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Tweeting Teens: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

by LaShae Adams

I was exposed to different social networks at a young age. I didn’t think anything of it, and just made accounts because my friends had them. Little did I know I would be using them nonstop just a few years later. At first, posting pictures of myself on the web just didn’t seem right to me. I thought that I would get into trouble if my parents found out. But my parents reacted differently than what I thought they would. They were ok with me having social network accounts as long as I was careful and didn’t do anything to jeopardize my life.

Facebook is a social network website founded by Mark Zickerberg. It has been around since September 2006 and is used by people around the world. Facebook is designed for adults, but anyone over the age of 12 with an email address can create an account, and most children and teens have them. Users can find and add friends, send messages to people, and update their personal profiles with whatever they’d like to share.

Twitter is another social network that lets people share and discover what’s happening with their friends in the moment. Twitter was also created in 2006, and is very popular worldwide. Users are allowed up to send and receive messages that are known as “tweets.“ Each tweet has a 140-character limit, forcing users to shorten their messages to a single phrase or sentence. There are different topics people can tweet about on Twitter. They are known as “trending topics.” For example, #youremember is a trending topic where people share what they remember and ask friends if they remember it too.

Both Facebook and Twitter can be accessed from mobile phones as well as computers. A recent study showed that Facebook was the most used social network, followed by MySpace. Between November 2006 and January 2007, the number of daily page views rose from fewer than 20 million to around 50 million per day.

The Good
There are a bunch of benefits to being a member of Facebook. A lot of people use Facebook as a way to stay in touch with family and friends. Most people live far away from their loved ones, and Facebook is the only way they can actually keep in touch. People use Facebook to reconnect with old classmates as well as favorite teachers. Also, Facebook can be used to get some positive feedback and build self-esteem by expanding your network. Oftentimes, people may be going through something serious and may need some help and support with their problems.

Facebook also helps you organize. Posting events on Facebook is a lot easier than sending out invitations through the postal service. You have to worry about having the correct address and whether the other person received it. With Facebook, you don’t have to worry about that. A lot of celebrities have Twitter accounts. Many of their fans and people they connect with follow them on Twitter. Also, upcoming artists use Twitter and Facebook for publicity.

The Bad
There’s always a negative or downfall to social networks. Sometimes people post things on Facebook that are about other people. It can either be direct or indirect, leaving people to wonder who’s being talked about. Also, the kinds of pictures people post can either be attractive, or can be the sort that makes you to want to report the person. [You can report images that are sexually inappropriate or racially offensive.]

A lot of colleges check Facebook to see the kind of profile potential students have. If they come across something that they find unpleasant, that might effect whether or not they allow the student to attend their school.

Facebook and Twitter do have an effect on students’ grades. Most teens are easily distracted when it comes to social networks. Being that Twitter is fun to be on and a lot of people have accounts, most children are on Twitter all day everyday. Students tweet while they're in school and in classrooms. That means work is not being done. This causes low grades on exams and report cards. The majority of my friends fail their classes because of the amount of time they spend on these sites.

The OK
For every social network, there is privacy protection of some sort. As for Twitter, you have the option of protecting your tweets, so that only the people you approve will receive your tweets. You will not appear on the public timeline. Also, you have the option of blocking someone, reporting them and unfollowing someone. If you do any of these things, the person will not be able to contact you on Twitter. Facebook has a complicated privacy system that is customizable for every friend you have.

I've come to realize that I need these social networks in my life. If I'm not on at least one of these websites every day, then there's a problem. I love to tweet and like to be on Facebook. Each and every day I post something different, whether it's something funny that happens throughout my day or whatever comes to mind. Even if Twitter or Facebook gets old one day, I know there will be at least one social network for me to say how I feel at the present moment.

LaShae Adams is a senior at Richard R. Green High School of Teaching. She is also a member of the Liberation Program and the Media Team. In years past, she attended the International Study Program to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Brazil. This year she will be traveling to Ghana.