Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey.

They have become household names thanks to the social media that they have created. Closing gaps and widening social circles everywhere, Facebook and Twitter are indeed forces to be reckoned with. Social media is a jewel because it connects people and build relationships- the most vital part of ones life. It isnt everyday that you are able to meet up with old pals, check out what friends are up to, and following, or rather stalking your crush, knowing every single thing that goes on in your friends life but claiming that it appeared on your home page ( dont deny this!). What we students learn in Science is that food, shelter and clothing are the basic necessities of an individual. What the textbook does not teach is that love, relationships and communication skills are also just as important-if not more and that is what social media has to offer us. I follow Twitter because it gives me instantaneous updates and is easy to access. I also like the fact that it is short and succinct - not long enough to bore me and short enough to convey the message across. I can access Twitter on my Iphone anywhere and everywhere! Melissa Yip who turns 15 this year from Glen Waverly Secondary College in Melbourne chatters away excitedly through a phone interview. Migrating there and having to separate from her friends, her school- that held most fond memories and her beloved homeland was the hardest thing she had to do. Social networking sites such as Facebook allows me to communicate with my friends. I really dont know what I would do without social media because they are the invisible strings that tie my best friend and I together.

Clearly, Malaysias prime ministers have made their mark on the lives of the younger generation. Goh Qian Yi is an avid Twitter user but when she looks back at all
the people she follows, she will only truly treasure one- Tun Dr Mahathir. Being the young but matured-thinking adolescent that she is, Qian Yi thinks that since he became the fourth prime minister in the year 1981, Malaysia has bloomed and blossomed like Sakura flowers during spring into a bustling metropolis and has never stopped improving since then. This 15-year-old follows the ex-prime minister because of his insightful and astute tweets. They never fail to leave me in awe, often leaving me pondering upon his words even past my bedtime. She mused. Being a number one fan of Tun Dr Mahathir, Qian Yi has even bought his latest memoir, which is as thick as a dictionary and does not come in a cheap price, she claims. Although I am not an avid fan of twitter, there are times when I fail to resist the temptation of checking out what my friends and fans are up to (I am kidding about the fans part). 20-year-old Wong Yen Wei who is pursuing a Law degree at the Australian National University in Canberra says with a chuckle. As of late, Yen Wei has also started to follow a few interesting celebrities and politicians on Twitter. One of them would be our own Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. One of the reasons is because she feels more involved as a rakyat of Malaysia by tuning in and keeping herself updated on various news. Since I am currently studying overseas, reading updates about Malaysia on Twitter also keeps me connected and somehow makes me miss home less! Yen Wei says brightly albeit admitting that her cravings for Nasi Lemak and Char KuayTeow have never stopped. That aside, social medias such as You Tube allows young talents to show the world what they are made of. Charice Pempengco and Justin Bieber are clear examples of a superstar born online. These teenagers posted videos of themselves singing with voices

Nevertheless, there is still a bad side to social media; just like there is the sun and the moon, yin and yang, good and the bad. It is the dirty game called addiction who controls my mind and forces me to click the Home button on Facebook a thousand times every minute to check for updates. Or sometimes I become that dangerous stalker; looking through my 549 friends profile pictures one by one, scrutinizing their features, pointing out their flaws. When I am done with that, temptation sets itself into my mind and body. I sit in front of the 2-inch flat screen laptop, scrolling picture after picture, profile after profile, status after status, tweets after tweets. Yes, all 1060 of them. After when addiction finishes its dirty game and my brain has overruled temptation, a pang of regret and guilt hits me when I realize I had spent hours in front of idiot box junior. I would feel like going back to the Stone Age where people didnt have Facebook and all so maybe I wouldnt be wasting my time. But at the end I would always console myself by thinking that at least now Im more updated about current news on my friends lives. Bad or good, social media has been and always will be part of our lives. Indirectly, it has shaped our young lives, helping us connect with people all around the globe and most importantly, making some fairytales and dreams come true.