Effects of the Social Networking on the Web - Literature review Example

Effects of the social networking on the web Online social networking sites have had a variety of uses in the recent past such as communication with families and friends and even making it possible to meet strange people and make new friends. This has had a significant impact on the way people communicate and associate with each other through writing or even through voice communications. For those who are common user of the social network domain, the cost of making and maintaining relationships with other people is not a problem as they can do it even without face-to-face interaction with these people making communication cheaper. The history of social network communication can be traced back to the periods when people made friends in the past few years through the making of pen pals whereby these people would maintain long term and long distance relationships without actually having seen each other. The recent developments in the online social network domain have created more room for the development of the capacity to communicate more easily with families and friends in far off distances and in different geographical locations on the earth’s surface. Despite all seeming advantages that have come with the use of the social networks, recent researches in the domain show that the system has had negative challenges alongside the positive effects on the way people interact and relate with each other. This paper will look at the effects of the social networks on the society taking into consideration both the positive and the negative effects of the same. On a positive note, the network domain has made communication between various people in different regions of the world more effective and efficient. This has been made possible by the use of emails where people can send and receive mails online, besides, the mails can be sent using either a computer connected to the internet or just an intranet, mobile telephones, fax machines among others. Compared to the past, the use of the internet sources to communicate among various people around the world has proved to be cheaper and reliable. It takes less than a minute to send an email, a short text on the phone or to fax somebody who is very far away from the other. Beer argues that in the olden days before the invention of networking, sending and receiving simple messages was a rather hard task to complete especially when the distances involved was great. The messengers would take a number of days or even months to reach their destinations a factor that could lead to the loss or distortion of the messages before they reached the intended recipients. This problem has been solved by the oncoming of the networking process. Today, message can just be sent and received just by a single stroke on the button or a key on the communication gadgets such as computers, phones and fax machines (Beer 523). With the coming of the improvements in the communication systems in the society, the strength of the friendship ties has been improved. People are able to keep close contact with their friends and relatives in the distant lands thereby strengthening the bonds of kinship ties. Moreover, the development of the social sites such as the Facebook, and Twitter, among others commonly used network domains are of great importance to the human race as long as one knows how to use these sites. Because of this, long lost friends have found each other on Facebook book and a happy re-union has been made some of which are beneficial to the users. Besides, the introduction of mobile phones in the communication domain has improved a lot the communication system among various people across the globe. Today, one is able to carry his or her mobile phone and use it wherever he or she wants at any time. Largely, mobile communication efficiently improved the communication sector as one must not own a post box or have access to the telephone booth in order to send and receive messages. At present, almost ninety percent of the adult persons across the globe communicate using the internet media such as Facebook and Twitter. The most recent developments in the communication media have been dominated by the majority of the youths in colleges and at high school levels. These younger generations are able to exchange ideas and knowledge on various topics concerning their fields of specialization. Today one may not require going to class in order to teach or just attend a lecture. This can be done at home on the computer just by a simple and gentle strike on the keys of the computer while at home. Video conferencing has enabled the online or electronic learning more possible (Kraut, Patterson and Landmark 1021). People can therefore attend classes online amidst attending to other duties for example a lecturer connected to an online network can teach all his lessons while at work in his or her office and the students receive the teachings on their computers. Notes can then be submitted through emails and questions asked and answered appropriately. This has made the learning process more convenient, cheap and reliable making it easy for people to attain education while at work and without wasting time in attending classes. Moreover, the learning and the acquisition of knowledge has become even cheaper with the use of internet search engines such as Google, and Yahoo and other internet sources where one can get virtually everything on every topic in any academic and non-academic fields. Knowledge on various issues can therefore be gained from the internet by simply pressing a key on the computer keyboard or by simply clicking on an icon on the computer window. People are therefore able to carry out researches on the internet by browsing to know what other people are saying about a particular topic or field of study. The knowledge bank can therefore be improved just by reading online books without having to go to the library. The online library saves on the time that would have been used in commuting with the physical library. In addition to all these, the internet working has enabled online business operations across the globe, in what is referred to as e-commerce. Businesspersons are able