Reflecting on Social Media's Impact and Research Techniques

The reflective essay explores the profound impact of social media on contemporary business practices, emphasizing both its advantages and associated challenges. The writer reflects on their learning journey about social media's influence, detailing how businesses utilize platforms for marketing and connectivity, while also confronting security issues and skill gaps. The assignment integrates knowledge from primary and secondary research methods, providing a comprehensive understanding of the topic. Through this study, the author concludes that despite its drawbacks, social media remains a critical technological advancement beneficial to both individuals and organizations.

Running head: REFLECTIVE 0
REFLECTIVE ESSAY

REFLECTIVE 1
REFLECTIVE ESSAY:
The research that has been conducted has provided a lot of information about social
networking to me. I have realised that this research was a real learning experience for me.
The study of social media networking has helped me in exploring more information about the
subject. After conducting this research, it has been identified that social media is the most
important platform used by the businesses (Ventola, 2014). I have got valuable information
about the advantages as well as the disadvantages of social media. Till now, I have
knowledge about the subject but my knowledge was limited to the use of social networking
by the individuals to get connected with their dear ones. In depth research in this subject has
added various aspects of social media to my knowledge.
The overall learning process has provided me the knowledge of conducting research and
various research methods that can be used to conduct the study. As far as the course is
considered, the knowledge that I have gained in this research will helps me to complete my
course very easily. The knowledge of the subject that is social networking along with the
knowledge of research methods both can help in understanding the further topics better.
As I have learnt that how to conduct the research from secondary and primary sources so now
I can apply these methods to any of the research project that I have to conduct in my whole
program. As far as my future career is considered, I will be using this knowledge of social
networking in my professional life as well. I can use this medium to search for the jobs and to
connect with the companies. This platform also allows me to look for the people I want to
connect with the people who can help me in providing jobs. Showcasing my profile on social
networking will definitely help me in reaching the position I want.
Earlier, I used to think that social networking is only for connecting to the people or friends
but now I have realised that I can make connection even with the people who are not my
friends. I can connect with the great personalities and the professors who post their study
material on the online blogs that can be read by anyone. This will help me in getting more
knowledge about the world.
I will make my profile on almost all the social networking sites and try to connect to the great
personalities whose studies can helps in gaining more and more knowledge. I will also try to

REFLECTIVE 2
contact the companies in which I want to work in future by sharing my profile to them. These
sites help the companies to look for the relevant candidates for the job vacancies available to
them.
In this learning process I have conducted a research on the advantages and disadvantages of
social media networking. At first, I have learnt about the whole process of conducting
research that involves identification of the research questions and the objectives of the
research, this research also forces me to make a hypotheses about the project (Nosek, et al.
2015). Thus, I have read many articles and summarized them in a literature review. After that
I have used some of the secondary and the primary sources to collect the data on which the
research needs to be conducted. I have learnt about the qualitative and quantitative aspects of
the research from this research project. It has been analysed that social media is not only for
the individuals but now a day businesses are using their networking medium as a marketing
medium for marketing the products (Moorhead, et al. 2013). Even the level of customer
satisfaction and interaction with the companies has also increased.
I have observed in the whole research that I have polished my knowledge regarding the
research process and the subject that I have researched upon. As my topic of research was
social networking and its advantages and disadvantages, so i have learnt various aspects of
the topic. It is the topic that is related to the daily activities of the people as it is the part of
people’s daily lives. I have analysed that conducting this research has helped me in
understanding about the qualitative as well as quantities research studies along with the
primary and secondary source knowledge. This is because this research involves the data
from secondary sources by reading the articles and from primary sources by using various
data collection methods such as questionnaire and interviews (Brinkmann, 2014). This
research has provided me the knowledge of almost all the aspect of the research process.
Thus, I can use his knowledge in conducting further researches in my course in different
topics.
As far as the learning process is concerned, it has been analysed that this research process has
provide me with lot of knowledge about the topic (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault, 2015).
Earlier, I used to think that social media is the networking medium that can only help the
individual to connect to their friends but after conducting this research new insights of the
topic or the subject has been identified by me (Tiago and Veríssimo, 2014). I have realised

REFLECTIVE 3
that social networking is the very beneficial tools for the business these days. The customers
are also getting influenced with the use of social media for marketing purpose by the
companies (Fuchs, 2017). In this study, I have not only identified the advantages and
disadvantages of social media networking but also gain the knowledge about the various
social media sites available for the individuals and the businesses. I have also learnt the
concept of online marketing through this study. It has been concluded from the research that
companies or the individuals can use social media for getting various benefits and there are
measures that can reduce the disadvantages associated with it. It is the most important and the
beneficial technological advancement that could be happen to the population ever. The above
activities are conducted by me in order to learn about social media as well as to learn about
the research process and the activities that are being done to answer a question about a
particular issues or topic.
In terms of relevancy, this research is very relevant for me in my future career as well as in
my life. The first benefit of this research is that I have understood the process of conducting
any type of research. As this research includes quantitative and qualitative part so I get to
know bot both the types from a single research project. I have made use of primary and
secondary sources in this research and realised that both these sources are required to get
efficient results (Gray and Malins, 2016). In primary sources, I have used questionnaire and
interviews as the methods to collect the data from the employees who are suing social
networking at the organisations. In secondary sources, I have read many articles and
formulate a literature review. As far as the topic is concerned, it has been analysed that social
media is the very debatable topic these days. This is because businesses and individuals are
making use of it for enhancing some of the practices like marketing and making connections
but it is also providing many disadvantages to them a well. These disadvantages are related to
the security issues and skilled labour in the organizations. Individuals and business are facing
many data security issues and also require skilled human resources to manage the social
media marketing section of the company. It has become challenging for the companies but
they have to implement this as all the companies are using this tool for marketing and
enjoying the associated benefits. Using the different social media sites at personal level will
also help me in getting more and more knowledge about the world and various great
personalities.

REFLECTIVE 4
References:
Brinkmann, S., 2014. Interview. In Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology (pp. 1008-1010).
Springer New York.
Fuchs, C., 2017. Social media: A critical introduction. Sage.
Gray, C. and Malins, J., 2016. Visualizing research: A guide to the research process in art
and design. Routledge.
Moorhead, S.A., Hazlett, D.E., Harrison, L., Carroll, J.K., Irwin, A. and Hoving, C., 2013. A
new dimension of health care: systematic review of the uses, benefits, and limitations of
social media for health communication. Journal of medical Internet research, 15(4).
Nosek, B.A., Alter, G., Banks, G.C., Borsboom, D., Bowman, S.D., Breckler, S.J., Buck, S.,
Chambers, C.D., Chin, G., Christensen, G. and Contestabile, M., 2015. Promoting an open
research culture. Science, 348(6242), pp.1422-1425.
Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research
methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.
Tiago, M.T.P.M.B. and Veríssimo, J.M.C., 2014. Digital marketing and social media: Why
bother?. Business Horizons, 57(6), pp.703-708.
Ventola, C.L., 2014. Social media and health care professionals: benefits, risks, and best
practices. Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 39(7), p.491.