1. Social Impacts of IT. IT allows others to access information about you through social networking sites. Potential employers can check through Facebook pages to learn more about you. Texting allows people to complete tasks while communicating. Computer games are a new form of entertainment only available through IT. You can use search engines to find answers to questions and help with your school work. The way we spend our leisure time has changed due to computers being widely accessible.

2. YouTube YouTube allows people from around the world to share videos online for free and makes it easy for others to view them. Some videos get millions of views and go viral. These viral videos sometimes then go on to be featured on television, further increasing exposure. The videos also allow people’s views and opinions to be expressed easily. Any content can be rated and be flagged as inappropriate.

3. Facebook Facebook lets people create profiles and then share what they are doing with friends and “like” pages to get constant news related to that page. Facebook lets people who would never meet in real life to converse over the internet and develop friendships online. Facebook makes it easy to organise events with friends and share information.

4. Twitter Twitter is used to give “followers” (subscribers) of your profile small but frequent updates on your doings, thoughts and opinions. It also allows you to follow certain pages so you can get all the news and information you want from companies, friends, celebrities and more.

5. Amazon Amazon is a online retailer of many products and offers delivery to most places in the world. Amazon supplies almost anything to anyone with a credit card, anything from books to ipods and video games to tropical food. Amazon lets people who wouldn’t normally have access to products to simply order them online and have them delivered.

6. EBay EBay is an online auction site which lets anyone put up and bid on items online. This normally allows for competitive bidding on desirable products but also has some very well priced items. Some companies use EBay to put up limited edition products and one-offs for moderate prices and let the bidders decide how much they are willing to pay.

7. Craigslist Craigslist is an online equivalent of the advertisement section of a newspaper, letting people put up ads for jobs/products and also let people browse through them. This allows for easy access to cheap goods and services using the internet. Before Craigslist this kind of advertisement was limited to local newspapers and hear-say.

8. MoneySuperMarket Used by consumers to find the best price on insurance for a multitude of things such cars, houses or items of value from damage or loss. The prices from different companies are compared on the site for all visitors to see. The site takes a commission on the price of the insurance.

9. Xbox Live Xbox live is used on the Xbox console to connect to the internet and play with other Xbox live users. Previously multiplayer games had to be played physically side by side, but now anyone with an Xbox can connect and play in seconds. One downside is that a subscription cost must be played.

10. Radiowaves Radiowaves is a site for schools that allows students and teachers to upload pictures, videos and news stories to the internet to be shared with other members of the site. It can also be shared with the school community parents and staff to share stories and triumphs of a school and students.

11. Play.com Online retailer for dvds, games and music including accessories. It allows people to buy these goods easily and have them delivered directly to your home. There are a variety of payment methods making purchases easier. They have sales and special offers often so entertainment is more affordable.

12. Threats A common threat to computers is a hacker, which means viruses etc. can damage your system by changing files or performing actions you do not control. Spyware infects your computer and notes your keystrokes which can record passwords for credit cards, bank accounts and emails.