Social Networking

As I mentioned earlier, the primary purpose of social networking is to communicate and keep in touch with friends, coworkers, relatives, classmates, etc. People form small communities online that consist of individuals with similar interests. One can develop a friendship with people from around the world, learn new cultures and new things. People benefit from social networking not only due to ability to improve their social lives but also ability to find a job through business networking sites. As sited in the article “Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting” by Frank Langfitt, “social networking technology is absolutely the best thing to happen to recruiting.” Recruiters can find the right candidates within hours using keywords and extensive network of contacts in a SN site such as Linkedin. There is an opinion of Danah Boyd in the article “Is MySpace Good for Society? A Frieakonomics Forum” that proposes another benefit of creative expression and self-realization, especially for those who can not see their friends or family due to certain restrictions. That is the fascinating side of social networking.
Like anything else social networking has its “dark sides” as well. Among them are privacy and safety issues, gossip, abuse of the services, high dependency on these technologies and addiction. Some might continue the list further… There is no definitive answer whether social networking is good or bad but the fact that it affects our society is unquestionable.
Many people use these technologies not only to keep in touch with family and friends but also to network with potential employers. Many businesses use social networking for collaboration across teams. SN sites can also be used for helping other people. For example, many not-for-profit organizations use these technologies to educate people about alcohol, drugs, poverty and other issues. Those who need help get information and support due to such sites.
Some might fear that social networking technologies will lead us to the society with no face-to-face contacts in the future. In this regard I would agree with William Reader who said in the article “Is MySpace Good for Society? A Frieakonomics Forum” that social networking will never replace face-to face communication. Actually, it is very hard to predict or even imagine the way these technologies might evolve in the future. I think it would be great to be able to have one uniform online profile for all of the SN sites. As I know that many people have multiple profiles on different sites and it is very inconvenient. I do not know, may be such technology already exists…