Lyceum of the Philippines University – Manila
Department of College of Arts and Science

A Study of How Social Media Medium such as
Facebook Use is Affecting Our Ways of Communication

by

A Thesis submitted
In partial fulfilment of Bachelor of Science in Information Technology

September 2015
Chapter 1

Introduction:

Since the beginning of time, people have created ways to communicate. The use of Internet as a communication tool has become more and more commonplace, particularly among younger generations (Boyd, 2008). Prior to today’s technology, people developed relationships face-to-face. Face-to-face interaction allows a person to respond in conversation by utilizing verbal and non-verbal clues they receive during the conversation. Today’s system communication allow people to interact with each other in settings that are not face-to-face. The use of telephones and computers has paved the way for the most recent addition to communication, social media.

Online social networking sites (SNS) have tried to re-create face-to-face interactions on the web by allowing people to interact publicly or privately. Others use social media as a way to stay in contact, while others use it for other matters connected to businesses. Back before, long distance friends or love ones either kept in touch by telephone, or mail. However, a good benefit of social networking websites is that they allow people to develop or maintain relationships with individuals who may not be close to themselves geographically. When it comes to location and communication, social networking websites allow families, couples, and friends to stay connected using a simple click of a button.

Socializing through the use of Facebook has become one of the most popular applications of the Internet. Since the Internet continuous to grow at a phenomenal rate bringing along with its various social interaction tools – email, instant messaging (IM), blogs, video chatting, games – all of which can be utilized through one platform: Facebook. For example, IM allows relational partners geographically separated the ability to engage in a ‘real-time’ interaction (Broneck & Ramirez, 2007).

In just the past decade, social networking mediums such as Facebook has exploded in popularity, changing the way people communicate. Facebook allows interaction to anyone within the individual’s social community, regardless of geographic proximity.

Although, it is evident that Facebook has influenced that change, people can still wonder if that change is for better or worse (Seidman, 2015).

Statement of the Problem:

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of social networking as a medium of communication to: * Evaluate the effect of social media websites such as Facebook in terms of communication.