Exercise 3: Put the headings for each paragraph.

PEasy and instant communication.

PReal-time news and information discovery.

PGreat opportunities for business owners.

PGeneral fun and enjoyment.

PAbility to connect to other people all over the world.

PROS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING

1.                   

One of the most obvious pros of using social networks is the ability to Instantly reach people from anywhere. Use Facebook to stay in touch with your old high school friends who’ve relocated all over the country get on Google+ with relatives who live halfway around the world, or meet brand new people on Twitter from cities or regions you’ve never even heard of before.

2.                   

Now that we’re connected wherever we go, we don’t have to rely on our landlines, answering machines or snail mail to contact somebody. We can simply open up our laptops or pick up our smartphones and immediately start communicating with anyone on platforms like Twitter or one of the many social messaging apps available.

3.Gone are the days of waiting around for the six o’clock news to come on TV or for the delivery boy to bring the newspaper in the morning. If you want to know what’s going on in the world, all you need to do is jump on social media. An added bonus is that you can customize your news and information discovery experiences by choosing to follow exactly what you want.

4.Business owners and other types of professional organizations can connect with current customers, sell their products and expand their reach using social media. There are actually lots of entrepreneurs and businesses out there that thrive almost entirely on social networks and wouldn’t even be able to operate without it.

5.You have to admit that social networking is just plain fun sometimes. A lot of people turn to it when they catch a break at work or just want to relax at home. Since people are naturally social creatures, it’s often quite satisfying to see comments and likes show up on our own posts, and it’s convenient to be able to see exactly what our friends are up to without having to ask them directly.

Exercise 4: Read the passage and fill in the blank with the words in the box.

problems	social	responsibilities	distracted	followers
pressure	privacy	attention	overwhelmed	geographical

CONS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING

Information overwhelm. With so many people now on social media tweeting links and posting selfies and sharing YouTube videos, it sure can get pretty noisy. Becoming (1) ....................... by too many Facebook friends to keep up with or too many Instagram photos to browse through isn’t all that uncommon. Over time, we tend to rack up a lot of friends and (2) ....................... , and that can lead to lots of bloated news feeds with too much content we’re not all that interested in.

Privacy issues. With so much sharing going on, issues over (3) ....................... will always be a big concern. Whether it’s a question of social sites owning your content after it’s posted, becoming a target after sharing your (4) ....................... location online, or even getting in trouble at work after tweeting something inappropriate – sharing too much with the public can open up all sorts of (5) ....................... that sometimes can’t ever be undone.

Social peer pressure and cyber bullying. For people struggling to fit in with their peers -especially teens and young adults – the (6) ....................... to do certain things or act a certain way can be even worse on (7) ....................... media than it is at school or any other offline setting.

Distraction and procrastination. How often do you see someone look at their phone? People get (8) ....................... by all the social apps and news and messages they receive, leading to all sorts of problems like distracted driving or the lack of gaining someone’s full (9) ....................... during a conversation. Browsing social media can also feed procrastination habits and become something people turn to in order to avoid certain tasks or (10) .......................