Social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ have attracted millions of users, many of whom have integrated those sites into their daily practices. As of this writing, there are hundreds of SNSs, with various technological affordances, supporting a wide range of interests and practices

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Report on:
IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
ON YOUNG GENERATION
Prepared & Submitted by:
Arif, Md. Nazrul Islam
Student, American International University-Bangladesh(AIUB)
Course Teacher:
TASNIA TARANNUM
Faculty, Department of English

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The Course teacher,
Business Communication,
American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB),
Banani, Dhaka.
Sub: Submission of Report.
Dear Ma’am,
I have the pleasure to submit my report titled “Impact of social Networking
sites(SNSs) on Young Generation”. This was a very good opportunity to deal with
young generation about the impact of social sites on their life.
This is modern era and every of us using social sites for various peruses like
communicating, view sharing etc., Most of the user are youths and I tried to find
out the impact of social sites on their life using some open and close ended
question.
I found that most of them are using 2-3 social networking sites and Facebook is too
much popular to them, every of them are using Facebook. They use social sites
mostly to communicate with friends and use 2-4 hours daily. Despite that almost
every of them thinks that the impact of social networking sites is positive because
it provide easiest way to communicate with friends, relatives etc.
I am thanking you again for giving me a chance to research about this topic
and make a report which will help me in future life I think. Despite all possible
attempts, certain deficiencies may reside and I sincerely regret this.
Yours Sincerely
Arif, Md. Nazrul Islam

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Preface
Different social networking sites (SNSs) are now our part of life. Most of the
modern people use any of those social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ Linked
in etc. and most of the users of those are young. Number of SNSs used by each
person is one, two, three and some of us use more than four social networking sites
and it means everything. Most of our youths now prefer social sites to pass leisure
time than other. This report is about the impact of SNSs “Impact of social networking
sites on young generation”. I tried to find out the impact of social networking sites
using various open and close ended questions. All the respondents of my survey is
between 18-24 years old, who represented the young generation. This survey provides
us information about how many times they spent on social sites, which site they use
most and with whom they contact most using social sites. From this report we will
know about total impact of social networking sites on our young generation.

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Acknowledgment
First and foremost, I would like to thank to our course instructor of this course
Tasnia Tarannum for the valuable guidance and advice. She inspired me greatly to
work in this term paper. Her willingness to motivate me contributed tremendously to
our work. I would like to thank her for spending her valuable time by helping me for
this term paper.
Besides, I would like to thank the respondents who helped me by giving their answers
to the questionnaire. I am very thankful to them as they gave their precious time for
me. Their cooperation really helps me to analyze and finalize this report.
Finally, an honorable mention goes to my families and friends for their
understandings and support me in completing this report. Without helps of the
particular that mentioned above, I would face many difficulties while doing this
research.

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Table of Contents
Title page 2
Forwarding letter 3
Preface 4
Acknowledgement 5
Table of Contents 6
List of Illustrations 7
Abstract 8
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background 9
1.2 Definition 9
1.3 Objectives 10
1.4 Research Methodology 10
1.5 Literature Review 10
1.6 Advantage 11
1.7 Disadvantage 12
2.0 Findings & Analysis 13
3.0 Conclusion 18
4.0 Recommendation 18
Appendix 20
Bibliography 21

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List of Illustrations
Pie chart-1: Social sites people are using.
Pie chart-2: Hampers study.
Pie chart-3: Security of social sites.
Pie chart-4: Overall impact of social sites.
Pie chart-5: SNSs makes our life complicated
Table 1: Purpose of using social sites.
Table 2: Number of SNSs used by each person
Graph-1: Hours spent on social sites.
Graph-2: Do you feel insecure while sharing?
Graph-3: SNSs may bring welfare for country.

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Abstract
Online social networking has become extremely popular with adolescents and
young adults. As of January 2014, 74% of internet user use social networking sites (men
72% and women 76) and 90% of college students have a Facebook account. Using social
networking sites is among the most common activity of today's generation mostly to
youths. Any Web site that allows social interaction is considered a social networking site
such as Facebook, Google +, Twitter etc. Such sites offer today's youth a portal for
entertainment and communication and have grown exponentially in recent years. My
major focus of this study is to find out that on which way our young generation are using
these social sites, what they actually think of it and how they use it in their daily life. In
this research I tried to find out that using survey which includes some open and close
ended questions. 35 respondents answered those questions who represented the youths. I
have found out from this study that every one of them has Facebook account and most of
them use 3-4 social sites. Most of the respondents use social sites 2-4hours daily and half
of them this that it hampers their study. Overall most of them agreed that impact of social
networking sites is positive because it helps youth to communicate with their friends in
easiest way and to meet new people.

