Social Networking Sites in society (Week 1)
Two words “social network” and I will immediately relate it to the most commonly used technology like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. These social media are similar through which it allows people to make and keep social connections at a low cost of time and effort. These social network sites are useful ways for us to keep in touch and seek social contact with our friends.
As we all know, the World Wide Web is too vast an instrument of knowledge. Social networking sites make use similarities among a selected group to help filter and isolate certain information. They also provide us with useful information and ideas. Many youths nowadays are using Facebook to increasing the size of their social network, and therefore their access to more information and diverse perspectives, unleashing and tapping into their creativity.
As a participant on Facebook, I would definitely agree that it has helped me to maintain or strengthen relationships; using the site to look up old school acquaintances, find out information about people in their classes to strike up a conversation, to get contact information for friends, and many other activities.
These social networking sites enable us to engage in online self-presentation and connection with others which are increasingly part of our social and professional landscape. Even the advertising may be a plus factor, targeted to the particular interests of the user. Hence businesses, non-profits, civic groups, and political organizations value the connections that these tools support.
With the large number of unique visitors to Facebook, it surpassed MySpace to become the US most popular social networking site, attracting more users to the site itself.
However, according to a statistic survey done by www.emarketer.com on “Top 10 US Social Networking Sites, Ranked by Total Display Ad views”, MySpace still dominates Facebook in the area of advertising. MySpace visitors viewed 31.8 million ads in April 2009, accounting for almost 47% of the total social network advertising space. Facebook was second, serving nearly 25 million ads and making up about 37% of the sector. This verifies the fact that organizations and mutli-national companies are sourcing out these social networking sites as one of the key communication tools.
In considering the effects of social network sites, I am aware that there are also many challenges. It can be dangerous with reported suicides resulting from gossip circulated on a social network. Social humiliation and bully can surface from these networking sites, as viciously competitive teens are able to comment freely on the walls of one another. Some people also become addicted to life on the computer screen, and withdraw from personal contact. Adding on to this, the meaning of “friend” no longer depicts genuine smiles and heart-to-heart talks but on a superficial level of simply to “poke” someone on Facebook.
No doubt, social networking sites are tied in with the various contexts of communication, be it interpersonal, group, mass, international, applied, organizational, online communication and lastly, persuasion.
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Hi Kelly! I concur that the world wide web is indeed feeding us too much information, to the extent that some actually condemns the use of computer. Take for instance, easy and quick access to inapproriate websites actually poses a negative influence on youngsters. The popular and seemingly “cool” use of social networks such as Friendster, MySpace, Twitter and Facebook only serves to remind us that there is a need to still communicate face to face rather than through use of technology.
Relationships should be built slowly through greater depths of understanding of the other party and not simply “poking” each other on Facebook and behind these superficial masks, we label almost anyone and everyone as ” my best friend”.
Incidents relating to murders and suicides have been increasing as cyber bullying can occur easily. Miscommunciation and misunderstandings often arises when people perceive things their own way. Idols of tribe and cave respectively tells us how crucial it is to try to remain free from biasness and develop the most objective perception before making judgements and comments. Thus, i feel that this article highlights not only communication but many other daily life issues surrounding us as well.
Hi Kelly, I can’t agree more how important/relevant online social networking sites have become in this Information Age.
You presented a very clear indication of the rising influence such websites have on societies (the culture and the economies of nations) and the ways in which communication between people have altered to date.
I would like to add on to the disadvantages you have listed. As you have mentioned, people who form an addiction to their online lifestyle, more than often are likely to develop an online persona which may or may not be who they really are in real life. Which is actually quite startingly, because then it would be all the more difficult for anyone to accept what they perceive “on the surface” since the representation can get so skewed.
