Essay Social Media in Student Life

Question: Discuss the importance of social media in student life? Answer: Today the whole world is come closer and become a global town and the reason behind this is the advancement in the technology and the great impact, which has affected the society globally with the excessive use of internet and social media sites for every small routine work. From shopping for home groceries to hiring an accountant, every process today is conducted via social media. Many industries have experienced a sudden decline with the emergence of social media sites as the role which was conducted by them traditionally is now been fulfilled by the said websites. For example, the newspaper industry has declined because people today have new channels applications on their phones or read news online. After the industrial revolution, which took place in the 17th Century, the introduction of social media is the new revolution, which has changed the lives and careers of many people all over the world. The introduction of social media has connected people all over the world of differen t backgrounds and race (Academic Excellence in 140 Characters, 2016). Initially, the excessive use of social media by the youth was highly criticized as being a distraction, which was considered a time-wasting activity resulting in no productivity for a very long time. However, with the recent developments like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, the definition of social media has changed, and it has evolved as one of the major learning engines, which is used for various educational and academic purposes. One of the major reasons for this evolution is that the educational institutes recognized the fact that most of the youth who study in these institutes use social media websites almost all throughout the day. This helped them introduce the concept of making the students use the social media to participate actively in studies and assignments and make the educational system more interesting and attractive (Impact of Social Media, 2016). The usual chalkboard, which was used in the traditional classroom, lacked learning from photos, videos and animation. The m odern reformed classes today are conducted with the help laptops, which help the students, watch various subject related videos and pictures that create a better understanding of the subject and help the student to memorize the subject related concepts in a better manner. Social networking sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter are used by 96% of the worlds population. Therefore, the educational institutes now have started communicating with the students via social media and encouraging them to form groups where they can collectively work on assignments, which will increase their productivity. As social media sites have made communicating with people living anywhere in the world such an easy process, assignments via social media have proved very beneficial and helped many students to improve their grades (Importance of social media, 2016). Certain students who are shy to state their opinion in the classroom also can state their point on social media website where their opinion is appreciated. This method of studying also creates a strong bond and makes students have a better relationship with their classmates, which eventually increases the productivity of every student. Social media sites are a convenient platform for connecting with the teachers, and the teachers can communicate various important university-related information like tests dates, guest speaker lectures timing, etc to the students (TEDxToronto - Don Tapscott, 2016). The use of social media websites is not restricted to just communicating educational information, it is in the recent times extended to allowing teachers to host live online lectures also called as E-learning which has benefited the students who are weaker in studies and require additional assistance. The distance and time issues which teacher initially faced while conducting additional lectures are curbed by the option of online lectures, which can be done at the convenience of teachers or can be uploaded by the teachers on an online site, which students can assess whenever required (Scott Stanway, 2015). The modern era of social media websites is increasing rapidly, and its use is being integrated in many educational institutes. In the recent times, the admission and payment of fees are also accepted online, which helps the overseas students to apply to foreign universities from their hometowns. Even the admission interviews are conducted with the help of a Skype Video call, which decreases the additional travel cost of students who first had to fly down to several foreign colleges who have accepted the students application for personal interviews. Therefore, the importance of social media sites in todays educational system cannot be ignored and considering its benefits, the use of social media sites needs to be highly encouraged for academic purposes. The use of social media sites is became a routine today, which has made the life simpler, and hassle-free (Students Vision on Social Media, 2016). Reference List Academic Excellence in 140 Characters. (2016). YouTube. Retrieved 6 March 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVOY2x81_bg Impact of Social Media. (2016). Youtube. Retrieved 6 March 2016, from :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AskAy_B0Mbwfeature=fvwrel Importance of social media. (2016). Youtube. Retrieved 6 March 2016, from :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o Scott, O., Stanway, A. (2015). Tweeting the Lecture: How Social Media Can Increase Student Engagement in Higher Education. SMEJ, 9(2), 91-101. https://dx.doi.org/10.1123/smej.2014-0038 Students Vision on Social Media. (2016). YouTube. Retrieved 6 March 2016, from :https://degreesearch.org/blog/12-stunning-infographics-on-education-technology-social-media/ TEDxToronto - Don Tapscott - 9/10/09. (2016). YouTube. Retrieved 6 March 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NebH50yjUYE