1) Audience's Role In Media

 We’re getting less friendly on Facebook (Social Media Website)?

In all likelihood I am probably one of the numerous people in world who spend my time a lot on social media to stuff my time when I am bored, especially Facebook which is now as well a trend for people to get connected in any part of the world. In this article, Pew did a survey where it shows that there are 62 percent of teens and 58 percent of adults’ restricted access to their profiles to friends only, which means Facebook has altered people due to its restriction of their privacy. Moreover, 56 percent of social media users aged 18 to 29 said they have deleted comments that others have made on their profile (Media Issues Org, 2012). 

In spite of people who do not care about their privacy online, but with advanced tools such as mobile devices, and other technologies that could track their privacy, people will try to control it. As showed in the report, it found no differences in controlling privacy of people by range of age. Therefore, young adults were likely to use privacy controls as older people. A phone survey of 2,277 adults did by Pew also shows that about two-thirds of Internet users use social networks, and a enormous percentage of them are getting more strict about letting others access their Facebook, Google+ and Twitter pages. Data about teens was come from a separate phone survey that Pew conducted with teenagers themselves as well as their parents. On top of that, this survey was conducted in April and May of year 2011.

 According to Rheingold (2002) ‘mobile informational technology are providing rapidly the structural elements for the existence of fresh kinds of highly-informed, autonomous communities that coalesce around local lifestyle choices, global political demands, and everything in- between.’ Due to the transformation of technology, people are being more prudent of their privacy protection.

  In conclusion, Jan (2006) stated ‘network society can be defined as a social formation with an infrastructure of social and media networks enabling its prime mode of organization at all levels’ such as individual, group or organizational and societal.

(354 words)

References:

Khan, R, Kellner, D 2004, New Media and Internet Activism: From the ‘Battle of Seattle’ to Blogging, viewed on 5th June 2012, <http://webarchives.cdlib.org/wayback.public/NYUL_ag_6/20090329042805/http://nms.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/6/1/87.pdf>.

Rheingold, H 2002, Smart Mobs: the Next Social Revolution, Cambridge, MA: Perseus

Publishing.

Dijk, J, V 2006, The Network Society, viewed on 8th June 2012, <http://books.google.com.my/books?hl=en&lr=&id=b7ktTPViIYMC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=new+media+ecosystem+theory&ots=GGEMd4OrnQ&sig=AcZYsRUi11KOcU8lB6BP0Cdlffg#v=onepage&q&f=false>.

Ortutay, B 2012, Study: We're Getting Less Friendly On Facebook, viewed on 7th June 2012, <http://mediaissues.org/2012/02/25/study-were-getting-less-friendly-on-facebook/>.