It might be difficult to imagine, but 20 years ago email was just getting a foothold on the internet, and 11 years ago Facebook and Twitter didn’t exist. What has become commonplace has had a very short history.

Although there are disadvantages to using social media, such as distracting you from your work, creating distance in your face-to-face relationships and giving you one more way to procrastinate each day, there are advantages to being able to communicate with people around the world in a matter of seconds.

Whether you find this media personally enlightening or detrimental to your overall day-to-day activities, it’s hard to ignore the way it’s impacted our society and the spread of information.

Every Coin Has Two Sides

Data from PEW Research Center shows that 65 percent of all adults in the U.S. now use social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, up nearly 10-fold in the past decade.¹ When PEW started systematically tracking social media use, only 7 percent of adults interacted on these sites.

The rise in social media use has affected the way police do their jobs, how you communicate with politicians, the spread of information and news, political deliberation and even your level of stress.

On March 12, 2014, the World Wide Web turned 25. In a survey to mark that anniversary, PEW discovered several interesting facts.²

As of 2014, 87 percent of Americans used the internet and 90 percent of those felt it has had a personal positive impact on their lives. However, only 76 percent felt it has been positive for society as a whole.

The majority of users felt the technology would be very difficult to give up, but were easily moving away from cable television and landline phones. Of those who said it would be difficult to give up, 61 percent said it was integral to their work and jobs.

Although many people enjoy the freedom and connection they feel from social media, it has also had a negative impact on the number of hours you spend in face-to-face relationships and has created a platform where sharing negative thoughts and feelings can be done in a nameless, faceless fashion.

Social Awareness and Information Sharing

Using social media responsibly helps improve communication and information sharing across the world. It has become an important way we share essential health information that impacts you and your family every day.

For instance, instead of making you delve through hundreds of posts to find what you’re looking for, we have separated our Facebook pages so you can find exactly what you need when you need it.

If you’re looking for advocacy or health information to make choices or make your voice heard, you’ll find that information on our Advocacy and Awareness page.

Having specific areas on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook make it easier to communicate upcoming votes in the legislature and share information you’ll need to contact your representatives.

Different social media platforms react to information differently, which is why you probably enjoy one platform more than any of the rest of them. It conforms to your personal communication style.

How information spreads across each of the different platforms is dependent upon the way it is shared.

For instance, when JP Morgan Chase announced their over $2 billion loss, the news was on Twitter before the first call to their stockholders was completed.³ Activity on Tumblr, on the other hand, started slowly and only took off several hours later as blogs were reposted.

Social media networking has also had an amazingly positive impact on the distribution of information and acquiring help and support during natural disasters around the globe.

Hashtags are created to help you locate relevant stories and requests for help. This helps local stories get global attention and funding to manage the situation.⁴