The Problems within Communication Caused by Social Media and Technology 1

The Problems within Communication Caused by Social Media and Technology Naja Simone Means English 1102-Fall 2013

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Introduction: What is the Problem? The figured world I will be observing is Cheer Nation cheerleading squad of UNCCharlotte. Cheer Nation, an organization dedicated to cheerleading, was started by a group of UNCC students during the spring of 2010. These girls wanted to show a different style and unique kind of cheerleading that most people have not seen before. Cheer Nation is not the UNC-Charlotte school sponsored cheerleading team that you see at the football and basketball games but they do cheer for and put together many campus events during the school year. Cheer Nation can be seen during campus festivals and the monthly Union Takeovers our school has. The cheerleaders practice twice a week and practice is mandatory for performances. It is not acceptable to miss a practice or to constantly be tardy to practices. If someone is going to be absent it should be talked over with the coach in advance. During practice it is inappropriate to hold conversation about other things not regarding practice and cheering. I am not a member of Cheer Nation. Two of my very close friends have been members of Cheer Nation for the past two years. I will be interviewing them and observing what they do in this organization. The coach of Cheer Nation is employed through UNC-Charlotte and it will be very easy for me to set up an appointment to ask her question about her policies. This is a great time to observe Cheer Nation because of all of the upcoming events due to the recent start of a new school year. Although Cheer Nation is a great campus organization, they too have some problems that could be holding them back from their highest level of potential. The organization is constantly facing problems dealing with miscommunication. From my understanding it seems that the communication error steams from the different ways the information is passed throughout the team. It is very common for people to use texting, because it is a lot faster than sending out emails or making a phone call. If our coach needs to relay information to the team, she sends out a text to the captains, informing them to then inform the rest of the team. (Newson, Shariah). This is a good example of the problems that could occur. When the coach of Cheer Nation has information to give to the team, she TEXTS the captains. Then it is the duty of the captains to send out multiple messages to the rest of the team. In my past personal experiences within organizations, this has occurred. Instead of sending one massive email, the person in charge decides to break up the communication. This could cause false communication to be told and received. Therefore if the important message was: Practice will be changed from Monday at 7PM, to Tuesday at 6PM, there is a large chance that some information will be mixed up and inaccurate. (Williams, Dianna). There are many different positive things that come from technology and social media. The common pros are quickness, accessibility, and the fact that in todays world close to everyone has access to some form of technology and social media. But in this paper I will be focusing specifically on the negative effects and problems related to social media. More specifically I will be discussing the problems of social media dealing with communication within organizations. Most common cons include, the obvious, miscommunication, becoming disconnected and uninvolved, and too much reliability on social media and technology.

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Literature Review: Social Media and Communication Issues. Are the two related? Regardless of the purpose of the conversation, people tend to pursue efficient ways of interacting, in order to be considered competent (Allen, Burrell, and Bourhis, 2008) and communication competence largely affects the achievement of communication goals (Rickheit, Strohner, and Vorwerg, 2008). People will always choose to communicate through social media and with use of technology. It depends on the way the person behind the keyboard of a computer or screen of a phone decides to communicate. It becomes a problem when the person relaying a message or just entering in homework data, goes about doing so, and how competent they are with following out with it. Personally, I would rather communicate with someone in person. It is harder for me to express myself and get information across in accurately when it is done through technology and social media. Social media creates unwanted barriers, which are many times hard to overcome, for many people around the world as well as myself. The use of social media over the years continues to gradually replace traditional forms of communication such as television, radio, and newspapers. Social media has become the KING of communication for individuals across several domains. (Sjoberg, 2010). Not too long ago the most common and affective way to spread information about something such as Brand New CRISPY CREAM Donut Shop Opens Downtown would be the headline in the local newspaper. This could also be read over the internet for publication. This would be the main sources used to publicize and get out information to an intended community. Today something as simple as a picture displaying Delicious Donuts and a brief commented description of the photograph on Instagram, would be enough to get the word out to the intended audience and get a good response in return. This is also true for Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Tumblr. Social Media Cites-Descriptions: Instagram: Instagram is an online photo-sharing, video-sharing, and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, apply digital filters to them, and share them on a variety of social networking services. These services can include a network such as Twitter. Twitter: Twitter is an online social networking and micro blogging service that enables users to send and read "tweets", which are update messages limited to 140 characters. Registered users can read and post tweets but unregistered users can only read tweets. Facebook: Facebook is an online social networking service. Its name stems from the colloquial name for the book given to students at the start of the academic year by some American university administrations to help students get to know one another. It was started for people to connect with old friends from school and/or previous homes after moving away. Facebook is one of the most widely used social media site worldwide.

