Social Networking

The world has progressed a great deal over the time. Old technology is constantly being replaced by new technology and methods. One of the new additions in technological world is Social networking. Social networking is a popular phenomenon these days. It has been widely used by people around the globe.  J. Ruker, a web blogger, traditionally defines social network as “An association of people drawn together by family, work or hobby.”

However, this traditional explanation has now expanded to become computer based, which includes customers of the company that you are working at, your favorite celebrities and politicians. Some of the famous social-networking websites such as My Space, Facebook and twitter are popularly used by all and sundry around the globe. This phenomenon started with the advent of the internet. However, according to Ellison Boyd, it took the shape of social networking with the launch of sixsigma.com in the year 1997 and has been expanding since then.

                These social networking websites are functioning in many various ways. It has became a big platform where users interact with new people, companies use direct marketing strategy on their target market with the help of advertisement and publicity of their products by famous celebrities. Moreover, social networking is also helping users to find new jobs and make connections with recruiters. As in the article Social NetworkingTechnology Boosts Job Recruiting by Frank Langfitt, “Professional recruiters have started hunting for job candidates using social networking technology.” In the same article, Maureen Crawford-Hentz recruits for Osram Sylvania says, "Social networking technology is absolutely the best thing to happen to recruiting — ever."

                The influence of social networking on masses can be measured with the help of President Barack Obama campaign for 2008 elections. David Carr in his article, How Obama Tapped into Social Networks’ Power, writes, “The Obama campaign did not invent anything completely new. Instead, by bolting together social networking applications under the banner of a movement, they created an unforeseen force to raise money, organize locally, fight smear campaigns and get out the vote that helped them topple the Clinton machine and then John McCain and the Republicans.”  

                On the other side, there are certain issues related with social networking. One of them is privacy. Almost all social networking websites sells the information of their users to companies for different purpose, example, marketing strategy. Secondly, there are quite clear chances of identity theft with the help of hacking in someone else account. To protect users some such events, the social networking are working hard and coming with new ideas and privacy settings. In addition to this, few people also think that due to these websites, the physical interaction between people is decreasing and such websites are waste of time also.

                However, the way technology is advancing and new methods are being introduced, it won’t take long for something new to replace these social networking websites. To extend  their cycle, the developers of these websites are constantly working on new updates so the users don’t switch to something new in near future.