“If Facebook were a country, it would be bigger than China in three years. » (McMillan) The number of people using this website alone, among the hundreds of social media sites on the Internet, has long exceeded the entire population of the United States. A large number of people scattered all over the world participate in the use of social media. Even though a very large part of the population uses it regularly, it still has many negative elements. These include the emergence of unreliable information, privacy concerns and the decline of happiness among the population. Social media sites cause more harm than good in today's society due to health issues and daily life. As a starting point, social media has proven to be a very powerful resource for quickly disseminating information, but has allowed users to spread unreliable and blatantly false information. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy's devastation, Shashank Tripathi, a New York City hedge fund analyst, tweeted a series of fake updates. “...it started with 'BREAK'... One of them said the floor of the New York Stock Exchange had been flooded. Another said the power company Con Ed would cut service to all of Manhattan. (Laird) The messages spread like wildfire and were even picked up by national media. The offensive updates only added to the confusion and chaos following the wrath of the hurricane. The fact of the question leads to a shocking realization: In what other situations could this happen? False information could lead to monetary losses and even lives. One possible reason why information, even false information, can spread so quickly is people's self-interest. In Shashank Tripathi's case, tweets he wrote revealed shocking revelations that middle of paper thefts were on the rise due to the prevalence of posts revealing someone's whereabouts. Social media itself has also led to a decrease in user happiness and can even have various life implications. Therefore, this clearly shows that social media still has a long way to go before the positives outweigh the negatives. Works Cited Chang, Catherine. Student life. April 26, 2013. Document. October 23, 2013. Konnikova, Maria. New Yorkers. September 10, 2013. Document. October 23, 2013. Laird, Sam. Crushable. October 30, 2012. Document. October 23, 2013. Marche, Stephen. The Atlantic. April 2, 2012. Document. October 23, 2013. McMillan, Graeme. Digital trends. February 6, 2013. Document. October 23, 2013. Reports, Consumer. Consumer Reports. June 2012. Document. October 23, 2013.Topping, Alexandra. The Guardian. February 1, 2012. Document. October 23 2013.