Social Networking

Social networking has been interwined with both the personal and business facets of our lives. Facebook is a prime example of this. Many use the site as a means of catching up with old buddies while some may use it to advertise their businesses, like parties and promotional products/services. The user is able to execute their purpose more efficiently and quickly than previous methods. Can you imagine how many phone calls it would take to reach an old high school buddy? Or how many fliers/mailers you will have to post before a business gets one bonafided buyer?

It is not just about updating your status with a quirky statement. It is a culture within itself. Within all of the social networking sites there are many options to choose from. You can choose options to make your site more appealing, block/allow entry to certain or all users, upload pictures of pratically anything, etc... It might take days or moments for some to get used to tricks of the trade for each networking site. No matter which site you use, the main purpose is to draw attention to oneself. This single purpose is one that professors at Michigan State University are saying is an indication of an ability to "bridge social capital" at a higher rate than individuals who were not active on social networking sites.

Their research has shown that increased social capital is created as an individual increases their network which in turns gives one access to more "information and diverse perspectives". This occurs when the individual reaches out to more and more individuals than he/she did not originally know. This sounds like a very profound statement but a network is just a network if it is not cultivated. If there is no connection between the members of the network then the network is just a collection of people. The idea of increasing social capital makes sense if the user is actively maintaining contact with members of their network.

As with everything in life there is a positive and a negative. Twitter is an example of a negative. I find Twitter to be a nuiance. Why did I need to know what you are doing every five minutes? It just does not make sense, but the world does not revolve me and the many other that agree with me. Twitter has brought a fascination to comment on just about any and everything. No thought seems to be private. Social networking is going to introduce a big debate on privacy. It has already started with employers using Facebook and Myspace to screen potential and reprimand existing employees. Self-censorship should be taught at a workshop, because whatever is posted online is public information.





Stephen J. Dubner. "Is MySpace Good for Society? A Freakonomics Quorum". http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/is-myspace-good-for-society-a-freakonomics-quorum/?emc=eta1

Alessandra Stanley."What Are You Doing? Media Twitterers Can’t Stop Typing".http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/28/arts/television/28twit.html?_r=1