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Pinterest: Pinterest is a pin board-style photo-sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests, and hobbies. Users can browse other pin boards for images, "re-pin" images to their own pin boards, or "like" photos. Tumblr: Tumblr, stylized in its logo as Tumblr., is a micro blogging platform and social networking website founded by David Karp and owned by Yahoo! Inc. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog. There are a lot of things all of the above listed social media sites have in common. All of these social media sites in some way have a place for the user to upload a profile picture, which helps you know specifically who you are talking to or communicating in any form with through the network. This is a new problem occurring in the world today with social media. Many people upload photos of other people instead of honestly uploading a photo of them. This is not only dishonesty, it turns into danger. A lot of times people do not know whom they are truly communicating with over social networks. Avoidance of this danger is simple, by remembering to be aware and know who you are communicating with and sharing information with at all times while using social media. Defamation of Character What is defamation of character? Defamation of character is any intentional false communication, either written or spoken, that harms a person's reputation; decreases the respect, regard, or confidence in which a person is held; or induces disparaging, hostile, or disagreeable opinions or feelings against a person. With the constant and growing use of social media, defamation of character has become a major issue in the world of technology. Due to the seriousness of defamation, if caught within this act, it will result in a criminal or civil charge. This included both written statements, known as libel, and spoken statements, known as slander. This issue is touchy for me because I have witnessed someone experience defamation first hand. In high school, a group of girls started a false rumor about my friend. This rumor falsely accused my friend of having a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD). The rumor started on the social media site, Twitter and was also being told verbally around school. As one person was told, they would continue the false rumor, until more than half of the school knew about this lie. It got so out of control that my friend decided to talk with her parents about the situation. After being notified, my friends parent called our school to schedule an appointment with the head principle in charge. In conclusion, for the sake of the group of girls who started the false rumor, my friend decided not to press charges. Although they did not get served, that could not stop the principle from suspending them for their horrible behavior. In the end they got what they really deserved and my friend had an opportunity to heal and begin to undo what had wrongfully been done to her. Defamation of character is a result of poor judgment and not fully thinking out thoughts of what is appropriate and inappropriate.

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What to Do and What NOT to Do As I come to the conclusion of my inquiry, I continue to think back on all of the knowledge that I have gained through writing this paper. Many factors contribute to the pros and cons of social media and technology as it relates to effectively communicating. Personal communication, as many of you know, should definitely be held away from social media. It also seemed that larger amounts of information and important information should be shared and distributed efficiently to insure that communication is appropriately and accurately conveyed. It is especially important to understand the seriousness of defamation of character when communication with others on social media sites and well as verbally. Defamation of character includes any false information that is written, also known as libel, or spoken, also known as slander, about someone. This issue is should not be taken lightly for it could result in a criminal or civil charge. It is your decision of what you choose to put on social media sites or what and how you choose to communicate with others, whether you choose to use texting, twitter, or traditional ways of communication, communicate effectively.

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Works Cited 1. Allen, David G., Otondo, Robert F., Parvia, Prashant, and Scooter, James R. Van. The Complexity of Richness: Media, message, and communication outcomes. Information and Management. Volume 45, issue 1. Pages 21-30. January 2008. Web. 1 October 2013. 2. Hwang, Yoosun. Is Communication Competence Still Good for Interpersonal Media?: Mobile phone and instant messenger. Computers in Human Behavior. Volume 27, issue 2. Pages 924-934. March 2011. Web. 1 October 2013. 3. Lowe, Amber: Cheer Nation Captain. Personal Interview. 8 October 2013. 4. Newson, Shariah: Cheer Nation member. Personal Interview. 30 September 2013. 5. Osatuyi, Babajide. Information Sharing on Social Media Sites. Computers in Human Behavior. Volume 29, issue 6. Pages 2622-2631. November 2013. Web. 1 October 2013. 6. Webber, Kyra: Cheer Nation member. Personal Interview. 1 October 2013. 7. Williams, Dianna: Coach of Cheer Nation. Personal Interview. 16 October 2013.