby or for work?

Because I use twitter for hobbies, I asked my followers how long they use sns per day, what they use it for, and do they use other sns for work. Out of 350 followers 260were nice enough to react and reply. This is the result.

about 47% said they use sns for more than 5 hours everyday.

about 28% said they use sns for approximately 3~4 hours everyday.

about 18% said they use sns for around 1~3 hours everyday.

about 5% said they use sns from about a minute to 1 hour.

there were about 2 percent who chose ‘other’ but i wasn't so sure because, they responded to me through twitter, so there couldn't be ‘I don’t use sns’. Isn't twitter a social network service?

Most of my friends who are still students said they use it for communication, getting in touch with family and friends, getting news about test and for chatting.

Some others who I really don’t know in real life told me, they enjoyed reading people’s tweets for killing time. There were others that said they use it for searching interesting events and activities. 

about 87% said they use sns for work

about 8% said they cant have any information going back and forth on any sns

about 5% said ‘other’

25. What are some reasons that make social networking services necessary for students?

Connecting is one of the most powerful reason. Starting this research I had found out that many students use SNSs  to contact with their classmates.They understand and research more about their class. 59% of students with access to the Internet report that they use social networking sites to discuss educational topics and 50% use the sites to talk about school assignments.

＜http://socialnetworking.procon.org/#Background＞

26. What information do you have on your SNS?

When you create an Account on SNS they’ll collect certain information that can be used to identify you, such as your name, email address and profile picture or avatar. They may also collect certain information that is not avatarized because it cannot be used by itself to identify you, such as your gender, date of birth and zip code. If you choose to create an Account through a different one of your SNS Accounts you may have to provide your username (or userID) so that your identity can be authenticated by the SNS Account. When the authentication is complete, they’ll link your Account with the SNS Account and access certain information, such as your name and email address, and other info like privacy settings on the SNS Account.

＜中高生は社会の出来事を知るのに何を使っているのだろうか＞
http://bylines.news.yahoo.co.jp/fuwaraizo/20150105-00041989/

27.What do you share on your SNS?

I share my everyday thoughts, activities and post photos which are taking with my friends, the food I eat the day or the landscape photographs.

＜JK「LINEはメール、インスタは日記」 ─ 今どき女子高生のSNS事情＞
http://zasshi.news.yahoo.co.jp/article?a=20150715-00000003-asciiplus-sci

28.What is the difference between friends in real life and friends on the SNS?

The biggest difference is whether you can meet them or not. If you want to hang out with your friends on the SNSs such as going shopping and traveling , you can't do that beacause you can't meet them directly and easily. Moreover, you don't know the correct personal information of your friends on the SNS, so you can't consult serious personal problems.

＜小学高学年の37.9%がスマホを所有、4人に1人が「ネット上の友達と会いたい」と回答 - デジタルアーツ調査＞
http://news.mynavi.jp/articles/2014/03/11/digitalarts/

＜ソーシャルメディア上のトモダチ、高校生なら何人だろう?＞
http://bylines.news.yahoo.co.jp/fuwaraizo/20140605-00035908/

29.What do you think is the effect of SNS to students?

Students have started relying more on the information accessible easily on these social networking sites and the web. This reduces their learning and research capabilities.

Students who get involved in activities on sns while studying result in reduction in their focus of attention. This causes reduction in their academic performance, and concentration to study well.

The more time the students spend on such sns, the less time they will spend socializing in person with others. This reduces their communication skills. They will not be able to communicate and socialize effectively in person with others. The employers are getting more and more unsatisfied with the communication skills of the fresh graduates due to this reason. The effective communication skills are key to success in the real world.

Students mostly use slang words or shortened forms of words on social networking sites. They start relying on the computer grammar and spelling check features. This reduces their command over the language and their creative writing skills.

Students, while searching and studying online, get attracted to using sns and sometimes they forget why they are using internet. This wastes their time and sometimes students are not able to deliver their work in the specified time frame.

Students get low grades in school due to lack of the desired information and writing skills.

The student’s motivational level reduces due to the use of these social networking sites. They rely on the virtual environment instead of gaining practical knowledge from the real world.

The excessive use of these sites affect the mental as well as physical health. Students do not take their meals on time and take proper rest. They take excessive amount of coffee or tea to remain active and focused which effects negatively on their health.

http://socialnetworking.procon.org/

30.Should children be allowed to use SNS?

Though the overuse of SNS on a daily basis has many negative effects on the physical and mental health of children making them lethargic and unmotivated to create contact with the people in person. I think it is ok for children to use sns. The parents should check and balance on their children when they use the internet. They should be on guard whether they are using it for appropriate time period or not. The peers and teachers should also help children make them aware of the negative effects and explain what they are losing in the real world by sticking to these social networking sites.

“Kids Online” Report: Young Children’s Social Networking Habits Harder to Track than Teens’
http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/11/social-media/kids-online-report-young-childrens-social-networking-habits-harder-to-track-than-teens/

good points about sns

 Social networking sites spread information faster than any other media.  More than 50%, people get their news and the latest information over social networking services. Other people such as reporters and editors use sns such as twitter and Facebook to get their article spread all over the internet. These days there are many people who can afford internet and for those people, they would like to have latest information compact rather than reading from large papers.

   Social networking sites help students do better at school. 59% of students with access to the Internet report that they use social networking sites to discuss educational topics and 50% use the sites to talk about school assignments. A social media program to engage students, grades went up by 50%, chronic absenteeism went down by 33%, and 20% of students school-wide voluntarily completed extra-credit assignments. Study published in the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology said college freshman should use social networking sites to build networks of new friends, feel socially integrated at their new schools, and reduce their risk of dropping out.  Social networking sites allow people to improve their relationships and make new friends. 70% of adult social networking users visit the sites to connect with friends and family, and increased online communication strengthens relationships. 52% of teens using social media report that using the sites has helped their relationships with friends, 88% report that social media helps them stay in touch with friends they cannot see regularly, 69% report getting to know students at their school better, and 57% make new friends.

The Effects of Social Networking from student's perspective

Hello. I am an American student currently residing in Germany. I would like to talk about the effects of social networking.
For many people the advent of social networks has been a boon. It enables us to stay in touch with friends in college or the workplace and interact and conmunicate with people over long distances. Moreover it can exchange views and information with those of similar personal or career interests.

However, it seemed that many people have withdrawn themselves from their social circle. They tend to spend less time interacting face-to-face. Communicative skills such as the use of body language and language itself have all suffered. As a result, many of the traditional social skills are waning in younger generations. Conversations, body language, written and spoken communication are either lost completely. The means of expression and thought, the ability to discuss a subject in depth and in real time have been replaced by the skills of skimming over facts and forming opinions.

In addition, there has been a marked increase in the level and ferocity of harassment or cyberbullying.

Thesedays most of young people use social networking services for communicate with their friends. There are many positive effects, but there are also many negative effects like the above. Many young people are being involved some kinds of crime and cyberbullying. Although social networking services are useful tool, we should be careful and understand the terms of use, regulations and the rules when we use it.