Social Networking Essay: Boon or Bane

IntroductionPeople who live in the past can only communicate through the way of Telegrams, Letters and Telephone Calls. But with the birth of modern Technologies, wireless mobile phone and computers were invented. Then, social networking begins.With this study, there are many questions that we have to consider such as: What exactly is Social Networking? Does it have anything to do with this modern society? What are their advantages and disadvantages and what are the effects of this social networking to an individual.This study intends to tell us the use and effects of social networking and will help us to widen our knowledge about the advantages and disadvantages of social networking.BodySocial Networking is way of communicating with people whether far or nearby places with the use of computers and other devices which connects to World Wide Web. It is also a simple act of expanding the number of people you know by adding friends of your friends and meeting them in social network or i n social community.In fact, many of business oriented associated person nowadays promote their existing and upcoming business with the use of it and some people looking to connect with other business contacts usually move to social networking sites. For students, social networking is the easiest way of collecting information’s about their assignments, research papers and even world’s information or job opportunities.I have list some common networking sites for references:Facebook : Facebook was founded in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow Harvard University students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.[8] The founders had initially limited the website's membership to students of the University of Harvard, but later expanded it to colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It gradually added support for students at various other universities before it opened to high-school st udents, and eventually to anyone aged 13 and over.Facebook now allows anyone who claims to be at least 13 years old to become a registered user of the website.[9] Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as friends, exchange messages, and receive automatic notifications when they update their profile. Additionally, users may join common-interest user groups, organized by workplace, school or college, or other characteristics, and categorize their friends into lists such as â€Å"People from Work† or â€Å"Close Friends†Twitter: Twitter is a very simple service that is rapidly becoming one of the most talked-about social networking service providers. When you have a Twitter account, you can use the service to post and receive messages to a network of contacts, as opposed to send bulk email messages. You can build your network of contacts, and invite others to receive your Tweets, and can follow other memb ers' posts. Twitter makes it easy to opt into or out of networks. Additionally, you can choose to stop following a specific person’s feed.Linkedln: LinkedIn is an online social network for business professionals, which is designed specifically for professional networking, to help them find a job, discover sales leads, connect with potential business partners. Unlike most of the other social networks, LinkedIn does not focus on making friends or sharing media like photos, videos and music. LinkedIn offers many resources for entrepreneurs. Brand yourself as an entrepreneur, find service providers or partners, and participate with your LinkedIn network to strengthen your profile.Myspace: On MySpace, your social network starts growing from the first day. When you join MySpace, the first step is to create a profile. You then, invite friends to join there and search for your friends on already profiled on MySpace these friends become your initial Friend Space. Once the friendship i s confirmed all the people in your friends' Friend Space become part of your network. In that sense, everyone on MySpace is in your Extended Network.Blogs: A blog is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries (â€Å"posts†) typically displayed in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first). Until 2009 blogs were usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often covered a single subject. More recently â€Å"multi-author blogs† (MABs) have developed, with posts written by large numbers of authors and professionally edited.Hi5 : Hi5 shares many similarities with many social network sites; however, it introduces some twists that make it worthwhile for people who love trying out new and interesting online communities. However, it is not one of the popular sites in the United States. This was a strategic move from the founder, therefore, Hi5 claims around 60 millio n members from more than 200 countries other than the US. One of the site's biggest transformations is the addition of many entertainment options, including games.Tagged: Tagged is a blend of social networking features that MySpace and Facebook users will find very familiar. Tagged was designed to help users meet lots of new people with similar interests in a short amount of time. You can access and register directly or be invited by a friend to join Tagged. This is a free social network that allows you to view your friends’ newly uploaded Tagged photo album. Tagged encourages its users to meet strangers based on shared interests, with the idea of growing your network to meet as many people as possible.And Electronic Mailer or Email: This social site is the first step of all. Without this email address you will not be able to join any social  networking site although you have to register here as well but you can use this email as the key to join any social networking sites. I have list few advantages and disadvantages of social networking. The advantages are as follows:Easiest ConnectionThere is no easier on fastest way to make a connection than via social networking. Through such sites, individuals make new friends or business connections or extend their personal base by connecting and inter-acting with friends. These connections can help one with a variety of things such as finding romance, seeking a new job or seeking advice on personal issue or even in career.In many ways, social networking communities are the visual equivalent of meeting everywhere to exchange news and get update on friends and families. Plus, social networking websites can access anywhere around the globe. For other people it can help an individual to establish communication with their love ones and friends through which they can strengthen their relationships and knowledge.Increase News CycleSocial networking has revolutionized the speed of news cycle. Many news organizations ar e now partner with social networking sites in order to both collect and share information. You can understand what is going on in the world just by watching trending topics from many of these sites.Common InterestWhen you participate to a social networking community, you can pick and choose those individuals whose likes and dislikes are similar to yours and built your network around those who share your interestModern EncyclopediaUnlike to manual book, in social network one click of the mouse and the data you were looking for will appear in front of your eye. Assignment, definitions and research is just as easy as you hear it.There is a saying that â€Å"there’s no perfect in this world† meaning whenever there is advantages, disadvantages also comes into picture as always.So here are the disadvantages of social networking:Waste of TimeSome of the students used to spend hour in those social networking sites which can obviously degrade the student’s academic perfo rmance. Some of them may tend to use Facebook till midnight or even more because of the applications like farm ville to monitor their crops or whatever it is which can lead to health related problems. And children’s these generation spend more time in using social networking sites through which they lack to spend more time with their family.Personal RiskUse of social networking can expose individuals to harassment on inappropriate contact from others. Personal details like you full name, names of family members, birthday, address, phone numbers, schedules, place of employment, photos and etc. you can be easily stalked by strangers or even acquaintances and even identity thieves to replicate your online presence.Actions in the digital world can have far-reaching consequences in real life. Inappropriate posts on social media can have severe repercussions on a student's academic career, and students can lose jobs, internships and even interviews because of the information potent ial employers are finding out about students on their social networking accounts.Compromising and inappropriate pictures, statements or other information on student social networking accounts can hurt students' chances to gain employment. Employers take the images that students are portraying on social networking sites very seriously as a reflection of personal character.Real life ConnectionsA huge advantage of this social networking has a reverse side effect that is also a big disadvantage of social networking which is, they reduce face to face socialization. Because of autonomy afforded by the virtual word,  individuals are free to create a fantasy and pretend to be someone else. It’s incredibly easy to unfriend or unfollow someone or simply block their efforts to make a connection. Just one click of the mouse and your problems are over. Unfortunately, this feature of online socialization cheats people of the opportunity to learn how to resolve conflicts in the real world and it could retard or cripple ones social skills development.SummaryIt is true that this generation has a lot of changes together with the way of communication but it doesn’t mean that you have to be part of new ways because your own choice is what matters the most. If you decide to join or you’re already part of it, you should be and have to be responsible for your own safety. One wrong click and I’m sure all your effort will be waste.So, in evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of social networking it is best to be on the side of caution and information. Then, I would like to conclude that social networking is definitely a boon for those who are aware that they are using it for the right purpose.