Social media is used to communicate, entertain and inform people around the world and most Americans use it at least once a day, according to a Jan. 12 Pew Research Center survey.

…hard to keep up with.

Faith Mellenthin | Columnist

Social media is not only used to keep up with daily entertainment but to progress business and create jobs. There are many new platforms and ways to communicate for all different reasons, making it hard to keep up with it all.

I believe this is why social media is taking a turn toward the business side; there are a growing number of jobs for people just to manage a company’s social media. For example, on LinkedIn social media can be listed as a skill and is often associated with advertising and public relations.

As an art student, I am trying to use several social media platforms to expose my work. However, I can’t keep up with all these platforms and posting the same images on four different websites is just exhausting. By looking at social media as a skill, students should realize they can capitalize on this for work relations in the future.

…redefining how people get their news.

Ian Tancun | Columnist

Online news consumers are just as likely to get news from social media than from an actual news organization’s website — 35 percent to 36 percent, respectively — according to a Feb. 9 Pew Research Center article. On March 4, President Donald Trump made a bombshell allegation against former President Barack Obama, accusing him of ordering a wiretap of Trump Tower last year, according to Trump’s March 4 tweet.

As he does frequently, the president used social media to make this claim. This is a great example of how social media is redefining the way we receive news. Although Twitter and Facebook are not news organizations, they have played a large role in how news is distributed.

This can be dangerous, however. The president’s allegation has not been substantiated by facts. While social media can be a useful tool in spreading news stories, this is a perfect example of why actual news organizations are invaluable to produce content which is properly vetted before distribution.

…changing the way kids grow up.

Mackenzie Meadows | Columnist

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and other social media platforms are changing the way kids grow up, the way people live and most importantly, the decisions people make.

People feel the need to document every moment of their lives that they are forgetting to live. Social media has been so vehemently involved in modern culture that 37 percent of eight to nine year olds and 51 percent of 10 to 11 year olds have already accessed the internet with mobile devices and computers, according to kidsmatter.edu.

Growing up, I cared more about what game to play outside or where to ride my bike, not what newest app was or the amount of followers I had on social media. Kids are becoming too concerned with their phones and laptops.

Adults are becoming so wrapped up in living their lives through their phone camera, recording everything that’s happening, that they forget what it’s like to actually go out and live life. We need to return to a time before we cared so much about apps on a computer screen, because it’s controlling people’s lives.

…fluid, informative and entertaining.

Maritza Huerta | Columnist

Social media is a fluid resource that impacts our society. “Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and others have played not just an important role, but also an instrumental one [in society],” according to a Feb. 27, 2014 HuffingtonPost article. The article discusses the impact of social media in mobilizing voters and depicting non-American countries in negative light.

It is important to understand that just as seriously as social media is used, social media is known for its rambunctious uses as well—such as memes and making anybody and everybody famous. This goes to show how easy social media makes it to find and spread information—despite its quality—but also share insipid jokes, a kind word, and/or discover engaging media.