Social Networking

There is no doubt that the social network is a great tool for corporate and personal purposes. Per Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting article, companies use social networks such as linked in and facebook to recruit employees. The internet acts as a major additional open source for companies to scan and find excellent candidates that are very difficult to find elsewhere. Social networks are also useful as a type of background check. For example, if a person applies for a job, the recruiter can easily look him up on line to check his experience, get another impression about the candidate, and to see if the candidate has more experience other than what he mentioned in his resume. Furthermore, users of such social networks can brand themselves and write certain keywords so companies will be able to find them by using a search engine. Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting article also mentions that although social networks are very efficient and useful, in order to develop a relationship with candidates, the use of telephone is irreplaceable.

Other than the benefit the social media gives to professional life, it also leverages the entertainment industry. Per Moguls of New Media article “a look at the rising stars in this world shows how the path to entertainment success is being redefined”. Many media and entertainment companies and marketers are looking for new talents by looking at myspace, facebook, YouTube, sound cloud and many more. Thanks to social networks, artists now have a great way to be exposed to the public.

In addition, social networking sites offer advertising to its subscribers. Individuals or Businesses of any kind can advertise on social networks sites and then can get more exposure to their products or services. For example, facebook collects information from its users and shows relevant ads by identifying the interests that the user feed into his personal profile.

In personal life social networking sites offer the chance to create a self image which will be visible to public or just to the people that the user chooses. By creating a profile you can illustrate the image that you want to be visible by putting your best qualities, pictures, videos, and work experience.  It can be a good way to make connections with people with similar interests, hobbies, and other purposes.

Social networks also promote real life socializing. For example, many organizations, promoters, and artists are listing their events on facebook and their guests can rsvp and share their thoughts about the event.

I believe that the fact that meeting someone in person has become a thing of the past is one of the dark sides of social networks. Maybe it is too easy to make new friends and renewing old friendships? Although it encourages people to stay connected, it also encourages people to have lots of unreal relationships.

Concerning privacy, using these sites is somewhat frightening because people and organizations know almost everything about you and about what you do, and we can never be %100 certain how much we trust on social networks to secure their databases from external agents and to keep it as private as possible.

Another down side is the free flow of information. This can be used for many good things, however there are also ill people in our world that are using this benefit for violence and shifting people’s minds. As a result, I believe that in the future the consciousness of regulating and monitoring social media will be on the rise. Also, I believe that in the future, governments will use the social media much more. There are many ways the government can utilize social networks, for example it can offer more transparency giving real time updates and ask for feedbacks and opinions about passing bills or stands the government should take.

Work Cited:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523&sc=emaf

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB115412710465720901-Ah3MvEIHa4T2Ck8IgsXrr01znUw_20070728.html

http://socialmediatoday.com/steve-olenski/336775/dark-side-social-media.