Impact of Social Media on Society

"Do you have Facebook?"
"Yes, of course. But I don't think you can find me, as there are too many people who have the same name as me. Try searching with my surname as well."
"Hey, you celebrated your birthday in K-Box, right? I saw the photos in your Facebook."
"Bro, I saw your comments about the YouTube video that I've posted in my blog. I'm happy that you are also deeply moved by the 'Dancing Peacock Man' as well."

Social media or "social networking" has almost become part of our daily lives and being tossed around over the past few years. It is like any other media such as newspaper, radio and television but it is far more than just about sharing information and ideas. Social networking tools like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Blogs have facilitated creation and exchange of ideas so quickly and widely than the conventional media. The power of define and control a brand is shifting from corporations and institutions to individuals and communities. It is no longer on the 5Cs (e.g. condominium, credit cards and car) that Singaporeans once talked about. Today, it is about the brand new Cs: creativity, communication, connection, creation (of new ideas and products), community (of shared interests), collaboration and (changing the game of) competition.

In January 2010, InSites Consulting has conducted an online survey with 2,884 consumers from over 14 countries between the ages of 18 to 55 years old on social networking. More than 90% of participants know at least 1 social networking site and 72% of participants are members of at least 1 social networking site. On the average, people have about 195 friends and they log in twice a day to social networking sites. However, 55% of the users cannot access their social network websites at work. In the past, not many adults were able to make more than 500 friends, but with social media, even a child or teenager can get to know more than 500 people in a few days by just clicking the mouse. Social media has devalued the traditional definition of "friend" where it means trust, support, compatible values, etc. Although we get to know more people, we are not able to build strong bond with all the people whom we met as our available time is limited. Hence, there is an upcoming social trend of people with wider social circles, but weaker ties (people we don't know very well but who provide us with useful information and ideas).

Impact of Social Media on Society

Social media also influences people's buying behaviours. Digital Influence Group reported that 91% of the people say consumer reviews are the #1 aid to buying decisions and 87% trust a friend's recommendation over critic's review. It is thrice more likely to trust peer opinions over advertising for purchasing decisions. 1 word-of-mouth conversation has an impact of 200 TV ads. With the prevalence use of social media, there is numerous news related to it from the most viewed YouTube video on "Armless pianist wins 'China's Got Talent'" to Web-assisted suicide cases (e.g. New Jersey college student who killed himself after video of him in a sexual encounter with another man was posted online). Thus, does social networking make us better or worse off as a society?

Positive Effects of Social Media

Besides having opportunity to know a lot of people in a fast and easy way, social media also helped teenagers who have social or physical mobility restrictions to build and maintain relationships with their friends and families. Children who go overseas to study can still stay in meaningful contact with their parents. To a greater extend, there is anecdotal evidence of positive outcomes from these technologies.

In 2008, President-elected Obama won the election through the effective use of social media to reach millions of audience or voters. The Obama campaign had generated and distributed huge amount of contents and messages across email, SMS, social media platforms and their websites. Obama and his campaign team fully understood the fundamental social need that everyone shares - the need of being "who we are". Therefore, the campaign sent the message as "Because It's about YOU" and chose the right form of media to connect with individuals, call for actions and create community for a social movement. They encouraged citizens to share their voices, hold discussion parties in houses and run their own campaign meetings. It truly changed the delivery of political message.

Obama campaign had made 5 million "friends" on more than 15 social networking sites (3 million friends on Facebook itself) and posted nearly 2,000 YouTube videos which were watched over 80 million times. At its peak, their website, MyBarackObama.com, had 8.5 million monthly visitors and produced 400,000 blog posts. In order to ensure that their contents were found by people, the Obama campaign spent .5 million on Google search in October alone, 0,000 on Advertising.com, 7,000 on Facebook in 2008, etc. Currently, Obama's Twitter account has close to 6 million followers.

In 2010, after the earthquake happened in Haiti, many of the official communication lines were down. The rest of the world was not able to grasp the full picture of the situation there. To facilitate the sharing of information and make up for the lack of information, social media came in very handy to report the news about the affected area on what happened and what help was needed. Tweets from many people provided an impressive overview of the ongoing events from the earthquake. BBC covered the event by combining tweets from the work of its reporter Matthew Price in Port-au-Prince at the ground. Guardian's live blog also used social media together with the information from other news organisations to report about the rescue mission.

