Annotated Bibliography: Social Media's Costs vs. Benefits

This annotated bibliography examines the multifaceted impact of social media, exploring both its advantages and disadvantages through an analysis of five journal articles. The assignment requires the use of Chicago referencing style and focuses on the research topic: 'The costs of social media outweigh the benefits.' The included articles investigate various aspects, such as how journalists' social media activities affect audience perceptions, consumer attitudes towards native advertising, the relationship between technology use and bipolar disorder, the connection between alienation, exploitation and social media, and the costs and benefits of constant connection. Each annotation provides a concise overview of the research's aim, methodology, findings, strengths, and weaknesses, as well as its relevance to the overarching research question, offering a comprehensive understanding of the double-edged nature of social media's influence.

Business research method
Name
Professor
Course
Date

Lee, Jayeon. "The double-edged sword: The effects of journalists' social media activities on
audience perceptions of journalists and their news products." Journal of Computer-Mediated
Communication 20, no. 3 (2015): 312-329.
The main aim of the research done by the author was to investigate how the social
activities of the journalists would affect the perceptions of the audience towards them and their
news products. The author conducted research through conducting an online test which involved
testing the self disclosure and the interaction of the journalist in low and high situations. This
was done by creating a Facebook profile of a made up journalist.1 The participants were
undergraduate students of a university. The participants were 267. In this research no samples
were used. The main findings were the response was higher when the self-disclosure was higher.
This meant that the response was lower only when a link was provided. Another finding was that
interaction was also higher when the journalist encouraged the participants to contribute to the
articles. More comments were noticed when the author asked “Do you agree?” Another finding
was that interaction was low when no question or feedback was provided by the journalist. The
strengths of the research are higher response rate from the participants. The number of
participants were also few making it easier to collect data. The weaknesses of the research are
that it covered a smaller geographic area therefore the accuracy was doubtable. The method of
research was also prone to biasness. The author concluded that the social media activities of a
journalist would affect the audience’s perception.2 The author also concluded that the
journalist’s online relations with the audience had a negative effect on the perception of the
1 Lee, "The double-edged sword: The effects of journalists' social media activities on
audience perceptions of journalists and their news products." 312-329.

audience in the dimension of professionalism. This article helps in the research question by
proving that social media could be a double edged-sword representing a problem and
opportunity.
Lee, Joonghwa, Soojung Kim, and Chang-Dae Ham. "A double-edged sword? Predicting
consumers’ attitudes toward and sharing intention of native advertising on social media."
American Behavioral Scientist 60, no. 12 (2016): 1425-1441.
The aim of this research was to predict the attitudes of the consumers towards and
distribution objective of the native ads on the social media platform. The individuals who
participated in the research were 550 MTurk members. A sample was used. The author used
author randomly chose 505 users as a sample for the analysis of the data. An online survey was
conducted on the participants.3 All participants took part. One of the findings was that more
educated participants demonstrated a lower intention of sharing the native ads. Negative attitude
was also demonstrated by them. Another finding was that people who use the social media top
look for information most often show positive thoughts towards the advertisements and are likely
to share the ads. Another finding was that people who use the social media for socialization
purposes show an attitude which is negative towards the ads.4 Lastly the author shows that users
2 Lee, Joonghwa and Chang-Dae Ham. "A double-edged sword? Predicting consumers’
attitudes toward and sharing intention of native advertising on social media." 1441.
3 Matthews et al., "The double-edged sword: A mixed methods study of the interplay
between bipolar disorder and technology use." 300.
4 Nguyen et al., "Double-edged sword." 590-593.

who are normally skeptical usually show a negative attitude towards any native advert. The
strengths of this research lie in the method of research. The author uses questionnaires to collect
data. This is linked to a high accuracy. The author also uses a few researchers therefore making it
easier to collect information. However the research has its own weaknesses. For one, it was
limited to only one advert. The research was also prone to biasness. The participants could be
biased. The method of research was also expensive as the participants had to be paid. The author
concluded that social media could be a double-edged sword in using it to portray an advert as it
could received either negative or positive reactions from the target audience. This article is
helpful to the research question. This is because the author proves that not all users of the social
media take the native ads positively.5
Matthews, Mark, Elizabeth Murnane, Jaime Snyder, Shion Guha, Pamara Chang, Gavin Doherty,
and Geri Gay. "The double-edged sword: A mixed methods study of the interplay between
bipolar disorder and technology use." Computers in Human Behavior 75 (2017): 288-300.
The aim of the research was to establish the relationship between the use of technology
and bipolar disorder. The number of participants chosen by the author was 84 individuals who
have the bipolar disorder. An online survey was conducted with these individuals. The author did
not use any samples during the research process. One of the main findings was that the use of
technology by the bipolar individuals varies with their moods. Another finding was that the use
of technology could be used as a warning signal f the episodes of moods. The authors also found
5 Niels Van Quaquebeke "The double-edged sword of big data in organizational and
management research: A review of opportunities and risks." 591.

