Research and Findings

Survey

We did a survey among our schoolmates on blogs and social networking websites, and we got the following results:

Questions on blogs

1. Do you have a blog?
2. If yes, what is the name of your blog?

We did this survey on 30 classmates, and we found out that 20 girls have a blog, while the other 10 girls did not have one. Among the girls who have a blog, 15 of them use Xanga and the other use Yahoo! 360.

Questions on social networking websites

1. Do you own an account in any social networking websites?
2. If yes, what is the name of your social networking website?

We did this survey on 30 classmates, and we found out that 27 girls have a social networking website and the others didn’t have one. Among the girls who have a social networking website, 23 of them use Facebook and the others use Myspace or hi5.

Advantages

We found out that blogs and social networking websites are really popular amongst youngsters, so we made a questionnaire and asked them about their opinions on blogs and social networks. These are the most popular reasons of why youngsters like to use blogs and social networking websites.

For blogs:

• one can post about their day or opinions on different matters
• one can upload pictures and videos
• it is better than writing in diaries since blogs are more lively with the beautiful background and perhaps background music as well
• this can improve typing skills and knowledge in computer

For social networking websites:

• one can communicate with their friends
• one can post pictures and videos
• one can exchange information

Disadvantages

Blogs and social networking websites can bring a lot of danger and bad habits to youngsters if they are uncareful. If one is uncautious, it could harm both the person and his computer. These are the disadvantages of using blogs and social netoworking websites.

• a computer may be hacked or infected with virus if they have installed inappropriate programmes
• one may get hurt because they get to know strangers online
• one may get addicted and do things they should not do (skip school, go to bed later than usual etc.)

Opinions of Parents

We also asked for the opnions of parents of teenagers using blogs and social networking websites.

1. Opinions from Mrs. Yip: My daughter is too obsessed with blogs and social networking websites, which makes the relationship between us not that close. She is now since she’s spending most of her time at home using blogs or social networking websites and I am not very happy about it.
2. Opinions from Mrs. Tso: I think that using blogs and social networking websites is a good leisure activity for my daughter. For she can improve her writing skills by using blogs and this enables her to stay in contact with her friends by using social networking websites. This allows her to do everything more convenient. As long as she doesn’t indulge in it and be caution of internet saftey, I won’t stop her from using blogs and social networks.
3. Opinions from Mrs. Lin: I do not really know what my daughter does on the internet. Just as long as she finishes all her homework on time and does well at school, I would not mind her using the computer.