It has been two years since CNN officially launched iReport as a section of its website where people can upload video material, with contact information. During the Haiti crisis, CNN had published a range of social media material but not all the materials were verified. The editorial staff would vet the reports from the citizen journalists and labeled them differently compared to unverified contents. On Facebook, a group, named "Earthquake Haiti", was formed to show support and share updates and news. It had more than 14,000 members and some users even pleaded for assistance to the injured Haitians in the group. Using email, Twitter and social networking sites like Facebook, thousands of volunteers as part of Project Ushahidi were able to map reports sent by people from Haiti.

The most impressive part of the social media's impact on Haiti is the charity text-message donations that soared to over million for the victims in Haiti. People interested in helping the victims are encouraged to text, tweet and publicize their support using various social networking sites. The Global Philanthropy Group had also started a campaign to ask wealthy people and celebrities, like Ben Stiller and John Legend to use Twitter and Facebook to encourage others to give to UNICEF. An aid worker, Saundra Schimmelpfennig, allowed the advice from other aid workers and donors to post on her blog regarding to choosing which charitable organisations to support. In the meantime, donors were asking questions in Twitter, Facebook and blogs about their donations and endorsements of their favourite charities. After every crisis, the social media for social cause becomes a more effective medium to spread the word.

Negative Effects of Social Media

There are always two sides of every coin. Social media is just a tool or mean for people to use. It is still up to the users on how to use this tool (just like a knife, can help you to cut food or hurt others). Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project and Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center conducted a study on "The Future of Online Socializing" from the highly engaged, diverse set of respondents to an online, opt-in survey consisted of 895 technology stakeholders and critics. The negative effects presented by the respondents included time spent online robs time from important face-to-face relationships; the internet fosters mostly shallow relationships; the act of leveraging the internet to engage in social connection exposes private information; the internet allows people to silo themselves, limiting their exposure to new ideas; and the internet is being used to engender intolerance.

Some respondents also highlighted that there will be development of some new psychological and medical syndromes that will be "variations of depression caused by the lack of meaningful quality relationships", and a "new world society". The term, "Social Networking", has begun to deceive the users to believe they are social creatures. For instance, spending a couple of hours using Farmville and chatting with friends concurrently does not convert into social skills. People become dependent on the technology and forget how to socialise in face-to-face context. The online personality of a person might be totally different from his/her offline character, causing chaos when the two personalities meet. It is apparent in online dating when the couple gets together in face-to-face for the first time. Their written profiles do not clearly represent their real-life characters. It is more enticing for people to type something that others want to hear than saying the truth.

Besides the "friendship", creators of social networking sites and users redefine the term, "privacy" in the Internet as well. The challenge in data privacy is to share data while protecting personally identifiable information. Almost any information posted on social networking sites is permanent. Whenever someone posts pictures or videos on the web, it becomes viral. When the user deletes a video from his/her social network, someone might have kept it and then posted it onto other sites like YouTube already. People post photographs and video files on social networking sites without thinking and the files can reappear at the worst possible time. In 2008, a video of a group of ACJC students hazing a female student in school on her birthday was circulated and another video of a SCDF recruit being "welcomed" (was hosed with water and tarred with shoe polish) to a local fire station made its way online.

Much news has been reported about online privacy breach in Facebook and Facebook is constantly revising their privacy policy and changing their privacy controls for the users. Interestingly, even when users delete their personal information and deactivate their Facebook account, Facebook will still keep that information and will continue to use it for data mining. A reporter asked whether the data will at least be anonymized. The Facebook representative declined to comment.

In the corporate world, human resource managers can access Facebook or MySpace to get to know about a candidate's true colours, especially when job seekers do not set their profiles to private. Research has found that almost half of employers have rejected a potential worker after finding incriminating material on their Facebook pages. Some employers have also checked the candidates' online details in Facebook pages to see if they are lying about their qualifications. Nowadays, younger generations have a complete disregard for their own privacy, opening doors to unwelcome predators or stalkers.

