Social Networking

Hi, Everyone.

I am going to talk about social networking today.

As you know, many individuals are using some kinds of social network service such as Facebook, Myspace, or whatever you come up in your brain. Of course, many companies and even government get into the world.

According to the CNN article in 2009, a dictionary word of the year in 2009 was "unfriend." This term was definitely considered as an official word because of the influence of Facebook.

Companies, celebrities, and news network tend to use social networking to share the latest information immediately. By continuing to release information and advertisements, they can promote themselves anytime and anywhere. The continuous sharing information would be valuable because social networking would help improve the recognition in society. 

I think one of benefits of social networking for business that they can promote themselves to a certain group of people based on location, demographics, interests, behaviors, and connections. The power of social networking always surprises me. A month ago, I searched an iPhone case on Amazon, and when I opened Facebook after that, Amazon ads on Facebook recommend me some similar products that I searched. 

Based on a search history, companies can identify the specific target people and it makes possible for them to keep consumers' attentions efficiently and effectively.

Some companies show their ads to the specific group of people. For example, I am a middle of 20's, female, and unmarried. A couple days ago, an ad of pregnancy test kit popped up on Instagram. (This ad scared me...even I am not sure that I am not a pregnant.) I think this product company researches the demographics and send their promotion to the specific potential consumers.

I think this system is helpful for consumers to search anything next time. Once you search something specific, a computer automatically search and find anything that you seem like. On the other hand, I also feel scary because a computer always follow my activities on the Internet. I feel I do not have any privacy any more...   

A dark side of social networking might be invasion of privacy. Most of social networking users are, for sure, using those sites to keep in touch with friends, find jobs, and enhance their careers (Forbes 2009). However, even the basic personal information could be risky. Lance Hoffman, a George Washington University computer science professor argues that users' information is revealing far more than they expect and their names and birth dates could be a enough source for an identity thief. Some thief might steal their information and combine to others from different sources.

Another risk would be an "overshare," which is "inspired in part by the habit of spewing too much personal information on social networking sites and blogs" (CNN 2009). Even though many Facebook users create their pages to share their private life, they have to be careful of a "link" function. According to Forbes's article, "When a business contact from the LinkedIn world wants to become your friend on Facebook." If you share a too private post, which you do not want to share in public, on Facebook, your future employee or employer might see it. Overshare might give you negative influence and then affect on your future career. Overshare can also be risky because it may cause of gossip and potential abuse of the services. Some reported suicides are related to malicious gossip circulated on a social network. (Dubner 2008) Users do not have to underestimate this fact. It is serious!  

I am sorry that this blog is very unorganized, but this is what I think about social networking.

Social Networking is fun, but you have to be careful of your behavior on the Internet.

References:

Dubner, Stephen J. "Is MySpace Good for Society? A Freakonomics Quorum." Freakonomics. N.p., 15 Feb. 2008. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.

Gross, Doug. "Dictionary word of the year: 'Unfriend'" CNN. Cable News Network, 17 Nov. 2009. Web. 08 Mar. 2017. 

"Leaving 'Friendprints'" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 16 June 2009. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.