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Twitter: The Dangerous Effects of Social Networking Essay

Decent Essays

In our society, social networking has become very popular over the last 5 years. Twitter is a social networking site that allows users to become “followers” of other people and stay informed about current events and social trends. Many argue whether or not these social websites such as Twitter, are good for society. In two articles about Twitter, the authors present different arguments about why Twitter is good or bad for society. The author of “Heading off disaster, one Tweet at a time” by Jim Spellman, states that Twitter is a good way of communicating current events happening around the world. The other article, “Is Twitter Bad for National Security?” by Tony Bradley, argues that Twitter could have dangerous effects on our nation’s …show more content…

Social networking can also be very helpful with up to the minute severe weather warnings to better prepare people for tornadoes and flash flooding. The earlier that severe weather notification is received, the sooner people can plan to seek shelter and alert other Twitter followers of the changing weather conditions. Therefore by using Twitter as form of early notification for disasters, the loss of people or property may be prevented. While one author thinks that Twitter can be a good resource for information concerning public events or breaking news, Bradley thinks otherwise. Bradley argues that social networking sites such as Twitter can be detrimental to society. Bradley disputes that although Twitter is a public forum, the content on Twitter be should be monitored. Bradley states that Tweeting the agenda of your day may not seem like any harm, “however when the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee sends out tweets like 'Just landed in Baghdad. I believe it may be the first time I've had bb [short for Blackberry] service in Iraq. 11th trip here.’ and then proceeds to tweet about the movements of his party through the Green Zone, flying by helicopter, etc.” This gives valuable information to terrorists because now they know that a high ranking official is in the country and they know his whereabouts. Terrorists can then use this information to plan an attack. This official was probably not aware of the mistake that

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