to market their products online through the net for their esteemed consumers who are made aware of the products and services that a given company offers. Online purchases can then be made by the customers and the purchased good shipped to the customer. According to Nickole and Matt, this saves on the time spent by the consumer while going to the market to make purchases as well as the seller carrying his or her products to the market (Nickole and Matt 3). Online selling and buying is also cheaper as compared to the open-air business. One does not have to meet the costs of transport to and from the market but rather sells his or her goods under closed-door conditions. Only shipping costs are met in this case making the buying process a bit cheaper for the customer as well as the seller. The buyers and the sellers in a business deal can nowadays meet on the social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, and bargain on the costs of the purchased products with a lot of ease and convenience. Besides, customer can be able to view the product he or she wants to purchase making sure that the deal signed is secure and his or her money is not swindled somewhere by an unknown thief. The details of the company selling are also available on the net to increase the customers’ security from hackers and swindlers. Despite the social network being of such great importance to the global communities, researchers have noticed that other social sites such as Facebook, MySpace and other social sites have posted a lot of threat to the people using them. The use of Facebook to communicate among various people in the entire world has proved to be detrimental to the users due to the flaws that come with it. Despite Facebook stating on their private policy statement that they keep the information posted on their sites private and only release them when one agrees to do so, it has been realized that the information posted on Facebook are not kept as private as the users may think. Unauthorized persons are able to access the information placed on their pages without the owner’s consent. “While providing you with controls that restrict other third parties from accessing your information, we allow you to choose the information you provide to friends and networks through Facebook. Our network architecture and your privacy settings allow you to make informed choices about who has access to your information. We do not provide contact information to third party marketers without your permission. We share your information with third parties only in limited circumstances where we believe such sharing is 1) reasonably necessary to offer the service, 2) legally required or, 3) permitted by you1” (Facebook). It has been noted that the privacy statement enlisted above is not guaranteed and Facebook does not take any responsibility of any kind to minimize access of private information by unauthorized persons on the net. This is evident in the case of a graduate of Louisiana State University as provided by Nickole and Matt, supposedly the graduate who went to an interview and was shocked hearing his employers questioning him about the information he posted on his Facebook profile “During the interview, something he was not prepared for happened. The interviewer began asking specific questions about the content of his Facebook listing and the situation became very awkward and uncomfortable. The student had thought that only those he allowed to access his profile would be able to do so.” (Nickole and Matt 4) The social networks therefore pose security threats on the information posted by the users on their profiles making private information shared between people more public than was expected. On the other hand, this access of private information on the net has been of great benefits to the employers as they are able to discern important information from the social sites. These information they can use to employ only the appropriate and prospective employees as noted by DeGroot et al, “… an executive recruiter, says a candidate to become a chief financial officer was found to have a gambling problem. We actually found it out and tracked his profile back to an online gambling site on the Web. Now, you have to ask yourself, whats that have to do with his job?2” (DeGroot et al 36). The social networking system has also caused problems for the teenage adolescents who are increasingly being involved in the use of social sites to communicate with known persons as well as to meet and make new friends online. This exposes many young people to form unhealthy relationships with unknown people and keep this secret to their parents posing a lot of danger for them. Some of the people with whom the young generation makes close ties with are equally dangerous not only to them but also to other people relating to them (Allen et al 48). In conclusion, the social networking process has been of great benefits to the global community in a countless number of ways. It has indeed improved the communication fields, the business fields as well as the learning and education fields. However, the network also poses pending flaws that remain unresolved especially for the young generation as well as the challenges of insecurity on private information posted on these sites by the users. Works cited Allen, J.P., et al. "Development Psychology." Adolescents Peer Relationships and BehaviorProblems Predicted Young Adults Communication on Cocial Networking Websites. 46.1 (2010): 46- 56. Beer, D. "Social Network(ing) Sites... revisiting the story so far. A response to Dannah Boyd and Nickole Ellison." Journal on Computer Mediated Communication 13 (2008): 516- 529. DeGroot, J.M., et al. "Communication Research." Attitudes Towards Online Social Connection and Self- Disclosure as Predictors of Facebook Communication and Relational Closeness. 38.1 (2011): 27- 53. Facebook. "Facebook Private Policy." (2006). Kraut, R.E., M. Patterson and V. Landmark. "Internet Paradox." A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well- being? 53 (1998): 1017- 1032. Nickole, Kennedy and Macko Matt. "Social Networking on the Global domain." Social networking privacy and its effects on employment opportunities 23.4 (2010): 2- 5. Read More