Social Media, what exactly is it?Social Media is a growing way of communication and it is always growing and changing, and as it grows it continues to change how we communicate, but is this a good change or a bad change? So the topic I choose to focus on is how social media can be beneficial for our communication. The first way is it can help spread  the word about upcoming events. The second way is it can help teachers to better educate their students in communication skills by using . Social media is something that allows individuals to communicate to each other who aren't able to communicate on a regular basis.

The first example is how social media can spread the word to help others. On November 15,2013 Leukemia Survivor Miles Scott got the best thing a kid could ask for, he got to be Batman for a day. On that day the Make-A-Wish foundation and an army of volunteers had changed a part of San Francisco into Gotham City. A quote that helps proves my point comes from “Inside The Social Media Strategy That Made Bat Kid Go Viral” an article written by Ariel Schwarts is “The event, while heartwarming, didn't randomly go viral all on its own (few things do), though it may have seemed like it to anyone watching as #SFBatKid showed up every five seconds in their Twitter stream. Rather, it was a carefully crafted campaign from Clever Girls Collective, a content and social media agency that normally works with clients like Toyota, Dunkin' Donuts, and Samsung.” This quote helps prove my point because of social media 5 year old Miles Scott got the best day ever because the Clever Girls Collective created a campaign to help spread the word about Miles and to raise enough to have his wish to come true. The second example of how social media can help spread the word is Safyre Terry a burned victim received over one million christmas cards. Last year in December Liz Dolder the aunt and legal guardian of Safyre were making a Christmas card Tree, she was excited to fill it up so Liz posted a picture of Safyre and the Card tree on Facebook and from there on the request of Christmas cards grew. As word got around she had collected over 1 million Christmas cards. This happened only because Liz Dolder used social media to get story out and her cause
At the beginning of social media SMS language was created, SMS Language Is a term for the  commonly used for the abbreviations commonly used in mobile phone text messaging, but is sometimes used with other Internet based communication. Some would say that Social media and SMS language are and it has shown that it is affecting the way teenagers write and communicate. “Why can’t Johnny Write? Don’t Blame Social Media”  is an article written by Lance Ulanoff and in the article he puts in a quote from David Abulafia, Abulafia is a Cambridge, UK, professor who says “social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are sending essay skills ‘down the plug hole.’” Abulafia also says “People no longer known how to write. It is a society in which fewer and fewer people read. What they do write tends to be short messages in a sort of meta-language, with meta-spelling, on twitter and Facebook,” Abulafia is someone who I would describe as someone who believes that social media and SMS language are ruining the way teens write and communicate, it wasn't until later Ulanoff  used Ethna Dempsey Lay to disclaim his statement, Lay is an Hofstra University Assistant Professor of Writing Studies and Composition. In a statement from Lay states “I find Twitter very useful in my writing class. It gives my quietest students a moment to own,”. This quote helps refute Abulafia statement about how social media is a bad influence on teens communication by having Lay talk about how she uses social media in her classes.
Cyberbullying is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones. Cyber bullying is one of the newest ways of bullying and was created when social media was invented,an example of a victim of cyberbullying that ended in suicide  is Sarah Lynn Butler, she was a teenager who had just been voted Queen for her upcoming fall Festival, she was bullied at school, and later was cyber bullied on her MySpace page.and has become the top ten reason of why teens in the U.S. commit suicide. As social media grows it has become harder for someone to find out who is a bully.

Social media is a growing way of communication in the US today, there are many good things about it as well as bad about it too. As time goes by technology will change and different new ways of social media will appear, and it will change the way we think about the internet. With social media changing new things will emerge and it can make a positive effect or a negative effect.