Social networking sites such as MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and much more are used by adults and children all over America. The main reasons users are on these websites is to communicate with friends and strangers, to share ideas, photos, music and so forth. Although there are many positives of social networking sites, it is impossible to overlook the negatives as well. To start with, social networking is a great way to spread information way quicker than any other alternative media. It is proven that breaking news is more likely to be on social networking sites first then radios or newspapers. For example, the Aurora, CO theater shooting was on social media before the news crew could even report to the destination. But then again, this does not mean everything on social media is reliable and true either. Many people have spread false news that ended up being bogus rumors. That is why it is recommended to not necessarily believe entirely until confirmed.
Be that as it may, social networking helps students more academically as well. It can be used to talk over with other peers about school work and educational subject matters. However, students who are obsessed with social media tend to have a lower GPA average than the non-users. Studies show, "Students who used social media had an average GPA of 3.06, while the other half had a GPA of 3.82." (Procon.org 2014). Remaining on the subject of school, social networking supplies academic research granting admission to before nonexistent educational resources. Through social media, the research method and developments are clearer and available to a larger community. But even so, social networking implements cheating on school work too. As posting pictures of tests that others may see and look up answers before hand. Maybe that is why two-thirds of teachers think, "Social media do more to distract students than help them academically" (Procon.