Social Networking

Both large corporations and small business can benefit from utilizing social networking in their business models. They can interact with their customers by receiving feedback, introduce new products in a cheaper way than traditional advertising campaigns, and target their customers more easily. Also, politicians can also use social networks like Facebook and Twitter as the article, "How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power," talks about, to boost their campaigns, raise money, and let a wide audience know why they should vote for him. In personal usage, social networks allow people to keep in touch with their friends and family, share ideas and photos, and even to avoid certain people as well. Instead of obtaining news from traditional media outlets, social networking works at a much faster but is less specific in terms of content because there are character or word restrictions. This aspect encourages Twitter users, for example, to use shortened URLs instead of full length ones to share articles and images. 

One of the dark sides of social networking, in reference to the article, "Dictionary word of the year: 'Unfriend'," by Doug Gross, is that interaction between friends (or who used to be friends) becomes electronic and artificial. Misunderstandings may occur based on a Facebook status or a relationship status change. Friendships can be completely ruined because of the ambiguity that social networking offers. One of the most pressing problems of social networking is the idea of privacy and if it is possible to retain at all. I think a good rule of thumb to follow is to not post anything online that you wouldn't want the world to see because everything published online belongs to the public domain.