Impact of Social Media on Society
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Raymond Tay
Founder & Trainer of Leader's Wheel LLP

Having strong interest in personal development and helping others.

My Company Site: http://www.leaderswheel.com
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What is Community Counseling?

The term 'Community counseling' is widely in use nowadays. You can find several instances on the Internet or on television about different community counselors that are working for this society to help people live their life in a better way. Working as a Community Counselor is one of the top career options available for people who are in love with society and teaching people the right way of leading their life. If you are looking to become a community counselor then it is important for you to understand what community counseling is all about.

Community counseling is a form of counseling in which different counselors work with families, individuals, couples and also communities in one or the other way. Community-counseling is generally conducted to prevent a problem and assist in setting prevention programs in different communities. The community counselors also advocate different social changes to assist their patients and clients at the large. Community counseling is actually a different form of counseling in which not only people are taught about different right or wrong things but there also shown the right ways so that they can live their life peacefully and happily.

Community counseling is carried by community counselors who are trained to work in different kinds of settings like:

What is Community Counseling?

-Schools and hospitals
-Family services and mental health agencies
-Department of the veteran affairs
-Private industry and businesses
-Behavioral health agencies including the evaluation, training and abuse programs.
-Insurance companies and private practices.

There are a variety of community counseling programs in a number of universities and even on the Internet that will help you in attaining the right kind of information and knowledge to become an accredited community counselor.

These various community counseling programs will provide you with the information to tackle different sections of the society using appropriate means and reducing the disturbance produced by violent and mentally challenged people. After earning your degree from these community-counseling programs you can get a job at one or the other agencies mentioned above to practice as a community counselor.

With the increase in the development of psychology, it can be seen that people who are interested in this field are finding variety of new options to enhance their careers. Community counseling and psychology aims to improve the condition of the community by giving therapy, supportive counseling, linkage and referral, advocacy and various other services as demanded.

The services provided by community counselors can be done on one on one basis, groups to adults, adolescents and families. In these community counseling programs the students are taught to provide an access to the public towards an affordable and effective counseling that is culturally appropriate and physically assessable.

In order to become a certified counselor you will have to have a graduate degree in the requisite field. Most of the under graduate colleges provide a great educational base to a psychology student like bachelor of science, bachelor of arts, degree in education, counseling, psychology or social work.

You can also improve your education by achieving a master's of art degree or masters in education in the similar discipline.

So, if you are looking to make your career in community counseling in psychology then you are not only going to work towards a noble cause but you also can experience a great growth in your career as well.

What is Community Counseling?
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PsychologySchoolsU.com provides the opportunity to research and request free information top psychology majors and top psychology schools for potential students looking to start or expand their career in psychology.

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How to Teach to a Diverse Classroom of Students

Each year teachers are faced with the daunting task of teaching
to a classroom of 20-30 individual students, each with their own
learning styles, interests, and abilities. Providing optimal
learning for such a diverse group can seem overwhelming. But,
there is a simple approach that can be used which will enable
all students to succeed, and that approach is simply using
variety and choice. Not only does this approach address the
multiple learning styles of students, but it also aides in making
them independent learners.

While the classroom still needs to have structure (routines,
rules, procedures), providing variety within that structured
environment can aide in providing optimal learning for all
students. Using a variety of instructional approaches such as
lectures, PowerPoint presentations, inquiry-based instruction,
hands-on experiments, project/problem-based learning, or
computer aided instruction, not only addresses the various
learning styles of the students in the classroom, but it can help
learners become more flexible in their learning. Most learners
do have a preferred learning style, however this does not mean
they are strictly dependent on that style to learn. They are
also comfortable with and able to learn from several other styles
as well. Exposing students to a wide variety of learning styles
will enable them to become more flexible learners.

It is also beneficial to vary the input devices used and the
resources made available in the classroom. Children have a wide
variety of preferred learning devices, therefore making as many
available as possible provides for this diversity. For example,
when presenting information use audio (songs, speeches,
interviews, etc.), video, books, posters, hands-on
manipulatives, food, and smells. Technology has made available
a wide range of resources, such as PowerPoint presentations,
live video feeds, chats, and communication. PowerPoint
presentations are a great way to present information using a
mixture of audio, video, animations (movement), and text. These
presentations can also be made available to the students via the
computer for them to review at their own pace. The internet/
computers also offer interactive learning activities that combine
movement, visuals, and sounds, such as virtual science
experiments. These allow students to conduct experiments
never before thought possible due to danger or lack of equipment.
Virtual experiments can be found at http://www.explorelearning.com .