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1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background:
Social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ have attracted
millions of users, many of whom have integrated those sites into their daily practices. As of this
writing, there are hundreds of SNSs, with various technological affordances, supporting a wide
range of interests and practices. While their key technological features are fairly consistent, the
cultures that emerge around SNSs are varied. Most sites support the maintenance of pre-existing
social networks, but others help strangers connect based on shared interests, political views, or
activities
Although with time all generations have come to embrace the changes social network has
brought about, teenagers and young adults are the most fanatic users of these sites. According to
various research studies in the field of online social networks, it has been revealed that these
sites are impacting the lives of the youth greatly. When using these sites such as Twitter,
Facebook or Instagram, there are both positive and negative effects on the youth.
It is inevitable to ignore the fact that nowadays social network plays an essential role in
teenagers’ lives. Most youths are spending at least an hour in these popular social media sites.
Generally, 1 out of 7 minutes which are spent online by most of those who can access internet is
spent on Facebook according to Shea Bennett. One may ask how spending all that time on the
social media sites may have a positive impact on them. Well, social media helps the youth and
any other user updated with what is happening around the world, help the teenagers stay
connected and interact with each other even if they are many miles apart.
1.2 Definition:
We define social networking sites as web-based services that allow individuals to
(1)Construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system.
(2) Articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection and
(3) View and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system. The
nature and nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to site.
What makes social network sites unique is not that they allow individuals to meet strangers, but
rather that they enable users to articulate and make visible their social networks. This can result
in connections between individuals that would not otherwise be made, but that is often not the
goal, and these meetings are frequently between "latent ties" (Haythornthwaite, 2005) who share
some offline connection. On many of the large SNSs, participants are not necessarily
"networking" or looking to meet new people; instead, they are primarily communicating with
people who are already a part of their extended social network

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1.3 Objectives:
The main objective of the study is to find out the nature and purposes of SNSs uses by university
students of Bangladesh.
With the main objective the proposed study has some specific objectives like,
1. To find out the nature of SNSs uses by young generation of Bangladesh.
2. To dig out the time spending patterns of university students of Bangladesh in Facebook.
3. To understand the user’s motives for SNSs use (social interaction, passing-time,
companionship, communication).
4. To find out what the user think about the SNSs (advantage and disadvantage).
1.4 Research Methodology:
The research collected data through survey. The survey selected 35 respondents
throughout the Dhaka area. The survey was carried out targeting a population of mostly young
generation aged between 18 and 24. The survey is a mixture of closed-ended and open-ended
questions on social networking sites and its positive and negative impact on young generation.
The survey data collection method was selected because it was most appropriate to collect
quantitative data. Additionally, it allowed the research to collect data quickly, which was
important with limited time. Only the paper-based questionnaires where eventually used and 35
respondents answered 18 questions each. They answered all the questions by their own. The
respondents of the survey picked randomly to find out the impact of social networking sites.
1.5 Literature review:
Numerous studies outline the “significant relationship between social networking sites
(SNSs) and its impact on students” communication and interpersonal relation patterns. Some
believe that motivations that determine how young people use online Social networks are
psychological and it is strongly related to the human needs of communication, socialization,
being an active part of a group, or maintaining long-distance friendships (Baltaretu & Balaban,
2010). The findings of a study conducted in Malaysian context show that Facebook usage among
Swedish university students seems to be an important part of their everyday life but can present
some challenges in their social relationships (Sofiah etal, 2011). Smaller social circles, less
communication at home, and loneliness are some greater internet use results, which have been
identified in some studies. (Kraut et al., 1998). Spending more time on the internet and
particularly in SNSs can create an addiction to the internet. Internet addiction is a rampant
problem affecting individuals throughout the world and is recognized as a relic stage of internet
adoption within a society (Zhang & Amos, 2008).