🙂
i agree with the challenges you’ve mentioned about social networking sites.
however i feel that these websites also do try to counter these problems through the abilty to control the privacy of our accounts (:
if one is okay with putting his/her account as a public one, he or she should have the wisdom to accept critisms from strangers and accquaintances. that said, it’s really stupid to commit suicide, especially because of dumb gossips which have really short shelf lives!
to avoid these unnecessary problems, we can just simply do what most of us do anyway, and lock our accounts (:
Hey Kelly. Yes social networking websites are a great way of keeping in touch with friends and companies can also expand their network over such applications. But with this comes the privacy issue. Many of our lives are openly posted on such social networking websites such as facebook and that can have certain repercussions. For example, employment. From what i hear nowadays, employers actually search for their interviewees profiles online to see what kind of people they are and if they have been hiding anything from the company. Basically, there are pros and cons of using social networking websites and it depends on the individual users viewpoints and stands on the issue.
I started out using Friendster & Facebook in hope of locating my primary school best friends, wishing that they somehow move along with technology and be part of the online network. Despite not being able to find them online, such social network providers allowed me to continue to connect with my other friends whom I’ve missed along the way. While services such as myspace serves as an avenue for etc. aspiring performers to upload their own music and whatnot.
However, with the good comes with the bad. There are online cheats who lurks around the sites resulting in the above entry/comment mentioned. Although it’s ‘just’ an online social network, it’s just as real and should be taken in with one’s own discretion.
Whatever happened to Friendster? Almost everyone here had Friendster like 5 or 6 years ago. Today it’s almost unheard of, and it’s all Facebook now. It’s like how McDonald’s swallowed up A&W.
Anyway, while social networking sites have made life more convenient in terms of keeping friends, we should be aware of the long term effects. Now that online networking has become an integral part of the current generation, this generation will develop social conceptions and norms with regards to networking that are far different from the previous generation.
For example, a friend can be loosely defined as someone you know and interact with on a fairly regular basis, and anyone else you know by face or have met once would be an acquaintance. That is the conception of the previous generation, and it still holds true for now. However, following the current trends in social networking, especially online, in a few decades, anyone you have added on Facebook, even if you’ve only met the person just once, could be considered a “friend”. That notion seems absurd now, but it may very well be possible in the future. Considering the differences between Generation X and Gen Y, the next generation may very well subscribe to this mindset.
Hi Kelly,
It is indeed true that the world now depends greatly on the World Wide Web for its various resources. The nature of communication has undergone a substantial change in the last 20-30 years due to advanced technologies and also the internet. We have evolved from writing letters into sending emails, talking to friends over instant messenger programs, some tools that are introduced in these social networking sites that you have mentioned.
New environments such as the tools that these social networking sites provide, present new opportunities and challenges; where once sending a letter may take days, email and instant messenging had managed to diminish the response time and in turn expediate productivity levels. However, we lose the natural sense of building a friendship or relationship over these new technologies. The space is devoid of the common “body”, the familiar face to face communication that we have essentially accustomed ourselves with when we set about making and building friendships and relationships. This fosters a feeling of absence of intimacy and may induce “superficial” “on the surface” kind of communication.
Well, everything comes with its ups and downs and pros and cons. As long as we subject ourselves to view these social networking sites with a sense of connectedness and awareness, friendships, partnerships, relationships and businesses will still be able to benefit remarkably with these new forms of communications.
Networking sites are a new form of communication between people. Facebook games create interaction, and leaving messages on “walls” can be more exciting than getting a call from a friend.
Many people see networking sites as a form of popularity gauge. The number of contacts you have, the activity on a person’s wall, and the number of pictures you’ve been tagged in have created a form of addiction. People stay on facebook all day long, waiting for that new exciting comment.
It’s quite interesting to see how networking sites started off as a way to increase social interaction, yet now has become a craze in cyber popularity.
Hi Kelly, in recent years, the growth of social networking has exploded and has added value to the Internet by providing another exciting way for citizens all over the world to connect and interact. However, the use of social networks has also provided a new and easy way for identity thieves and other cyber criminals to obtain critical personal information in which social networking sites encourages users to provide. Hence, while the sites can increase your circle of friends, they also can increase your exposure to people who have less-than-friendly intentions.