How to Teach to a Diverse Classroom of Students

Pre-exposure to material also aides in learning. The more
familiar students are with a subject the easier it is for new
learning to occur. Therefore, providing students with a
variety of pre-exposure materials can better prepare them for
new learning units. For example, monthly calendars that list
the upcoming themes, a classroom website with links to various
websites related to upcoming themes, books, magazines, maps,
posters, computer software, and manipulatives can be provided
for students to browse at their leisure. Providing a variety of
materials takes into consideration the learning preferences of
all students.

Novelty can be used to gain and keep students' attention.
People usually only pay attention to things that are of value or
things that are personally meaningful. Therefore, relating
learning to your students' real life experiences or interests
can catch and keep their attention. "Shock" them with an unusual
noise, experiment, video, song, etc. You can also present them
with a problem or project that relates to their real world in
order to gain their attention and interest at the beginning of
a unit. Issues such as environmental problems, problems with
long lines in the cafeteria, designing the perfect playground,
planning a field trip within the budget, local traffic issues,
etc. can all be considered. Making learning meaningful,
relevant, and interesting to your students not only gains their
initial attention, but keeps it throughout the lesson.

When planning your lessons it is beneficial to try to include as
many of the senses and/or Gardner's multiple intelligences
(verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, kinesthetic, visual-
spatial, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist)
as possible. You can do this by using a variety of activities
in your plans such as songs, games, experiments, field trips,
real world experiences, interviews, guest speakers, physical
movement/exercise, small group activities, individual activities,
partner activities, cooking/food/snacks, hands-on experiences,
etc. Providing a variety of activities will enable students of
all ability levels to succeed.

Not only do students have diverse learning styles but varying
bio-cognitive cycles as well. Some students learn best in the
morning, some in the afternoon. Therefore, having a flexible
classroom schedule can provide for these differences. Also,
varying the times and types of assessments can give all students
a fair chance of showing their true abilities.

When applicable, it is beneficial to give students choice in
activities and assessments. This provides students
opportunities to showcase their individual talents and can aide
in classroom management as well. If students are constantly
dictated to and not given a voice or choice they can grow
resentful and "act out". Provide a variety of classroom
activities for students to choose from during structured and
unstructured times, give them several projects such as posters,
PowerPoint presentations, reports, interviews, videos, brochures,
etc. to choose from when assessing their knowledge. Giving
students choice provides them with a sense of empowerment over
their learning and can aide them in deciding what learning styles
and assessments work best for them, thus helping them become
more responsible for their own learning.

It would be a pretty boring world if all learners were the same.
Diversity makes the classroom more interesting and exciting.
Teachers should honor and respect the uniqueness of each
student by offering variety and choice in their classrooms. Not
only will this address the diverse needs of the students, but it
will also help them to become independent learners as well.
After all, is that not the goal of education?

How to Teach to a Diverse Classroom of Students
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Tina O'Block holds a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction and a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. She has been teaching for 13 years.

She is the author of Now I Know My ABCs and a Whole Lot More: Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers and Kindergarteners which is available at http://www.oblockbooks.com and the article, How to Help Your Child be Successful in Kindergarten.

You may also contact her at oblockbooks@worldnet.att.net.

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How to Start A House Cleaning Business In 7 Simple Steps

One of the main reasons people start businesses is to make money. For some it's a blessing to make money doing something they love. I'm not saying that you have to love house cleaning in order to have a successful house cleaning business; however it would be a good idea if you didn't hate it.

How much money you make depends on how big you want your business to be. It could be a one person operation where you set up at home and service areas close to home, or you could set up a commercial office and hire people to work for you.

Here are 7 simple steps to get you started on your own house cleaning business.

How to Start A House Cleaning Business In 7 Simple Steps

1) Decide exactly what kind of house cleaning services you will offer.

