A responsibility of undergraduates

November 2013

Similarities and differences between Twitter and Facebook Definition and classification of social media 3 5

Causes and effects of free flow of information 6

How to ensure proper information and communication management of social media 4

Final conclusion and suggestions of social media usage 7

By May, 2013, the number of active registered

users of Twitter has reached more than 550 million (Twitter, 2013), which shows the great prosperity of social media. Social media is a group of online services that helps people get connected and interact with one another. Social media can be divided into two categories which are content sharing sites and social networking sites. Content sharing sites are websites where users can upload their content and share their content with others freely. The examples for this are Blogger, which is a famous blogging service, and YouTube, which is the largest video sharing website around the world. Some content sharing sites can be used to complete collaborative tasks. The example is Wikipedia, the largest Internet encyclopedia in the world. On the

other hand, social networking sites are online social contact services where participants can create a visible profile and get connected with their friends and strangers. They are very popular among the young generation, for they are useful to facilitate social communication. Facebook, the largest online social community in the world, is the most typical example of social networking sites. Another example is Twitter, which is a popular microblogging service. Social media is widely used by NUS undergraduates, and therefore it is the responsibility for every NUS undergraduate to ensure proper management of it. This magazine aims to discuss proper information and communication management of social media as well as give readers basic knowledge about social media.

There are three basic steps to ensure proper

information and communication management of social media, which are distinguishing true information from false information, posting reliable information and obeying Internet etiquettes. Firstly, undergraduates should learn to distinguish true information from false information. With the development of Internet technology, a great deal of information is posted on social media. It indeed greatly benefits undergraduates. However, the

convenience of posting information also leads to the overflow of false information which causes serious problems. Hence, it is important to avoid being cheated by false information. General knowledge from daily life can be used to deal with rumors. Moreover, undergraduates may use academic knowledge from their studying to help themselves with information distinction. Secondly, undergraduates should post reliable information on social media. The information that undergraduates post on social media like Facebook and Twitter may be believed by many people. Therefore, it is the responsibility for undergraduates to guarantee the reliability of information they post. Many undergraduates may forget the responsibility when they strongly desire to present themselves and let their information cause a sensation, so it is suggested that undergraduates should try to keep this responsibility in their minds. Last but not least, undergraduates must obey the rules of online communication. The users of social media come from different backgrounds. It is common to meet someone who has different values and expresses his/her opinions in a rude way. While communicating with those people, undergraduates should not express their disagreement or anger directly, for it may cause conflicts. Instead they should use euphemistic and appropriate words to express their feelings. In summary, distinguishing true information from false information, posting reliable information and obeying Internet etiquettes are three ways to ensure proper information and communication management of social media that should be mastered by every NUS undergraduate.

Twitter and Facebook are both popularly used

by NUS undergraduates. In the aspects of information spreading and communication functions, they have some similarities, but their differences are more significant. Twitter and Facebook both have large numbers of active users in the world. They facilitate the flow of information and help users contact their friends easily. However, there are three main differences between Twitter and Facebook. Firstly, users have stronger self-presence on Facebook than on Twitter. As social networking services, Twitter and Facebook have the function of creating the profiles. The profiles on Twitter are brief, with just names and photos, while on Facebook users can add more basic information of themselves like birthdays and schools. With detailed information,

users can present themselves more clearly and vividly on Facebook than on Twitter. Secondly, users can get information more quickly on Twitter while they can get more details on Facebook. As a microblogging service, the best advantage of Twitter is quick information spreading. However, because of the limit of characters, users cannot get many details. On the other hand, completed articles with many details are often posted on Facebook several hours later so that users can get more information through them. Thirdly, Twitter and Facebook play different roles on the Internet. Farber (2013) states that Facebook is like a pulsing digital city while Twitter is like a town square in the city. To get information, users tend to use Twitter, for it spreads the latest news rapidly. As for communication, Facebook is more popular because it provides more space to express users feelings and more entertainment functions such as music and games. In conclusion, Twitter and Facebook are both useful social networking services with their respective characteristics and it is the responsibility for undergraduates to ensure proper information and communication management of them after learning about their similarities and differences.

The causes and effects of free flow of information

on social media are multiple. One cause is that social media links a great number of users together. For example, more than 550 million users in the world use Twitter (Twitter, 2013), and Facebook has more than 1.1 billion active users (Ong, 2013). Those users are the resources of most information posted on social media. Therefore, they are the foundation of free flow of information. The development of modern technology is another cause of free flow of information. It provides multiple functions of mobile devices and the opportunity for much information to spread freely and quickly. Therefore, users are able to receive the information they want anywhere with their mobile devices. There are several positive effects of free flow of information. It facilities social communication and contributes to strengthening the relationship between loved ones and friends. Moreover, undergraduates are able to get the information that benefits their studying. For example, by following BBC Learning English on Twitter, I get much knowledge to help me with my English studying. However, the negative effects of

free flow of information are obvious as well. Fake and exaggerated information is overflowing. Some of it is easily believed by the public if its owners have great influences on social media, which may cause serious consequences. Moreover, free flow of information may help crimes. Due to quick information spreading on social media, it becomes easier for criminals to get information of the victims. For example, according to the statistics, 78% of burglars admit to using Facebook, Twitter, or Google Street View to select victims homes (Lee, 2013). Thus, criminals are able to plan their crimes carefully and do great harm to the victims and the society. In conclusion, there are two main causes of free flow of information and it has both positive and negative effects. As high-educated adults, undergraduates should try their best to make good use of social media and avoid being affected by those bad effects.

Final conclusion of social media usage

This magazine mainly discusses proper usage of
social media in the aspects of information spreading and social communication. Social media promotes free flow of information, which brings many benefits to undergraduates. For example, through social media, undergraduates can develop their social relationships with their friends freely and get good academic materials. However, the overflow of false and harmful information, which is caused by free flow of information as well, seriously threatens undergraduates and leads to negative consequences. Thus, it is of great importance for NUS undergraduates to ensure proper information and communication management of social media. The three basic steps for this objective are distinguishing true information from false information, posting reliable information and obeying Internet etiquettes. Every NUS undergraduate has the responsibility to take those steps carefully and persistently in his/her daily life to ensure proper usage of social media. Moreover, comparing the similarities and contrasting the differences between two popular social media sites are useful methods to get more knowledge about social media and make better use of those sites. In summary, it is not hard for undergraduates to ensure proper information and communication management of social media, but everyone needs to play a part. Therefore, NUS undergraduates should start following the three steps and learning more about social media immediately.

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Author: Lin Yanjie Editor: Lin Yanjie Designer: Lin Yanjie Contact: kiritsugulyn@gmail.com