16:37 Gulf News: Social networking sites facilitate face-to-face interaction.
16:38 Aasha Eapen: I disagree as social media causes people to spend less time interacting face-to-face. By convenience, a lot of people prefer to speak to each other on Facebook, rather than physically meeting. In the process, people risk developing a fear of going out, and are even afraid of approaching others personally, even when they can because they lack the confidence to do so and thus prefer to do it online.
16:39 Maria Ahmad: As a student who spends quite a lot of time on social media, I agree that extreme usage of social media has lead people into isolation. We use social media as an escape route and an excuse to avoid seeing those who are in the same city as us. We hide behind our screens and limit our social interactions because we get the feeling of being social without having the need to go out and socialise.
16:39 Laila Kothiya: I disagree because social media does not facilitate any face-to-face interaction. People are so comfortable with sitting at home and interacting that they don’t find it important to go out.
16:39 Ramachandran Nair: Social media causes people to spend less time interacting and the reality is that the opportunity for a face-to-face interaction doesn’t exist. The outcome is entirely different as face-to-face interaction helps a person to better understand the other individual.
16:40 Vrunda Sharma: I agree to a certain extent as the use of any medium of communication is not harmful as long as it is used with caution.
16:44 Gulf News: Social media sites empower individuals to make social change and do social good on a community level.
16:46 Manu Rajesh: People get to know more through social media and to take up a simple example, the ALS ice bucket challenge. People got to know about it through social media websites.
16:46 Aasha Eapen: People who have the passion and interest to take part in certain events can find the cause that they care most about, become aware of organisations that do the same and get involved. The use of social networking sites is entirely up to the individual. Multiple social service programs around the world have received the popularity and encouragement they have today largely due to social media.
16:46 Vrunda Sharma: I agree because social media enables people to make more friends and interact with more people. In fact, in this part of the world recruiting people online has become very common. It is now possible to start a good cause and have many hands join in.
16:46 Laila Kothiya: Social media does empower individuals to make social changes. For example, a certain disease such as ALS, which wasn’t recognised previously, has now been recognised worldwide through social media.
16:47 Maria Ahmad: I disagree because there is hardly any empowerment in social media. If anyone starts promoting a social cause, the others follow just because it is a trend. Yes, creating awareness about an issue is good, but what it has become on social networking sites is just another page to like or an image to share and that is not social awareness. Take the ALS ice bucket challenge; it helped generate many donations and helped spread awareness but it became a trend as it was a fun way to show support. I have seen many people who were unable to sign a simple petition but they had loads of time to do the ALS Ice bucket challenge, which was even more time consuming.
16:49 Gulf News: Social networking sites facilitate cyberbullying.
16:51 Aasha Eapen: The use of social networking sites are entirely up to the individual. However, the danger lies in the fact that many vulnerable people and especially children get trapped by online predators and fall prey to cyberbullying.
16:52 Vrunda Sharma: Social media has enabled bullying through an electronic medium. Social media should have to be a platform to have a good friendly communication but not many understand the same.
16:53 Laila Kothiya: There are people who do not express when they are cyberbullied due to stigma and attitudes from the society. Social media being the largest connecting site contributes to this as much as it can be anonymous and there is no punishment. Therefore, bullies find it easy to make fun and put someone down.
16:55 Maria Ahmad: Social media causes cyberbullying because there is no direct contact or a way to catch the bully so the bullies have nothing to fear. Social media is accessible for the bullies to find their victim. Even though there are a lot of ways to privatise your social networking account, there are a lot of ways to hack into them.
16:56 Gulf News: Social media sites help employers find employees and job-seekers find work.
16:58 Vrunda Sharma: Things are no longer just confined to newspaper advertisements, instead jobs are being broadcast on various messenger applications or social networking sites like Facebook. Since social media is the fastest way to reach out to people, there is less time consumed and less money spent on the recruitment process.
16:58 Maria Ahmad: Social media has brought companies closer to the common masses via groups and pages that keep people updated on various job openings. It is hard to keep track of several websites or newspapers and their job openings. However, with social media, we can just log into our account and all the information is present on one single page.
16:58 Laila Kothiya: I agree as for employers, it is an easy way to look for job seekers. After all, we do live in a competitive world as everyone wants to be the best. I have personally had to go through it as I was not able to find any jobs, yet there are various pages on Facebook of companies who post job openings and their contact details and job seekers can respond. This way, it is easier for employers to find their perfect match.
16:58 Aasha Eapen: Social media does help employers and job seekers to find jobs. Having an active presence on social networking sites like LinkedIn provides wonderful opportunities to network and form connections with like minded people and future employers. The content of your profile provides future employers with a glimpse into the person you are. If used wisely and positively, they have a high probability of creating a win-win situation between prospective employers and employees.
17:00 Ramachandran Nair: Though I do not fully support this, there are many organisations and government offices that have pages on social networking sites and provide people with up-to-date information. By doing so, these websites have become an acceptable platform to quickly reach out to the public. However, whether it is helping job seekers find employment is debatable.
17:00 Aasha Eapen: A candidate with a polished LinkedIn profile and an active Twitter account for example, definitely stands somewhat better chance of being selected than a candidate with no presence on social networking sites.
17:03 Maria Ahmad: I disagree because most firms would look through their applicants and search for the best candidate, and that can only be done by face-to-face interviews. This way, even if you are not on any social networking site but are better than the other applicants, you might still get the job.
17:04 Laila Kothiya: It is not that if you are not on social media, your chance of getting a job is low. I would say that if you are there, your chances are better because your information is crystal clear to the employers.
17:05 Gulf News: Using social media can harm job stability and employment prospects.
17:05 Vrunda Sharma: I disagree because it is completely up to the individual to keep their posts visible to the people they want. If privacy settings are used properly, it shouldn’t b a problem
17:06 Manu Rajesh: A user, who uses social networking sites cautiously and ethically, will not face any issues.
17:06 Ramachandran Nair: I believe that it all comes down to your trust in the source and how much information you chose to reveal. So, it is more or less subject to the individual and his or her choice of personal information.
17:07 Aasha Eapen: I am neutral, while a presence on social networking sites can be harnessed positively, it can also be used for harm, in this case harming job prospects. People who post provocative pictures and lewd comments can only expect proportionate results.
17:08 Maria Ahmad: It depends on what kind of firm you are applying for. Most jobs require interviews, and as long as you have the job experience and meet the criteria, there is no reason for your chances to be low. As for people using pictures of five years back, I don’t see why an applicant has to share his personal pictures, which have nothing to do with the job.
17:09 Laila Kothiya: I disagree as it completely individual. On my first day at university, I was told that my profile on social networking sites should not contain vague information that will affect my job prospects. If there are people posting photos of them doing inappropriate things, it is definitely going to affect their opportunities.
-Compiled by Donia Jenabzadeh/Community Web Editor