Here you decided what cleaning you will do, like making beds, vacuuming, mopping and waxing floors, dusting and so on. Also note what you won't do, e.g. laundry. You can also decide to specialize, e.g. by cleaning carpets only, or cleaning suspended ceilings only.

2) Pricing your housecleaning service.

To have an idea of how to charge for your housecleaning service, use your competition. Check your telephone directory and the classified ads section in your local newspapers for cleaning businesses, call them up (pretend to be a prospective client) and find out exactly what cleaning services they offer and how much they charge. With this information gathered decide the best price to charge for your cleaning service.

3) Workout startup costs.

For this you need to consider, tools, material, transport, advertising, insurance etc. Write down a list all the tools and material you need, like cleaners, sponges, mops, carpet cleaning equipment etc. Next find out the cost of each item on the list and write it down next to the item.

Transport: you will have to estimate your costs here. You see it depends on where your client is located and your means of transportation to get to your client. (Having your own vehicle would be to your advantage).

Advertising: You can use free advertising (word of mouth) and paid advertising (classifieds, telephone directory ads etc). Phone calls to your local newspaper and the telephone company who publish your telephone directory will tell you the cost of placing ads.

Once you've gathered all this information, calculate your total startup costs.

4) Name your business.

Choosing an appropriate name for your house cleaning business is important. Here are a few examples I got of the internet, 'Maid Brigade', 'All Shine Cleaning', 'White Glove Cleaning Service'. Please avoid using 'Your Name Cleaning Services'. Using your own name as part of your business name is over done by many house cleaning businesses. Brainstorm and come up with a name that helps you stand out of the crowd.

5) Learn the zoning regulations of your community.

Check the city clerk's Office or your local library for a copy for a copy of the zoning laws governing your community. Your reason for doing this is that some zoning regulations prohibit home businesses in a community.

6) Do a few free cleaning jobs.

Well you're not actually doing them for free. You're doing them in exchange for references (these add to your credibility for future paying clients and are invaluable). You can offer these free cleaning jobs to friends, non profit organizations in your communities etc.

7) Get your first paying client then get another and another and another and so on.

Tell everyone you know that you've started a cleaning business and place ads in the local newspapers. In the beginning you need to spend most of your time and money getting paying clients. However, the more clients you get the less time and money you spend on marketing and more time you spend on cleaning and making your clients happy.

This is just the beginning. Once you start making money take a house cleaning business course to help you better manage your business in terms of growth, accounting, taxes, insurance better marketing strategies and more.

--

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated. fayolap@yahoo.com

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Fayola Peters is the webmaster of housecleaning-tips.com. To find more information about a house business cleaning course check out her website at http://www.housecleaning-tips.com.

fayolap@yahoo.com

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Chat With Older Women Seeking Young Men

Imagine, for just a moment, walking around your local town or city and knowing - with your "Spidey-sense" - which older women want to date or enjoy casual flings with younger men like yourself. You could then chat with older women seeking young men all day and night. Believe it or not, this is actually possible. And, no, you do not need any psychic ability!

Many mature women are attracted to young men. Age is an aphrodisiac to them. You, as a young man, do not need to be wealthy or handsome. The mere fact that you are a young adult male is entirely sufficient to make you hugely desirable to many older ladies. Now the problem is this: these ladies do not advertise their desire in obvious places. You won't find them on a classified site or the personals section of a local newspaper. Most mature women are married and those that are single feel worried about admitting they like young men.

It is a little known fact that cougars - mature females attracted to younger males - use popular dating communities to hunt down young men. Now, knowing this, it is entirely possible to find one within 5 minutes and be chatting to her. You need to join one of these communities and make a nice profile. Most of these sites have a free community that you can join which is fine for getting started. Once your profile is complete, and you've confirmed the email they send, put in a search for local women over forty years of age in your town. This will usually give you several thousand results.

Chat With Older Women Seeking Young Men

Those women who are actually online now will come first in the list of results. You can see their profile picture next to their name and location. Sometimes you will be very surprised. You might see someone you know! All you have to do now is send instant messages to as many women who are online as you like. In a few seconds, or minutes, you will be able to chat with older women seeking young men.

