Relevance

The online social network is growing at an alarming rate. With approximately 168,000,000 people worldwide on the Internet every day, online communication is becoming a popular use for the Internet. MySpace and Facebook, specifically, are leaders in social networking programs. MySpace claims to have about 230,000 new accounts created everyday. According to Alexa Internet, it is the world's fourth most popular English site, and the world's sixth most popular website overall. Similarly, Facebook is also a major player on the Internet. It is reported that 85% of college students use Facebook, which has 20,000 new accounts created daily. Social networks, however, are not the only way to communicate online. Chatting and email are more classic examples of interaction among Internet users. Potentially, the harmful effects of online communication reaches almost every Internet user, since approximately 90% of users in 2005 had at least one email account. (Click on chart to enlarge.)

If online communication is lacking or damaging, as many people predict, much of the population in the world will be affected, especially the youth. As our world becomes more reliant on the Internet, this conflict amplifies and influences more people.

Research

The online communication conflict is relevant to most Internet users; however, many do not realize the risks of communicating on the Internet. Many have overlooked the possible negative aspects of Internet interaction, since there is a feeling of safety when the majority of users use such programs for communication. Therefore, I will discuss the various tools of interaction and the positive and negative outcomes of online interaction. Consequently, I will show that online communication, in fact, can negatively influence the users.

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