Social Networking

1613 Words4 Pages

In recent years, social networking has grown to encompass many parts of our lives. It is advertising, and sharing ideas, and news, and entertainment, all at the same time. It impacts careers, personal lives, daily social interactions, even the things we buy. It also impacts our self-esteem and self-control. In the same way that positive and negative reinforcement has always worked, it works on social networks, sometimes with unintended consequences.
Prior to the new millennium, when you wanted to share news with a friend or family member, the phone was the method of choice for most people. Or maybe you would receive a letter with some big news. Whichever way you found out, it took time, and once you were made aware, the only record of it was what you, yourself, kept. You shared what you want, with who you want, and only who you want. While that is still possible on social networks, it is much harder to accomplish.
Fast-forward to the present. We have Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and many others. These sites allow us to keep in touch with family and friends, coworkers, acquaintances, or any other group. You can let the world know exactly what you are doing, when you are doing it, and where. And you can see exactly what the world is doing, when they are doing it, and where. When you look at it, it doesn’t seem like there is too much privacy.
All of the concepts that exist in real life, or face to face, social interactions, exist on social media. Sometimes, these concepts get skewed, sometimes, the function exactly the same. And I think that much of that has to do with not being able to process how all of your “friends” on you social media site will feel about what you say on your page. I have hundreds of friends on ...

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...ng in moderation.
I personally agree with the final article I read. Moderation and common sense are the best way to approach using social networking. Use it, but make sure that only the people you know will appreciate something, can see that thing. Online you can be anyone you want to anyone you want, and different people to each person you know online. It all depends on how you cordon of your information. Your coworkers and bosses, and your parents, don’t need to see your pictures or posts of a night of drunken fun with friends. Your work doesn’t need to see your family drama, and vice versa. So after researching and writing this paper, I think I need to go back and look at my own social networking pages, and group people the way they should be grouped, and make sure that only the people who need to see a certain update, or picture, or post, can see it.

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