Social Networking Sites: A Review of Usage and Impacts

Abstract

Social networking sites are gaining much significance in the current era as it comes in daily routine
of people now a days. The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic literature review of
studies conducted on usage and impacts of social networking sites. The method of selective review
is used to identify and document the relevant literature in a meaningful way. More specifically, all
types of documents published in last decade are considered. It was found that the main body of the
reported literature focused on reporting experiences and problems in online communities by using
social networking sites. Mostly studies aimed to explore students' perspectives towards social
networking sites whereas there is a strong need for further studies in different contexts. This paper
contributes in identifying and reviewing studies regarding the uses and impacts of social
networking sites from different users perspectives. As reported in literature, the benefits of SNSs
include their usage for communication, social networking and educational purposes while the
challenges include cyber criminals activities showing an urgent need of stringent measures to be
taken to control these activities