Blog Social networking

Social Networking technology has made a more convenient world today as compared to the past. Social Networking created a small world with billions of people being able to connect and reach out to their intended target, without bumping into a lot of bodies. Social Networking technologies have a wide range of use, for instance, connect with friends, promote your business, tell the world your opinions, and also business uses it to recruit employees. For example," Linkedin, a network of 8 million professionals spread across the world. Linkedin says users include executives from all of the Fortune 500 companies. Typing keywords into a search engine, Crawford can scrape the entire network to dig out high-quality candidates that she can't find elsewhere." It makes businesses reach out to more qualified prospects, instead of filtering out the many applications they receive daily. Usually when something is so beneficial, there must be a downside to balance it out so to speak. Along with the convenience social networking brings, there also problem that involves scammers. A double-edge sword it can be, since these platforms allow people to be whoever they want to be, so it is difficult to decipher who from who. Another problem social networking faces, is that the opinions being posted can have a huge impact on someones life and decision making. In the case of cyber bullying; usually in the past one could go home at the end of school and not be bullied, but since modern times the bullies could reach their victims through cyberspace and it could cause serious psychological problems for that person. Or even something as giving a bad movie 5 stars, could change the viewers decision making process. If that person sees that 5 star rating enough, they will go out and see that movie, and that movie doesn't even has to be a good movie. For instance, "When searching online for a new gadget to buy or a movie to rent, many people pay close attention to the number of stars awarded by customer-reviewers on popular websites. But new research confirms what some may already suspect: those ratings can easily be swayed by a small group of highly active users." Social Networking has its pros and cons, but I believe it could develop more in the future. Maybe it could develop into this virtual reality realm where connecting feels very real and authentic.


1. Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting by Frank Langfitt, NPR, March 16, 2008. available from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523&sc=emaf

2. Can you trust crowd wisdom? by Kristina Grifantini, MIT Technology Review, Sept 16, 2009. Available at: http://www.technologyreview.com/web/23477/?a=f