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"In the lead-up to tonight's film, Generation Like, we've been asking our Facebook and Twitter communities to tell us why you use social and how it's affecting your lives. Hundreds of you have told us about the choices you're making - and why you're making them. We've asked a few writers who've thought a lot about social media to read your comments and reflect on them in the context of tonight's film. We also want to hear from you! Share your reactions below in the comments. Does Social Media Empower or Exploit? Douglas Rushkoff, Generation Like correspondent Douglas Rushkoff: Does Social Media Empower or Exploit? Generation Like correspondent Douglas Rushkoff is the author, most recently, of Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now, as well a dozen other books on media, technology and culture. He was correspondent on three previous FRONTLINE films, The Merchants of Cool (2001), The Persuaders (2004), and Digital Nation (2010). Follow him on Twitter @Rushkoff. In the lead-up to Generation Like, FRONTLINE has been asking questions about social media on social media. As I wade through the many responses, I am reminded of my own questions about these platforms when I began making this documentary. Like me, many of you are thrilled by the opportunity for connection and self-expression that social media offer.   Calum James Facebook is the best communication tool ever created. February 12 at 7:02pm   But many of you also share a sense of skepticism about what it is that social media - and the companies behind them - ask from us in return.   We all know this has something to do with our data. We create consumer profiles for the unseen companies on the other side of the screen, and enter into a relationship with them that isn't entirely clear. "Who is doing what for whom, and to what end?" The need to understand this better - and what it means for the young people using this stuff - is what set us on our journey to explor

"The curriculum is broken into six sections: historical perspective social media writing process engagement social media writing structure media analysis law/ethics Even though technology is constantly advancing, I believe these sections can be adapted for any type of technology or new social media network that will be developed."

"Social media often catches blame for increasing political polarization in the United States. Does it deserve that reputation? A new study from New York University's Stern Center for Business and Human Rights finds that it does. "We conclude that Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are not the original or main cause of rising U.S. political polarization, a phenomenon that long predates the social media industry. But use of those platforms intensifies divisiveness and thus contributes to its corrosive consequences," the report says. Without internal or government reforms, the researchers say, partisan hatred will continue to have "dire consequences," including further trust lost in institutions, the continued proliferation of misinformation and more real-world violence like the Jan. 6 insurrection. The researchers recommend several ways to reform social media, including investing in alternative social media platforms, empowering the Federal Trade Commission to enforce standards and tweaking algorithms to stop rewarding inflammatory content."

"Our own study of over 1.25 million stories published online between April 1, 2015 and Election Day shows that a right-wing media network anchored around Breitbart developed as a distinct and insulated media system, using social media as a backbone to transmit a hyper-partisan perspective to the world. This pro-Trump media sphere appears to have not only successfully set the agenda for the conservative media sphere, but also strongly influenced the broader media agenda, in particular coverage of Hillary Clinton."

"The question we have to ask ourselves is: Are we really presenting who we are or are we presenting a hyper-idealistic version of ourselves? It has been argued that the social media effect creates a false sense of self and self-esteem through the use of likes, fans, comments, posts, etc. For many social media users, it is an esteem booster, which explains why so many people spend so much time on social media. It provides many individuals with a false sense of self and an inflated sense of who they really are. In considering these points, here are three important factors to consider while social networking:"

"An introductory assignment may ask students to think about representations of different social groups in the fictional TV shows, films and books that have shaped their lives. For example, at the beginning of the semester, I will give students an assignment titled "The Stories in Your Life" with the following list, and ask them to think of characters from these social groups that are represented in their favorite stories (this list of groups corresponds with the chapters in the textbook Diversity in U.S. Mass Media): African Americans, Native Americans, Latino Americans, Arab Americans, Asian Americans, teenagers, elderly people, people with disabilities, wealthy people, impoverished people, LGBTQ, and women. When we come together as a class and discuss their lists, the students have typically made some startling yet obvious discoveries: there may be no characters in a certain group, or the characters might be one-dimensional stereotypes. They quickly have those lightbulb moments that will open their minds to deeper discussions about underrepresentation and misrepresentation in entertainment media. They often realize that more often than not, the stories in their lives ask them to identify with white males. This introductory step in media literacy education gives students the reflective and analytical tools to examine what media tells them about themselves and others."

"This latest Advertising Age Research Report, Social Media Advertising, looks at what's worked and what hasn't when it comes to paid social-media advertising, and what marketers should be trying as they experiment on emerging platforms like Instagram and Pinterest."

"Kent State University is one of only 15 universities across the country to receive a grant from the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) to screen Eyes Wide Open: This is Media, a documentary that explores individual roles in the changing media landscape. Kent State's School of Journalism and Mass Communication will host the premiere at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 20, in the FirstEnergy Auditorium in Room 340 of Franklin Hall. The event is free and open to the public. Produced by Pivot TV, the documentary is a call to awareness about the critical balance between being connected, being responsible and being private. "This is a must-see and an eye-opening video for everyone, especially millennials engaged with social or traditional media," says Federico Subervi, Ph.D., professor in Kent State's School of Journalism and Mass Communication and National Association for Media Literacy Education member."