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Now, a popular place for young men to chat to older women is my favorite dating community. You can join for free here: Browse Older Women.

The community has over 10 million members. You can send instant messages, winks, add friends, and send emails.

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Inexpensive Kids Birthday Party Locations

While throwing your child a birthday party is high on any parents list, most people don't want to spend a fortune for the celebration. Depending on the time of year and your budget, there are some great options for the location of the party (other than your home).

If you do decide to throw a party outside your home, be sure to include your child in the location decision. If the child is young, you may want to bring them to the location prior to the party so that they can get comfortable and excited about the upcoming event. Most kids look forwarding to opening their presents at the end of their party. So whatever option you choose, make sure you set aside a special place where all the party goers can place the birthday gifts.

1. Town Park Shelter. Many local communities offer rental shelters at the parks where they have picnic tables, grills and play equipment for the kids. The older children can go play while the adults hang out. The food doesn't have to be gourmet, instead keep it simple and easy like barbecuing hot dogs or burgers or a couple baked lasagnas with salad. Follow up with a fun birthday cake from your local warehouse club, grocery store or your own kitchen.

Inexpensive Kids Birthday Party Locations

2. Fast Food Restaurant. Both McDonald's and Hardees offer kids parties that include a party hostess, food and cake at reasonable prices. The other great thing about these restaurants is that many have Playlands or plastic ball pits so that the kids can be entertained while the adults chit-chat and relax a bit.

3. Children's or Science Museum. If you have a larger budget, a local science or children's museum can be a great place to hold a birthday party. Some places have party hostesses and provide some supplies, so just check what they provide in your city. You may only need to bring a birthday cake and presents.

4. Movie Theater. Many towns have inexpensive or dollar show theaters that will rent out the entire theater or give you big group discount as well as discounts on snacks and soda. Some theaters will let you bring in some of your own snacks and a cake so just check and see what can be done at your local theater by speaking with the manager.

5. Neighborhood Club House. If you live in a planned community, chances are that you have a club house in your neighborhood or apartment complex. Often these rooms are either free or can be rented for a nominal fee by residents. The club house would likely give you more room than your home, but it would still be close enough that you could set up the birthday party relatively easily. Not to mention, you don't have to clean your house!

6. Local Fire Department. Often times, local fire departments have rooms that they will allow local residents utilize for free or for a nominal fee. Some fire departments will even give the children of a private birthday party a tour of the department and let them try on some of the firefighters' gear and get their photos taken. These pictures make great keepsake gifts for all the children.

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Are There Sex Offenders in My Area?

You see it all the time. Every day the news is full of stories about peaceful neighborhoods shocked by a horrible crime committed by a sex offender living right under their noses. How many times have you heard the next door neighbor say "He seemed like such a nice, quiet guy. I can't believe he would do something like this."

Sound familiar?

It was after seeing one of these terrible stories on the news that it suddenly dawned on me. What if there are sex offenders in my area?

Are There Sex Offenders in My Area?

The thought hit me like a ton of bricks. There could be sex offenders in my neighborhood and I had no idea who or where they were. It scared the hell out of me. I started getting overly-protective of my kids, and I was suspicious of every man I passed on the street. I needed to find out if there were any sexual offenders in my area.

So I started doing some research online and I discovered that all sex offenders are required to register with the national sex offender list. This list contains detailed information on all sex offenders including their name, address, and details of the crime they committed.

I signed up with a website that allows me to access the list and look for sex offenders in my area. I entered my zip code and was relieved to find that none of my neighbors are on the list. Unfortunately, the towns neighboring my own have a sex offender living inside their borders. But just knowing that they don't live right next door to me is a relief.

But what about you? How well do you really know your neighbors? The only way to know for sure is to check the national sex offender list

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Golfing Communities in Lakeland

Golf is the number one sport of choice for people of all ages in Florida, specifically in Lakeland Florida. Golf is the most popular sport most especially among retirees. In Lakeland Florida, it is very common to see a golf course almost everywhere, from private to semi-private, or public golf courses. Lakeland Florida has many golf communities within these golf courses such as:

In Florida and especially in Lakeland FL, golf is the number one sport for all ages, especially retirees. There are so many golf fields situated throughout Lakeland, you can practically see one in every corner. From private, semi-private or public golf with golfing communities and golf can be played by everyone. There are numerous golf fields that are also offer communities within, which are listed below:

Sandpiper Golf & Country Club

Golfing Communities in Lakeland

This golf community is located right in the heart of the golf course and is open to the public. Most of the residents here are retirees aged 55 and above who live active lifestyles. The community offers lots of amenities for its active residents such as swimming, tennis, walking trails, shuffle board, and many more.

