Social Networking

It should not be surprising that the use of social networking is vastly increasing in our society because of its many benefits. Some of the obvious benefits of this type of technology are its ability to keep friends, and family in touch with one another. Physical barriers such as distance are no longer an issue and it is effortless to reach out to an old friend or just stay in touch with your current friends. Another not so obvious benefit of social networking can be found in Heather Timmons's article "In India, Using Facebook to Catch Scofflaw Drivers".  Police in New Delhi, India have used Facebook to collaborate with citizens who can post pictures of wreck less drivers in order to help make the traffic filled streets safer.  In this case another benefit of Social Networking is to moderate illegal activity, such as wreck less driving.

 One way corporations are starting to use Social Networking is as a way to recruit people for jobs. People can find better jobs and corporations can find better workers. Professional recruiters are finding it easier to use social network sites such as LinkedIn as oppose to a traditional rolodex. In Frank Langfitt's article "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting" Shally Steckerl along with other corporate headhunters have found that by using social networking sites they can vastly increase the size of their rolodex. With social network sites Steckerl can see directly who his all contacts friends are without having to call them first; therefore if Steckerl has 8500 contacts this could potentially lead to him to have as many as 4.5 million leads when looking to fill a job slot.  

Sadly there is a "dark side" to Social Networking which is its lack of privacy. Social Networking makes it easier for you to stay connected with others but it also makes it easier for unwanted people to find information about you. These people include corporations, predators, and identity thieves. The article "Leaving 'Friendprints': How Online Social Networks Are Redefining Privacy and Personal Security" revealed that with simply a person's name, date of birth, and list of friends a person can be at risk for identity theft. Even if a person’s profile uses privacy settings it doesn’t necessarily mean they are protected because their friends profile may not be as secure. Another downside with regard to lack of privacy is the lack of separation between corporate and personal use. As mentioned earlier LinkedIn is popular among corporations to recruit new employees, however there isn’t much to stop a corporation from seeing your casual persona such as your Facebook profile which in turn may affect the outcome of you getting hired or not.

Social networking has come a long way and still seems to be getting more intricate and advanced.  One possible way for Social networking to evolve is by incorporating the technology of voice over  internet protocol. By using VOIP social networking sites can bring back more human interaction by allowing friends to talk directly to each other as if they were on a phone call, or possibly make it so they can incorporate chartrooms where multiple friends can have a conversation where they can just talk and avoid chat messages.