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Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe (2007) was empirically tested this proposition by using
survey data from a small sample of undergraduate students in the U.S. Applying Putnam’s
(2000) framework of “bridging” and “bonding” social capital, Ellison and her colleagues found
that use of Facebook had a strong association to maintaining or solidifying existing offline
relationships, as opposed to meeting new people.
Rafiqul Alam and Ahmed Rezwan (2012) have been conducted a study in Bangladesh
context. They try to understand the student perception about the academic use of SNSs. The
results indicate a positive attitude towards academic use of SNSs by the students. Although there
are some differences in terms of students’ opinions on academic applications of SNSs, these
differences are largely due to the fact that the use of these sites in academic contexts is not well-
defined.
Mir Habib Ullah (2012) conducted a research to identified the uses types of Facebook by
university students of Bangladesh and found that they are using it most for chatting and
gossiping with friends. This finding indicates the shifting of interpersonal relationships format
among students but he failed to identify the nature of the changes as the study depends only
quantitative data.
Though a good number of studies have been conducted about SNSs and students but very
few studies have been focused on the using patterns of SNSs by students especially in
Bangladesh context. The present study is an attempt to explore this knowledge gap. Another
concern is that, most of the studies have been conducted in the western society perspective
though it is very essential to unearth the situation of developing countries like Bangladesh.
1.6 Advantage:
Social networking offers many benefits. It is now easier than ever to keep in contact with
old friends and colleagues. Social sites like Facebook, Google +, twitter helps us lot to
communicate with friends and relatives. The professional networking site LinkedIn even allows
users to request introductions to business people who are known to their contacts. The potential
of this enhanced connectivity is huge; whereas once you would be left sifting through business
cards after a networking event, trying to remember details about each person, you can now easily
look up a connection’s credentials and business interests on their social media profile.
Social networking is particularly vital for entrepreneurs. Freelancers can find contacts via
professional groups on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, while business owners can make use of
the large user bases of Facebook and Twitter to market their products and services. Facebook has
a range of services designed to help businesses market themselves more effectively, including
the ability to target advertising at the precise demographic groups that are likely to respond
favorably. A social site also helps out youths to communicate with people from other country
and to know about others.

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In addition, social networking sites have provided a platform whereby the youth can
create groups and pages based on their common discipline and end up building connections and
opportunities for their respective careers by updating various topics to discuss. Youth who have
been interviewed they say that social media has become their lifestyle and it makes their lives
easier and efficient.
1.7 Disadvantage:
While on one hand social network sites seems to bring people together and connected on
the other hand it creates social isolation in regard to BBC News report. As the youth tend to
spend many hours on these sites, they rarely have face-to-face interaction. According various
studies, scientists’ evaluation determined that social isolation can lead to a host of emotional,
psychological, physical and mental problems which include anxiety, depression and somatic
complaints among many others.
Other negative effects of social networking various people suggested included
encouraging poor spelling and grammar, exposing underage to online predators, allowing spread
of misinformation that is perceived as fact, decreasing productivity as those who are supposed to
be working spend time in the sites to chat, provide a perfect platform for cyber bullying and
providing details that increase risks of identity theft.
The increasing number of messages and social relationships embedded in SNS also
increases the amount of social information demanding a reaction from SNS users. Consequently
SNS users perceive they are giving too much social support to other SNS friends. This dark side
of SNS usage is called ‘social overload’. It is caused by the extent of usage, number of friends,
subjective social support norms, and type of relationship (online-only vs offline friends) while
age has only an indirect effect. The psychological and behavioral consequences of social
overload include perceptions of SNS exhaustion, low user satisfaction, and high intentions to
reduce or stop using SNS
 As of January 2014, 74% of internet user use social networking sites where men user is
72% and women 76%. And 90% of college students have a Facebook account, 19% of
internet user Twitter. In May 2013, 74% of women were users of social networking sites,
compared with 62% of men. Between February 2005 and August 2006, the use of social
networking sites among young adult internet users ages 18-29 jumped from 9% to 49%.
It means so much, it means that how the new generation are using social sites.
Social networking sites have also become a mainstream topic of academic study in various
disciplines. For example, social networking services are highly relevant to techno self-studies
which focus on all aspects of human identity in a technological society.