out that technology use could also trigger the symptoms of the bipolar disorder. The strengths of
the research are that the method used during the process of research was accurate. In addition to
that, the authors used a small number of participants which was manageable making data
collection easier. The disadvantage of the research however is that the research could have been
time consuming as it would take quite some time to experience the change of moods. The
authors concluded that social media could be used as a signal to indicate the change in the mood
of the bipolar patients but on the other hand, the technology could also trigger the symptoms of
bipolar. This article is therefore helpful to the research question as it explains how technology id
a double-edged sword.6
Rey, Paul J. "Alienation, exploitation, and social media." American Behavioral Scientist 56, no.
4 (2012): 399-420.
The main aim of this research is to examine the connection between alienation,
exploitation and the social media. The research also examines how capitalism has in the recent
days adapted to the increase of the social media sites. There were no participants in the research
as the author drew conclusions from the critiques of Marx of exploitation and alienation.
Similarly, no samples were used during the research. One of the findings was that the users of
social media are usually subject to exploitation levels that are consistent with capitalism of an
industry. The author also found out that a reduction in alienation is linked to profitability based
on the structural conditions of the digitalized economy. In addition to that, the author also
deduced that social media is economically disadvantageous to the users. The strength of the
research is high accuracy its weaknesses is that the results are prone to biasness as the critiques
6 Rey, "Alienation, exploitation, and social media." 20.

by Marx could have been altered. The author concluded that social media is a double-edge sword
as it exposes users subject to exploitation levels consistent with capitalism in industries. On the
other hand , reduced alienation was linked to profitability. Another conclusion was that social
media was uneconomical to the users.7 This article is of help to the research topic as it explains
why social media is considered as a double-edge sword.
Thomas, Virginia, Margarita Azmitia, and Steve Whittaker. "Unplugged: Exploring the costs and
benefits of constant connection." Computers in Human Behavior 63 (2016): 540-548.
The main aim of the research was to examine the cost and benefits of unplugging from
constant connection. The research was conducted through a survey and had a turnout of 446
participants. The participants were of different gender and ethnicity. A sample of the students
was collected via a pilot survey. The participants were 48 and they were college kids. Adult
samples were collected via a link on the social media platforms. One of the findings was that the
connection of an individual to a social media platform may go to an extent to where it is difficult
for the individual to unplug from the platform this according to the author could be termed as
media refusal. The author also found out that other individuals who are also seen to have
difficulty in unplugging are those who tend to be lonely in their real life situations. The author
also found out that the benefits of social media are increased social capital, social support,
increased intimacy and also increased self-disclosure. The strengths of the research are that he
method used was intensive therefore the results were highly accurate. The number of participants
7 Thomas, Margarita and Steve "Unplugged: Exploring the costs and benefits of constant
connection." 548.

was few therefore making collection of data easier.8 The weaknesses of the research however are
that there was a possibility of collecting a homogeneous sample through the survey link posted
online. This report could also be prone to biasness. This is because experiences of recent
unplugging were not covered. The researcher concluded that the social media is a double-edged
sword posing both benefits and disadvantages to the users. This research was important to the
topic min question since it illustrated the benefits and the disadvantages of social media to the
users.
Bibliography
Lee, Jayeon. "The double-edged sword: The effects of journalists' social media activities on
audience perceptions of journalists and their news products." Journal of Computer-
Mediated Communication 20, no. 3 (2015): 312-329.
Lee, Joonghwa, Soojung Kim, and Chang-Dae Ham. "A double-edged sword? Predicting
consumers’ attitudes toward and sharing intention of native advertising on social media."
American Behavioral Scientist 60, no. 12 (2016): 1425-1441.
8 Wenzel and Niels Van Quaquebeke. "The double-edged sword of big data in
organizational and management research: A review of opportunities and risks."591.

Matthews, Mark, Elizabeth Murnane, Jaime Snyder, Shion Guha, Pamara Chang, Gavin Doherty,
and Geri Gay. "The double-edged sword: A mixed methods study of the interplay
between bipolar disorder and technology use." Computers in Human Behavior 75 (2017):
288-300.
Nguyen, Huynh Van, Han-Chung Huang, May-Kuen Wong, Ju Lu, Wei-Fan Huang, and Ching-
I. Teng. "Double-edged sword." Computers in Human Behavior 62, no. C (2016): 590-
593.
Niels Van Quaquebeke. "The double-edged sword of big data in organizational and management
research: A review of opportunities and risks." Organizational Research Methods 21, no.
5 (2013): 591.
Rey, Paul J. "Alienation, exploitation, and social media." American Behavioral Scientist 56, no.
4 (2012): 399-420.
Thomas, Virginia, Margarita Azmitia, and Steve Whittaker. "Unplugged: Exploring the costs and
benefits of constant connection." Computers in Human Behavior 63 (2016): 540-548.
Wenzel, Ramon, and Niels Van Quaquebeke. "The double-edged sword of big data in
organizational and management research: A review of opportunities and risks."
Organizational Research Methods 21, no. 3 (2018): 548-591.