IELTS TOPIC: Something Interesting On Social Media

IELTS TOPIC: Something Interesting On Social Media

in IELTS Speaking Part 2&3 Posted on 

Things to consider:

  • Something interesting on social media can be anything you want to talk about. It could be a funny video you watched, It could be a discussion in the comments you read or an article that grabbed your attention. 


  • In the beginning of Part 2 you can list interesting stuff that you usually read or follow on social media. That will show a lot of vocabulary related to the topic.


  • You can use time phrases like:


Most of the times I would...

Every now and then I will follow...

Occasionally, I read...

Sometimes I click on...

More often than not I comment on...


Part 2: Sample Answer

These days we live in this fast-paced society where news and topics change literally every day. The moment you get engaged with some hot topic or trend online, another one pops up. Lately, it feels that the media is just rushing through stories, without digging deeper into any of them. For a recent topic… let me think… I remember recently there was a big discussion online about jobs and the pandemic.

Here I start with my opinion of the fast-paced media style we live in.

The whole story circulated around research that found that the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the whole labor force in the highest-hit countries. But how did they change exactly? Well, many people who were laid off, or people who were sent to work remotely from home, have gotten used to it and refuse to return to work in the office. This whole trend shows that the future of jobs and careers might be shifting from the office space to home. I know so many people in my life personally who work remotely, but I was surprised to learn that this is a huge trend and that those workers refuse to return back to their offices, in some cases even preferring to quit than return.

I explain the story I was reading about online. I express a surprise.

I saw the news on my Facebook feed at first, but later I saw many discussion videos and even heated debates on YouTube between experts on labor. They say that it will be terrible for the economy, as many office buildings will be abandoned. There might be something true to this, to be honest.

I introduce "where" I read it.

The discussion was quite engaging for me, because number one, I’ve experienced this and as I said, I know many who are in the exact same situation at the moment. I always try to follow the latest social developments, and what can I say… I see it as a double-edged blade. On the one hand, more freedom to workers and more losses to financial “experts” who bet on those huge useless business buildings makes me happy in general. However, there might be many social consequences. People would continue to be less and less social, just being stuck home. Only time will tell if this development will continue, or it’ll be disturbed by something else.

I express my feelings about the information and 2 sides of the problem.

Sentence starters and Linking words

Vocabulary related to the topic

PART 3 QUESTIONS

In the last part we continue to talk about social media and its effects on our society. We will see questions about popular trends, and is social media positive or negative.

Examiner: Why do people use social media?

To socialize

  • Many people use social media to keep in touch with their friends and relatives. Most of us started our accounts because we wanted to see and hear from our close ones. This was the first reason. There are many who continue one step further and use social media to connect with strangers, or even find that special loved one.

A tool for Marketing

  • Let's face it, social media today is predominantly a tool to sell. As most people in the world have many different social media accounts (Facebook boasts of having over 2 billion active accounts) it is the best place to advertise and sell your products and services. 

ANSWER:

Many reasons. Many would use social media exactly for what it’s intended – socializing. They will add their friends or relatives and will share things with them on a daily basis. Further, many would follow their favorite actors, musicians or other public people and try to interact with them. Every now and then, they might even get a reply. Apart from that, these days social media is used  heavily for marketing and sales. As most people have accounts, companies and individuals can show their latest products and create marketing campaigns online. It is a very effective way to sell goods and services.

Examiner: What kinds of things are popular on social media?

Celebrities

  • Millions of people follow their favorite celebrities. They follow their daily posts, comment under their posts and even get replies from time to time. Famous people are by far the most followed and shared accounts on social media, and even the traditional media reports their posts or tweets as real life news.

Social Trends

  • Every now and then, some of these social challenges become a hot sensation on social media. Do you remember the Ice Bucket Challenge? People used to make a videos throwing an ice-cold bucket of water on their heads. Everybody was doing it, even presidents of countries.

ANSWER:

I already mentioned some, but some hot, trending accounts are celebrities. A lot of young people follow the latest posts or news about their favorite stars and that keeps them informed. Other things are challenges and social trends. These can start from a random video or a small post somewhere, and then go viral over night, making the person who started that trend famous for a while. Although these examples sound fun, there is another “hot” thing going on on social media these days, and that is complaining. I see millions of posts from all over the world of people complaining about all things possible – their relationships, the government, society as a whole, capitalism, human rights and even small things like their coffee, or their lunch. I don’t know, I find it weird.

Examiner: What are the advantages and disadvantages of social media?

Advantages

  • Social media helps us socialize better.
  • Social media connects companies with customers directly.
  • Social media makes it easy to share positive and negative news, and make people aware of something happening.
  • Social media "caters" to our needs and likes. It shows us more of the things we enjoy seeing.
  • Social media is great for doing business.


*There are definitely more.

Disadvantages

  • People lose the ability  to communicate face to face.
  • People lose confidence by comparing themselves to everyone else.
  • It is easy to manipulate people with fake news and facts online.
  • People focus on their own personal image and lose the ability for compassion and care.
  • There are many types of frauds and cheats on social media all the time.
  • Exaggerated fake advertising.


*There are many more. I won't list all of them. These are some important ones.

ANSWER:

The advantages are the first things you do with social media. You can get in touch and stay in touch with relatives and friends, and perhaps you can find new friends in time. These are definitely a positive for society, as many people these days leave their cities and even countries to search for a better life elsewhere. However, the disadvantages start to creep in the more you use social media. People focus on vanity and showing off “a perfect image” of themselves (which is fake). People are greedy and cheat each other online all the time, as there are very few consequences for that. Social media, in a way, can show the worst of humanity, and these days it’s getting more and more unbearable.

Examiner: What do you think of making friends on social media?

Positive side

  • You have a bigger pool of potential friends than just your neighborhood.
  • You can make international friendships.
  • You can see people's interests and match with those you're similar.
  • You can join groups and communities with similar interests to yours.
  • You can communicate 24/7.

Negative side

  • Many friendships are pretended and exaggerated.
  • You can't rely on those people to really help you out like giving you money or taking you in to stay over.
  • You are one mistake away or one wrong post away from being ignored or pissing your online friends off.
  • Easy for these friendships to fade away if you and the person don't spend all your free time chatting.
  • People tend to show a different face when they are online than in real life. You might not like the person in real life.

ANSWER:

*Personal answer, of course it is different for everyone.


For me personally, I can’t tell if it’s positive or a negative. The reason for that is that I’ve never made an online friend. Although I played many multiplayer online games and have been on social media from the very beginning, I never found the appeal of chatting with random people. Call me old-fashioned, but I still enjoy meeting people in real life. I can’t really tell if making friends online is good for someone or not, but I know that there are many lonely people, who manage to find a safe space online and even make friendships on the way. I can’t really call these friendships “real”, but if it works for a certain person, I guess it’s fine. For me, I just don’t trust people that I’ve never met at first.

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