Wedgewood Golf & Country Club

Located between Lake Gibson and Interstate 4 in North Lakeland, it is hard not to notice this beautiful golf field while driving along Carpenter's Way. The golf course boasts of rolling fairways, strategically placed bunkers, beautiful waters, and vibrant Bermuda green. There are many subdivisions within the golf course composed of single family homes, town homes, villas, and luxury homes. Rated par 70, this golf course gives any type of golfer, whether beginner or pro, a challenging game.

Huntington Golf & Country Club Community

This gated community in North Lakeland has an 18-hole championship golf course designed by Ron Carl in 1992. The golf course features a driving range and putting green, as well as a fabulous restaurant and lounge serving lunch and Dinner from Tuesday to Sunday. The community has 400 homes and offers amenities such as swimming, tennis, and private access to the lake for its residents.

Highland Fairways Golf Community

A private gated community home to retirees aged 55 and above who want a great lifestyle at an affordable price. The 18-ole golf course is rated par 56 has a short layout which provides a fun game for all ages while enjoying the beautiful views of the rolling hills and well-kept fairways Other amenities offered here are tennis, heated pool, shuffleboard, and a fitness center.

Cypress Lakes

Located amongst 2 golf courses over 1,000 acres of private land, this is a gated community in North Lakeland which is home to an active adult population of 55 years and above. This is a resort-style community with large cypress trees, lush landscaping, beautiful lakes and quality crafted manufactured homes. The golf course has a driving range and putting green located near the luxurious clubhouse. On-staff golf professionals are available for private and group lessons for beginners to pros.

Golf Club at BridgeWater

Located right next to BridgeWater Community, this golf field opened in September 2007 as a semi-private club. This 18-hole golf course sits on 180 acres of land and has challenging bunkers that are 12 feet deep. Rated par 71, it has 5 sets of tees for golfers of all levels. The community of BridgeWater also offers other amenities such as swimming, fishing, canoeing, tennis, basketball, fitness, and many more. With Highland Homes and William Ryan Homes adding more single family homes to the community, this is the perfect place to raise a family.

Grasslands Golf & Country Club

This community is located in the center of Oakbridge, which is the most in-demand address in Lakeland. The communities of Oakbridge and Grasslands have 14 neighborhoods with an assortment of homes, condos, town homes, villas, and executive homes, as well as custom-built luxury homes. There is definitely a home to match any type of lifestyle. The Scottish style PGA level golf field was designed by Jerry Pate and Cupp in 1990. Rated par 72, this 18-hole golf course was restored in 2008, with the greens converted into ultra-dwarf Bermuda grass and the tee boxes and bunkers were rebuilt.

The Club atEaglebrooke

This golf field is located inside a gated community in South Lakeland. Designed by Ron Carl, the Eaglebrooke golf course is rated with 4 ½ stars and is considered one of the best places to play, with its shimmering lakes and multi-level greens and rolling fairways. The community of Eaglebrooke is one of the biggest gated communities in Lakeland and offers a variety of sizes of single family homes and custom build luxury single family homes made by famous custom builders.

Golfing Communities in Lakeland
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My name is Petra and I like to think that I'm one of the most dedicated and committed real estate agents in Lakeland, Florida. Proficient knowledge in the handling and negotiation of Short Sales, Pre-Foreclosure and Bank-Owned real estate transaction in Lakeland, Bartow, Auburndale, Polk City, Mulberry, Lake Alfred, Winter Haven and other cities within Polk County, Florida. I am a member of the Florida Association of REALTORS®, the Lakeland Association of REALTORS® and I also serve as a State of Florida Notary Public. I am also bilingual, speaking, reading & writing fluent German. Visit http://lakelandfl-homesforsale.com/ or call me 863-619-6918.

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