Government+Uses

=Government Uses of Social Networking=

The [|government] and other companies use social networking sites for many different uses. Not only is it useful for people to socialize and interact with each other, but companies use it for advertising purposes, as well as to promote products and solve world issues.



An example of this was in the 2008 election, the candidates used social networking sites to promote themselves and win voters. On the day before the election, Democratic candidate Barack Obama had 2,379,102 supporters on Facebook, while Republican candidate John McCain only had 620,359. Also, on Myspace, Obama had 833,161 friends while McCain only had 217,811. The difference in numbers drastically helped Obama win the election.

Another example of how social media can be a powerful tool for social change took place in June 2009, during the protests of the Iranian elections. Protesters used Twitter to circumvent government control over phones and the media. Twitter was so important during these protests that the U.S. Senate Department asked Twitter to delay a network upgrade that would have taken Twitter offline during a busy time of day in Iran. Twitter agreed and rescheduled the downtime to 1:30 A.M. Tehran time.

Other companies and organizations use social networking sites to promote themselves and to benefit society. Advertisers spent $1.4 billion to place ads on social networking sites. This number keeps rising, which shows how effective this is.



Millions of people also receive help with major life issues by using social media. It allows them to contact and interact with many experts and groups around the world. For example, some pages have been created for people dealing with certain medical issues. This allows people struggling with the issue to find help, as well as find other people who are dealing with the same issue.