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The research clearly shows that Facebook is the most popular social site among young
generation. Out of the 35 respondents surveyed, every respondents are using Facebook.
As pie chart-1, 34% respondents use only Facebook and along with Facebook 20% user
uses Google+. 15% use Facebook and twitter, 14% user use Facebook & linked In, 12%
use Facebook & Instagram and rest of 5% use Facebook and other social sites.
Pie chart-1
Graph-1
2.0 Findings & Analysis

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From Graph-1 we can see that how many hours our respondents spent in social netwokring
sites. Out of 35, 19 of them use 2-4 hours, 8 of them use socil sites less than one hour. 6 of
them spent 4-6 hours in social networking sites. And lastly 2 of our respondents use 6 or
more hours in social networking sites.
Table-1: Purpose of using social networking sites
Purpose of using social sites Number of respondents
Communicate with friends 25
Meet new people 3
Professional/work 7
Pass leisure time 9
From table-1, we can see that most of the young people use social sites to communicate
with friends. 25 respondents out of 35 use social sites to communicate with their friend.
One 2 of them use it to meet new people and 7 respondents use it for work/professional
purpose. And 9 respondents use social sites to pass leisure time. Some of them use it for
both communicate and pass leisure time. Table-1 let us know that completely about the
purpose of using social sites, where we came to know that most people use it to
communicate with friends.
Pie chart-2
51% respondents thinks that social
networking sites hampers in their
study as when i asked them, social
networking sites hampers in their
study or not. pie chart-2 also shows
that 49% don’t think that it hampers
in study.

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Table-2: Number of SNSs used by each person
Number of social Networking sites Number of respondents
Only one 4
Two 6
Three 17
Four or more 8
Table-2 represents number of Social networking sites (SNSs) used by each person. From
Table-2 we can see that highest number of respondents used three SNSs in their daily life.
Out of 35, 17 respondents use three social sites, 6 of them use two and 4 of them use only
one SNSs. But 8 of respondents out of 35 use four or more social networking sites. So
from graph-2 we can see that most of respondents use more than three social sites which
is very alarming because it may occur waste of time.
Pie chart-3
When I asked my respondents that the
security system of social networking
sites is enough to secure the user
information’s or not. 46% of them
thinks that it’s not enough where 34%
thinks that it’s enough but not strong
and 20% answered that it’s really not
enough for the user to secure their
valuable information.

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Graph-2
Though 46% respondents
thinks that security of social
sites is not enough but when I
asked them do they feel
insecure while they share
themselves in social sites?
Most of the ans is No. 16 of
them don’t feel insecure where
10 people agreed with the
question that means they feel
insecure and 9 of them were
not sure about the anser.
Pie chat-4
From pie chart-4, 77% respondents agreed
that the overall impact of social
networking sites on them is positive while
I asked them that the impact of social sites
are positive or negative. Where 23%
respondents thinks that impact is negative.

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Pie chart-5
I asked my respondents that
“Is social networking sites
makes our life complicated?”
49% respondents thinks that
negatively, SNSs don’t
makes their life complicated.
But 31% replied yes it makes
complication in life. Where
only 20% are not sure about
the ans that’s why they
choose may be.
Graph-3
Graph-3 ittustrates about the possibilites of bring welfare for country usins social sites.
Out of 35, only 9 thinks that it is possible but most of the respondents really not sure
about the answer, that’s why most of them answered may be it bring welfare. But 6 out of
35 don’t think SNSs may bring welfare for a country

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3.0 Conclusion
In conclusion it could be said that, though it has been revealed by in the
study that young generation are using social networking sits(SNSs) for all of
aforementioned purposes but social interaction and Communication is the highest
purpose for using social sites. In short it could also be said that friendship is the most
important things which influence the youngsters to use social networking sites. It is found
that social sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram etc. are very popular among the
youths and most of them are very active members of social networks. Higher number of
young generation uses various social networking sites for 2-4hours daily which could be
harmful for academic purpose. Further research will be needed to understand the
relationship between Facebook use and academic performance.
 Although they have issues, social networking web sites are still one of the
best inventions of the modern era because they connect so many people. It
provide us the easiest way to communicate with all (friends, relatives etc.)
together. It may also bring welfare for any nation.
I believe that there are some limitations to this study. Like any research, the
investigation has many limitations that should be considered before generalizing the
results to other contexts and recommending for future research. First, the survey only
sought opinions of students from just one university. However, every university is
different. Therefore, norms and preferences of social sites users and time usage on this
SNSs might vary from one university to another or from one part of the country to
another. The next limitation of this study is that, it is unable to reveal the academic
purpose of SNSs uses by university students. The reason is that in the pre-test it has been
found that almost no respondent told that they are using social sites for academic
purpose. However it is assumed that further in-depth and qualitative research will be
required to find out the academic uses of social sites. Due to these constraints, only 35
students were surveyed. It is tough to generalize the scenario with this few sample. In addition,
the study focused on participants who are studying in a university situated in the capital of
Bangladesh. Culture, stage of economic development, and political–economic traditions is more
or less different with other parts of the country.
The findings from this study can be used for further research works on SNSs and
its impact on interpersonal relationship among youngsters, culture, and education.

