Feed: Like It or Not – Online Social Networking Sites are - AggScore: 9.1

Like It or Not – Online Social Networking Sites are Here to Stay

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pHey listen Ive got 3,985 friends!ppA couple of years ago if your friend said this you would have laughed. But now you have got to believe himher because you are living in the age of Orkut and MySpace and other such online communities commonly called Social Networking Sites SNSppIn the past one decade Social Networking Sites have come up in different parts of the world catering to different languages and cultures. It is estimated that combined there are now over 200 social networking sites using these existing and emerging social networking models. Source WikipediappSocial scientists have now begun to investigate what impacts a site such as Orkut has on individuals and society. Issues such as Identity and Privacy of individuals, Elearning, Social capital and Teenage use have become hotly discussed topics among net users, educators and parents.ppGood for BusinessppSocial Networking Sites connect people, even those who are complete strangers, at a very low cost. This has proved to be beneficial for entrepreneurs and small business people looking to expand their customer base. These networks often help in customer relationship management for companies which sell products and services. A company can also use social networks for advertising in the form of banners and text ads. In a global context, social networks can make it easier to keep in touch with clients or contacts around the world.ppA study published in the Journal of ComputerMediated Communication titled Social Network Sites Definition, History, and Scholarship explains that though the first Social networking sites were developed in 1997, it was not until from 2003 that they began to be noticed in the form of a global phenomena.ppSocial network sites SNSs such as MySpace which is the most popular site in the US, Orkut, Facebook, Cyworld, and Bebo have attracted millions of users who have integrated these sites into their daily lives.ppFurthermore, as the social media and usergenerated content phenomena grew, websites focused on media sharing began implementing SNS features and became SNSs themselves. Examples include Flickr photo sharing, Last.FM music listening habits, and YouTube video sharing.ppA Global PhenomenonppAccording the above mentioned study while MySpace attracted the majority of media attention in the U.S. and abroad, SNSs were proliferating and growing in popularity worldwide. Friendster gained traction in the Pacific Islands, Orkut became the premier SNS in Brazil before growing rapidly in India, Mixi attained widespread adoption in Japan, LunarStorm took off in Sweden, Dutch users embraced Hyves, Grono captured Poland, Hi5 was adopted in smaller countries in Latin America, South America, and Europe, and Bebo became very popular in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia.ppIn the OfficeppOrkut and other SNSs have been banned or blocked by measures in many offices, especially in private companies. Managers fuss over the loss of productivity due to employees using their office hours on online networking rather doing actual work. One estimate in the UK according to The Times newspaper puts the cost to British industry at 6.5 billion per annum in lost productivity and questionable bandwidth usage. Another survey estimates that fanatics are spending as much as 12 hours per week on these sites, no doubt eating into valuable work time.ppA ThreatppDetractors of such sites emphasize potential privacy concerns, primarily concerning the safety of younger users. Personal information included on the site by young people could invite potential threats to privacy such as the ability to find out users hometown and date of birth.ppWe consider updating our profile, sending messages to friends or contacts and joining a discussion group to be a harmless pastime and indeed it is. But some people are dead serious about social networks. They consider it the end word in friendship. They use it to build reputations and virtual identities. They could have a lot of fans and they dream that they are that celebrity they are not. Neglecting responsibilities while they fuss around with their online persona will, and probably should, invite punitive actions.ppI always wonder how people can be so ignorant so as to post photos of them and their semiclad friends drinking booze late up to night. This alone could be enough to sink a reputation which has been carefully built up through all these years.ppOne mistake young people make is to think that these sites are private they are not! The content of a site is out there for folks to view and people will form opinions about them based on that content.ppGood Outweighs the BadppSo does that mean I am against Social Networking Sites No. I believe that the good far outweighs the bad. I always persuade friends who are part of any online social network to be creative and to use these networks to promote their cultural activities. In fact, people around the globe use social networking sites to build and promote projects on fighting poverty and eradicating hunger, organizing concerts, art and photo exhibitions, plus coordinating meetups for rallies.ppAdmit it. As a part of the IT industry you have to admire the growing number of tech savvy youngsters who dedicate hours to discuss and design complicated widgets and applications through these networking sites. Theyre probably neglecting some official responsibility to complete it, but the end product will be a far more valuable lesson learned, not just in computer applications, but in courage and creativity as well.ppSo in the end when you look at all the creativity, cooperation and activism being promoted in these Social Networking Sites you certainly feel hopeful for the future. SNS are here to stay and the best way for you to make it a safe place Join in yourself!phrBy Anonymous

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