Social Net'g

Social Networking is an emerging form of new media that easily gets people connected no matter the distance. Major social network sites/companies include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Skype. While there are others, these major social networking platforms changed the way us individuals live today. There are many different ways social networking is used. Twitter is very closely related to a blog in the sense that you can "tweet" whatever you want. Instagram is a blog of pictures, while Facebook is a mix of both and much more; Skype however is a video chatting platform, which transformed the traditional way of calling others. One special case of how social network can benefit the community is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the Facebook for job seekers and recruiters. It is advantageous in that it can "help job hunters market themselves online by setting up profiles, listing work history and specific skills," according to the article Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting. It allows the recruiter and the job seeker to become connected and sooner or later co-workers.

Along with all its benefits, comes its cost. Many people experiencing these costs can become frustrated especially when it hurts them emotionally, such as leaked photos. This seemed to be the case with the sister of Facebook’s founder, Randi Zuckerberg. She apparently had her photo shared to the public without her consent, although an accident, she still felt that it was wrong to have her photo shown to the public. A Press Complaints Commission paper says, “It can be acceptable in some circumstances for the press to publish information taken from [social media] websites, even if the material was originally intended for a small group of acquaintances rather than a mass audience.” Imagine all of the photos you ever posted were made public and you had no control of it. So, examples such as this case shows how privacy can be ignored how such an evolution of new media can hurt you.

To my opinion, I strongly believe Facebook will last a lifetime. Not so certain about other social media, but Facebook is special in that it continues to grow and gain more users each year. Soon enough most of the world will be using Facebook and we will be able to connect with people we don’t even know; maybe even perform jobs for them.