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In IELTS Speaking Social Media is a very common topic. It can appear in Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
In this lesson, there will be lots vocabulary, including collocations, phrasal verbs and idioms, that you need to talk fluently about this topic in the IELTS Speaking test.
IELTS Speaking vocabulary: Social media
- To go viral = to spread quickly (videos or posts)
- To scroll = to move up and down (on a screen)
- To swipe = to move left and right (on a screen)
- A vlogger = person sharing their personal life on video.
- A blogger = person sharing their personal life by writing a blog.
- A meme = a funny way to spread ideas and behaviour
- Cyberbullying = to attack and intimidate on the Internet
- A troll = someone who flames and upsets other people on the internet.
- An influencer = someone with a large following on the Internet who can have influence over others
- Phishing = Pretending to be someone else so you can steal someone’s ID, personal info….
- Streaming = the continuous transmission of audio or video files
- Data privacy = keeping your data (personal information private)
Social media: Debate and discussion
The Pros / The Advantages
Below we have a variety of reasons why social media is a good thing:
- Keep in touch with family
- Keep in contact with….
- Keep up to date with…(the news, family…)
- Making friends online, especially during lockdown
- Broaden your circle of friends
- Learn new cultures
- It’s convenient to get news / get the latest news / get breaking news
- To gain/acquire/get knowledge
- You can get good recommendations for products and ideas
- Develop a business
- You can sell products and advertise your business on many platforms
- Build a brand / influence
The Cons / The Disadvantages
Here we have some reasons why social media might be a bad thing:
It can be addictive
- A waste of time / wasting time
- It’s time-consuming
- We can lose track of time when looking at social media
You can waste a lot of money buying unnecessary things online
Fake news / incorrect information
It easily distracts us
Intellectual property violations
- It can lead to mental health issues
- Many young people get a negative body image after comparing themselves to models with perfectly filtered bodies online
- Too much comparison can lead to low self-esteem, especially in teenagers
- You can get a stiff neck if you are staring at screens and scrolling all day
- It can lead to eyesight problems
- Cyberbullying is rife (=common) in many social media platforms
IELTS listening task: Social media
In this IELTS Speaking live lesson you will listen to someone talking about social media.
Can you guess what the below numbers might represent?
Try and fill in the gaps
- There are 2.5 billion Facebook ____________ worldwide
- The new kid on the block, ________ ___________ has 500 million users
- There are 3.6 billion active social ________ ___________
- A total of 3 hours a day is the _____________ time we spend on social media
- Actually, 81% of _____________ feel social media has a _____________ effect
Click here to check the answers
- There are 2.5 billion Facebook users worldwide
- The new kid on the block, Tik Tok has 500 million users
- There are 3.6 billion active social media users
- A total of 3 hours a day is the average time we spend on social media
- Actually, 81% of teenagers feel social media has a positive effect
Now listen to the audio and fill in the gaps.
IELTS listening task: Social media - script
Click here to read script
An old favourite Facebook, has just under 2.5 billion users, whilst the relatively new kid on the block, TikTok, has just 500 million.
There are an incredible 3.6 billion active social media users, that’s about half the world’s population.
How much time do we spend glued to screens? (= stuck to /watching screens a lot)
Well, 74% of Facebook users check their feed everyday, and spend an average of 35 minutes a day there.
But that’s just Facebook, in fact our addiction to social media goes much deeper. It seems we are scrolling, posting and using social media platforms for an average of 3 hours per day.
It seems crazy, but people worldwide now watch 1 billion hours of Youtube videos every single day.
Social media goes beyond entertainment, it seems to be becoming a one-stop-shop (= one place to get everything you need) for all our daily needs including, keeping in touch with friends and family, getting news, sharing ideas, even shopping.
Let’s look at the impact of social media on young people.
Many users are teens and in a recent survey in the USA, 81% of teenagers said social media was having a positive effect on their lives.
So despite the parental worries of trolling, body image and FOMO, (= fear of missing out) many teens feel more connected to friends and think social media exposes them to different viewpoints.
So that’s social media.
What about you, how do you feel about social media?
Idioms to talk about Social media
You can get hooked on social media (=addicted to)
It rubs some people up the wrong way = it annoys or irritates
I don’t like everything about it, but I put up with it = to tolerate
It’s great for spreading the word or getting the word out = giving a message/ information
Tik Tok has really taken off (become successful), it’s all the rage (=it’s very fashionable)
When a new platform becomes popular, everyone jumps on the bandwagon = to follow a fashion
I like to while away the hours (=spend time in a relaxed way) scrolling on instagram
More Free IELTS Speaking Lessons
If you liked this lesson, leave a comment below!
There are more lessons you can follow in the links below too.
SHOPPING in IELTS Speaking Learn the essential vocabulary for this topic, as well as how to talk about online shopping.
VIRTUAL WORLD in IELTS Speaking. Vocabulary and ideas to talk about the virtual world as well as some listening tasks.
Mobile phones in IELTS Speaking. Learn vocabulary of phones and ideas to talk about how we use phones in our lives.