"The city of Boston and the friends and family members of the marathon bombing victims will never forget the day when two explosions ripped through the crowd at the race, killing three people and injuring more than 200. Neither will the family of Sunil Tripathi, but for very different reasons. Their story is told in the documentary film Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi. Sunil was a gifted student from a high-achieving family. But in college at Brown University, Sunil began to struggle with depression. In March 2013, he went missing. His family organized a massive search operation, and - somewhat reluctantly - used social media to help with the search. "Despite how uncomfortable it was to take our personal childhood and smatter it across Facebook, we just knew this was what we had to do to get his story out," says Sangeeta. And then, the bombing happened. Three days after the bombing, the FBI released photos of the suspects. On Twitter, a former classmate of Sunil said she thought one of the suspects looked like him. That was picked up by reddit. And suddenly, the Tripathis' Facebook page was bombarded with hateful messages, many saying that, given his name and appearance, Sunil must be a Muslim terrorist. "This is not just one or two comments that would make Mom cry," says Ravi. "It progressed to having as many laptops open as possible and deleting every single post. It almost felt like a case study in mob mentality, in virtual mob mentality." Journalists saw the buzz on social media and started calling the Tripathis. Some retweeted the accusations. Others actually repeated them on television. The Tripathis, who had been waiting for their phones to ring with information about Sunil, were suddenly getting questions about his alleged involvement in the bombing. News vans lined up outside their home and reporters were knocking on their front door."

"With the advent of "fake news", social media and non-stop media bombardment, three leading media literacy educators explain why media literacy is more important now than ever before."

"Saying it's "the medias" fault confuses me. Is that your local meteorologist? The person who covers lifestyle news in the city newspaper? The video editor at CNN? The host of an opinion show? Me writing this article? You on social media? Your neighbor who just started a blog? I'm not quite sure who "the media" is (or are), but since everyone else is aware, for the sake of this post, I'll use the term. When people say news and media coverage is slanted and there's an agenda, I really don't see it. This is why."

""Farmed and Dangerous" takes branded content to another level by not including any branding at all in the show. Social Media Week organizers dubbed it Unbranded Entertainment. Chipotle and other advertisers placed commercials in the show, but by not including branding in the show itself, the restaurant has taken a risk that few marketers would entertain. But Chipotle's chief marketing and development officer, Mark Crumpacker, said on a panel at Social Media Week, in which I participated, that he didn't consider it a big risk at all. Citing McDonald's significant marketing budget, which dwarfs his company's, he said Chipotle couldn't afford to rely on traditional advertising. The hope is that PR, buzz and social media will do much of the heavy lifting for the chain's message."

he Nielsen company's latest report shows that social networking has become ubiquitous while watching TV and while using the bathroom.

"Although Samsung wasn't the most popular brand on any particular social network, it earned 16 million new followers across multiple platforms in the past 12 months - enough to get data aggregator Starcount's top spot. Walt Disney came in second place, largely due to a one-million-follower increase on Sina Weibo, a Chinese microblogging site. National Geographic grabbed the bronze after its top-rated YouTube channel got 160 million views this past year. Check out the other companies that made the list for this year's top 10 brands on social media, below."

"Researchers have been writing about the so-called highlight reel effect of social media since at least 2014. The idea is that people tend to post mostly flattering or humblebrag-worthy stuff about themselves, and spending too much time absorbing these gilded depictions of other people's lives could distort how you view your own. The evidence backing this theory is mixed. Some of the early studies linked the highlight reel effect to symptoms of depression, while others found that its impact varied from one person to the next. Some of the latest research suggests that exposure to idealized images - especially those posted by influencers on Instagram - may be fueling the kinds of negative social comparisons that make people feel bad about themselves."

Male and female images As one dramatic example, the image and representation of women and girls in the media has long been a subject of concern. Research shows that there are many fewer females than males in almost all forms of mainstream media and those who do appear are often portrayed in very stereotypical ways. Constantly polarized gender messages in media have fundamentally anti-social effects. In everything from advertising, television programming, newspaper and magazines, to comic books, popular music, film and video games, women and girls are more likely to be shown: in the home, performing domestic chores such as laundry or cooking; as sex objects who exist primarily to service men; as victims who can't protect themselves and are the natural recipients of beatings, harassment, sexual assault and murder. Men and boys are also stereotyped by the media. From GI Joe to Rambo, masculinity is often associated with machismo, independence, competition, emotional detachment, aggression and violence. Despite the fact that men have considerably more economic and political power in society than women, these trends - although different from those which affect women and girls - are very damaging to boys.

"A new study has alarming findings, but is probably not surprising to anyone who knows a teenager: High-schoolers today are texting, scrolling and using social media instead of reading books and magazines. In their free time, American adolescents are cradling their devices hours each day rather than losing themselves in print or long-form media, according to research published Monday by the American Psychological Association. In fact, 1 in 3 U.S. high school seniors did not read a book for pleasure in 2016. In the same time period, 82 percent of 12th-graders visited sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram every day."

"The social media build up to Sunday night's Game of Thrones season six premiere was colossal, and the buzz certainly didn't stop while it aired on HBO. We asked a couple data providers for figures around the show, and below are the 6 we found most interesting."

"The Center for Media & Social Impact is an innovation lab and research center that studies, designs and showcases media for social impact."

"Kaepernick's ability to remain in the public spotlight - and at the heart of the N.F.L.'s protests - stems largely from his use of social media, where an audience in the millions follows him on multiple platforms and tracks his public appearances. His use of social media is especially intriguing because it is often lost just how rarely the words are actually coming from Kaepernick himself. Kaepernick has posted to Twitter more than 11,000 times, but since his declaration of silence to GQ, the overwhelming majority of the posts are retweets or posts under his name where he is simply sharing the words of others. "