Social Networking

I can't imagine a world without social networking. It is such a major part of people's lives today and it has become a way of life. In Being There: The subtle art of the Facebook update, by Virginia Heffernan. The New York Times Magazine, Feb 15, 2009, p. 25.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15wwln-medium-t.html we see that updating our Facebook status can be a very good way to express ourselves and a great way to see what our friends are up to. I don't know if this is a good or bad thing. We all have that friend we wish we could delete off our list for all those annoy updates of what she ate 10 mins ago! But I must admit some updates do render a good laugh. Even on a bad day you can post a rant and be comforted by a friend's comment on your post.

Social networking is also used by businesses to drive sales. On my Facebook account I "like" many pages of businesses. Daily there are posts of new products, promotions and even questions asking for our feedback. This is a way for consumers to stay in the know. I can tell my mom when Old Navy posts a coupon for $10 off which would save her money. I can also see what new fashion trends are coming up for the next season. In this way social networking is beneficial to us. Besides that it helps to spread awareness for many different causes. Raising money for Cancer research is a good example. By just re-posting a message you can help generate money for this worthy cause. This simple act can go a long way in a world where everyone is on the go 24/7 and just don't have the time to go out and advocate on the streets. Many people can be reached and at a faster rate than any other method.

There is a dark side to social networking. In the article Amazon Says Error Removed Listings" By MOTOKO RICH, The New York Times, April 14, 2009, p. B1. Available at:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/technology/internet/14amazon.html we see where Amazon had a "glitch" in their system that caused a vast number of books to be misplaced from the sales ranking on the site. It affected gay and lesbian themed books, which was the reason Amazon came under fire for trying to censor the books. This caused a frenzy on Twitter which made it the a high ranking topic. This negatively affected Amazon's reputation and not to mention their sales. There was even a call for boycott. A hacker claimed he was responsible for planting the bug, which is also a prevalent problem in social networking. If this was true then this malicious act was the cause for such chaos and upset. The future for social networking holds new innovations. We can look forward to many changes, newer apps with very cool features and even more growth. Perhaps their might be something bigger and better than Facebook. We have all come to have high expectations from today's fast growing information age.