Social Networking

Social networking is a form of a community of certain likes or dislikes as well as exchanging ideas that are similar. However, it is clear that individuals use social networking sites to keep in touch with friends or helped these individuals make new friends and find old acquaintances. Social networking will help maintain relationships as well as help these individuals find jobs and enhance their career. Social networking tools make it easier to connect with family and friends around the world.

Some ways that these technologies can be used in a corporate setting is through job recruitment. Corporations utilize social networks like Linkedin to search for potential applicants. Recruiters tend to “hack” into applicant profiles and screen for potential candidates. The recruiters make a hiring decision based on what is on the applicant’s profile. Recruiters check if these applicants fit in with the corporate culture they have created. Recruiters also check if these applicants have done anything inappropriate within the standards of the organization such as inappropriate acts or clothing. Corporations also use social networking sites as an extension of their customer service. If I recall from an article I’ve read, some company address customer complaints immediately to give the company a good reputation. Furthermore, corporations also use social networking sites to market their new products. Early adopters will use word of mouth to promote that company’s product if the product is remarkable in quality.  

Unfortunately, there is a dark side to everything including social networking. Many believe that social networking is all fine and dandy but that is totally not true. For example, the author of the article, “They're Back, and They're Bad: Campus-Gossip Web Sites,” mentions how students hide behind their veil of anonymity and post personal attacks on classmates. Furthermore, these personal attacks on other students (whether or not the rumor is true) can sully their reputation and hurt their future career fields. On the other hand, concern of privacy is also an apparent dark side of social networking in the “Leaving Friendprints” article. That article states that users can be tracked down by combining other technologies and what users post online. This information can be used for nefarious activities by stalkers, predators and identity thieves.

I believe that these technologies will eventually become stagnant and there will be no new innovations but not for a long while. In the present, we can see the growth of these technologies in the mobile phone industry such as foursquare and geographic locations. Maybe, in the future, these technologies will evolve in a way that would allow us to integrate all of these social networking sites together without logging into each individual social networking site but that would be seen as more of a privacy hazard than a benefit to society. I also believe that these social networking sites will begin to focus more on the individual's interest rather than sharing information.

Sources:

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. "They're Back, and They're Bad: Campus-Gossip Web Sites," by Jeffrey R. Young, The Chronicle for Higher Education, Sept 4, 2009, p. A20+. Available at: http://chronicle.com/article/Theyre-BackTheyre-B/48220/
3. Is MySpace Good for Society? A Freakonomics Quorum by Stephen J. Dubner. NYT Feb 15, 2008 http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/is-myspace-good-for-society-a-freakonomics-quorum/
4. Knowledge@Wharton, "Leaving 'Friendprints': How Online Social Networks Are Redefining Privacy and Personal Security http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2262