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4.0 Recommendation
Social networking sites (SNSs) are blessing for this era. Young generation can
connect themselves with all over the world by this, they can meet new people, may know
about other culture but there are many negative impact of these sites to our young
generation. Excessive use of these sites may hampers in shiny future.
Large numbers of younger people are accessing social networking sites that are not
intended for them, and as a result are being exposed to risk of harm: here is some
recommendation-
 Though SNSs helps out youths to be connected with their friends but spending too
much time is bad for persons who are very early stage of his life. This time is
much more important for future. So youths should not spend these much time to
SNSs which will hampers there study.
 Most of the respondents were not happy about the security of social sites. They
don’t think that social sites are providing enough security for the user. So it’s
needed to improve the security of social sites to provide best security to their user.
 There are some fake ID exists in social sites it’s painful for a user. So social sites
should improve their registration criteria to decrease the amount of fake ID. It is
recommended that to avoid this, popular social sites can open some brunch in
different places where every user have to present while they are registered they
personal account. An authorized person from different social organization will be
there to approve the new account.
 Most of the respondents use social networking sites to only communicate with
friends. But we can use it as a medium to communicate with family and to
maintain good relationship with relatives.
 Many of my respondents believe that social networking sites may bring welfare
for our country. So we can user these social sites when our country falls in danger.
We can let people know and help them by delivering instruction.
 Youths can increase their technological knowledge from these social sites because
there are some pages and groups in social sites where people share about new
technology in these groups and pages. Youths can add themselves in these several
groups to know about newest technology and newer invention

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Appendix
Sample Questionnaire
Name: Semester:
Gender: a. Male Age: a. 18-20
b. Female b. 21-24
1. From following, which social networking site/sites do you use?
a) Facebook b) Twitter c) Instagram d) Google + e) Linked In f) others e) None
2. Which social networking sites you use most?
a) Facebook b) Instagram c) Twitter d) Google + e) Other: _______
3. How many social Networking sites you are using?
a) Only one b) two c) three d) four or more
4. How many hours you spend on social networking sites daily?
a) Less than one b) 2-4hours c) 4-6hours d) more than 6 hours
5. How frequently you use social networking sites?
a) More than once in a day b) Once in a day c) Once in a week
d) few times in a week
6. Why do you use social Networking Sites?
a) Communicate Friends b) Meet new people c) Professional / work
d) Pass leisure time
7. Which people you communicate most by using these Social sites?
a) Family b) Friends c) Relatives d) Others
8. Is social networking sites hampers in your personal life?
a) Yes b) No
9. What do you think about the privacy settings of social networking sites?
a) Strong Enough b) Enough c) Not enough
10. Do you feel insecure while you’re sharing anything in social networking sites?
a) Yes b) No c) Not sure

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11. Is social networking sites hampers on your study?
a) Yes b) No
12. Do you think due to social Networking sites you spent less time with your family?
a) Yes b) No
13. Impact of social networking sites on your life?
a) Positive b) Negative
14. Do you think social networking can bring welfare for our country?
a) Yes b) No
15. Do you think social networking sites makes our life complicated?
a) Yes b) No
16. Do you think that Social Networking sites are good? If yes, then write why in comment
below:
a) Yes b) No
Comment: _______________________________________________________________
17. Write one bad experience you have faced due to social networking sites? (In brief)
________________________________________________________________________
18. Rate the social networking sites as a whole in terms of good uses: ______ (Out of 10)
Thank you very much for your time
Bibliography
 the-effect-of-social-networking-sites By Rajat Raizada, Taruna Vinayak,
Gaurav Srivastav, Sakshi Garg
 Mahbubur Rahman (2013). “Uses of Social Networking Sites (SNSs) by Public
University Students of Bangladesh” Master’s thesis, Department of Mass
Communication and Journalism, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_service
 http://www.academia.edu/3504485/Impact_of_Social_Networking_Sites_On_
Youths_Case_Study_Of_MAURITIUS
 http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/social-networking-fact-sheet/
 http://www.eckerd.edu/academics/ford/files/11/Mary_Wilks.pdf