In this day and age, more and more people are using social networking sites. Statistics show that in a one year period, use of social networking sites ballooned. In June 2006, Facebook had a total of 14,083,000 unique visitors; in June 2007 this figure had increased to a whooping 52,162,000 – an user increase of 270% (Lipsman, 2008).
It appears that I had missed out on this social phenomenon. I had previously signed up to Facebook before starting this course, but I very rarely checked it. Facebook though isn’t the only social networking site out there. A quick look on Wikipedia reveals a list of many other popular social networking sites http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites
As a method of evaluating social networking sites I also signed up to the following:
Google Calendar,
FlickR,
Last.Fm,
Twitter,
Del.icio.us, and of course
Blogger
Facebook
It hardly needs an introduction; it has taken the online social networking world by storm. Facebook allows users to find friends, join interests groups, share photos, and play games with their friends. There are probably a few more aspects of Facebook, however, I haven’t gone in depth with it.
Google Calendar
As the name suggests, Google Calendar is a way in which people can put in their daily events. Users are then able to share their calendar so others can look over it. Google Calendar also allows the user to show their friends calendars. A user is also able to import other calendars that Google provide such as TV show listings, Events, Sports and Entertainment. It also allows for National Public holidays to be imported easily.
FlickR
FlickR allows users to publish their photos online and share them with the FlickR community, it allows people to have the work critiqued, or just simply viewed by others.
Last.Fm
Twitter
Twitter is site that revolves around following people and telling them what you are currently doing. Twitter allows users to receive updates via its webpage or via a mobile phone.
Del.icio.us
Allows users to save their bookmarks and share with everyone, they can also add tags to bookmarks so people can search a particular tag and see a range of sites that have been associated with that tag.
Blogger
Blogger allows people to write down their thoughts and feelings without limitation. They can make their thoughts open to the entire public or they can limit their blog to particular people.
This article will focus on how the social networking websites lead to positive and negative outcomes.
I may have signed up for about 6 of these social networking sites but I really only used three; Last.fm, Facebook and Twitter. To engage in FlickR, a user has to upload photos to use that properly. This must have been where I went wrong. Google Calendar - well apparently no one cared what I was doing on a day to day basis. As for Del.icio.us I can really see its usefulness but not as much in social networking, I just liked the fact my bookmarks are now accessible from any computer.
First of all the negatives, I think I have a slight addiction to Last.Fm. I like to check what music my friends have been listening to, what artists I have been listening to the most. I also like to check out my neighbours, see what I have in common with them and see what new music they can introduce me to. Although, I don’t believe my addiction to be as bad as one individual; J.W Sass, a self confessed social networking addict. His has blogged details of his time in rehab – he should have completed just 28 days but instead he is up to 191 days, his blog can be found at http://socialnetworkingrehab.blogspot.com/ (This link is not a serious site but damn good for a laugh)
Then there is Facebook. There are only so many likeness tests, movie quizzes, Vampire invitations, which one man can take. That was my negative experience with Facebook; I have certain friends and family members who must spend a large portion of their day on Facebook as I continuously receive an over abundance of invitations, quizzes, etc. This has made me not want to use the service. However it appears that my negative experiences with Facebook are nothing compared to what some other have gone through http://facebookaddiction.com/facebook-and-the-law/ (This link provides some stories where people have had run ins with the law).
However, I have had a positive experience using Facebook. I have managed to reconnect with some friends of mine that I haven’t seen in about 6 years. I now live about 2000 Km a way from where I went to school, so it’s not like I am in town everyday to catch up with these people. I guess another positive for me was that I didn’t become addicted to Facebook, apparently its becoming quite addictive with people almost being obsessive compulsive about checking Facebook. (Osbourne, 2007)
Then finally there is Twitter, unlike Facebook I knew no one on this previously and I haven’t introduced any of my friends who aren’t taking this course to it. I feel as if I am more connected to fellow students from the course, we managed to organise a pub crawl on it for instance. However Twitter didn’t really gain my interest. Though, I know many of the users, it’s not like they are my good friends so I really didn’t care what they are doing most of the time. Also I didn’t want to put my phone number into twitter as I had seen others who had and they were constantly bombarded by text messages.
So in conclusion it can be seen that social networking sites can be used to gain both positive and negative outcomes. People can catch up with friends, make new friends and also have a idea of what their friends are up if they haven’t had a chance to communicate to each other directly. Negative outcomes do occur at times but the positive benefits would surely outweigh the negatives in a majority of cases. And if one feels the any negative effects - stop using that social networking site...simple.
Works Cited
Lipsman, A. (2008, July 31). Social Networking Goes Global. Retrieved March 21, 2008, from ComScore - Measuring the Digital World: http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1555
Osbourne, D. (2007, November 05). Young becoming addicted to social networking sites. Retrieved March 22, 2008, from News.com.au: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22705712-2,00.html
12 comments:
A good summary
The article does includes many of your personal opinions and experience on the particular SNS.
I can rise up pictures in my head when read it, and can feel the process of your experience.
Good~ ^^
I think one of the best positive outcomes is a site like facebook allows a new way for shy people, new international students, etc to meet other people in their class and make new friends. it can really open up people's worlds more.
I understand how addicting, Last FM can be especially when it comes to seeing what your friends listen to, and whether or not you have similar music tastes.
I also understand your reasons for not wanting to connect your phone to twitter. I am one of those people in our course, who connected my phone to twitter and got several messages from twitter daily that it filled my inbox. I've now turned my notifications off to my phone so that I don't get messages from every person I follow.
I must be the only one that is very disinterested in these sites.
Yes, they allow you to communicate with your friends and find out about their likes and dislikes.
But why not just talk to them, either over the phone or on MSN?
For me Last.FM is only vaguely interesting, though I did get distracted a bit today with some music videos that I haven't seen.
Jarrad Webber - 41209141
I'm surprised that you did have some useful experiences with SNS like facebook. But of course I live within a 10min drive of almost all my friends.
Critique:
I think you clearly set out and stated your points. This coupled with coupled with your clear views made this a good read that portrays your feelings for SNS's well.
Your part about reconnecting with friends you hadn't seen in years is a perfect example of social networking actually doing something constructive instead of just taking up time. I managed to find some primary school friends using Facebook and actually organized to hang out even though we hadn't been in contact with each other for something like 5 years. Also the pub crawl was the best use of twitter I have seen so far.
Well done pete, a nice overview of your experience with these sites. I like seeing that most people are in agreeance with Facebook being annoying. Good to know it's not just me and my anti-social evilness. Last.Fm seems to be doing well on the other hand it's good to see you experienced a positive experience with something you used.
I like how you gave a little detail about the links you referenced (like this). Because usually, I can't be bothered looking at stuff other ppl used for research.
I agree with the Facebook apps, but the weird thing is I never deleted my invites, in case the person who invited me saw that as an insult. ^^;
@Daexkor - it really comes into its own when you get some distance between you and your friends. Life changes and you lose touch with people - sometimes unintentionally - so its a nice surprise when someone you haven't heard from for years gets in contact. You still then have the opportunity to accept or reject them. (I just heard from two friends from high school last week who I was really happy to hear from).
I have to admit that I was addicted to facebook for a short while. I managed to find some old friends from My graduating class of 03 and found out some are getting married some have kids... etc
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