subject: Social Media Overload By Ivana Irwin [print this page] Many Americans turn to the Internet for all of the news and information. Sites like CNN and Fox News allow searchers to receive up to the minute breaking news on their cell phones which was unheard of only 20 years ago. Everything from product information to medical advice is now available online for free.
This has also raised concerns of net neutrality in cases like Google versus the UK. Recently several antitrust complaints were filed against Google because of their market share and the suppression of competitors in their search results. Net Neutrality was designed to keep the Internet fair and balanced but the emergence of Googles dominance has posed a threat to the creditability of the information appearing in search results.
Many advertisers have turn to the Internet in order to reach their target audience. With the help of social media sites like Facebook, advertisers can really hone in on their exact demographic like never before. Blogging sites have also played a major role in providing searchers with product testimonials and reviews. A positive aspect of social media is that it has now leveled the playing field for business owners who are trying to introduce their products and services. With the use of Tube videos a small business owner has just as much opportunity to market their services as the larger corporations.
One of the negative effects of social media is the large amount of information that is collected and stored by these sites. Even congress is now considering laws that will prevent social media sites and search engines from tracking searchers locations and patterns.
Government surveillance, online fraud, and unethical data-gathering methods have become common issues with social media. Just last week Facebook announced that a hacker had been successful in uploading all of the profile files of 100 million members. Despite the fact that Facebook downplayed the cyber attack, it still caused privacy advocates to criticize the site because of the security breach.
In addition to the common cyber attacks, a growing segment of Americans have lost their jobs due to something now known as Facebook Firings. This type of firing results from employers monitoring the after hour activities of their employees via social media sites.
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