Scial Networking

Social Networking media has becoming more of our everyday life. In fact, social networking media has been seen as a substitute to traditional socializing such as to make friends. More or less, we all use social networking media to communicate and interact with our friends. Even businesses have been adapting to this new technology which together we allowed the power of social networking to continue to grow.

Social networking on the Internet enhances how businesses market themselves, branding, and interact with potential leads. For example, the majority of Facebook users publish and update their personal information and before they know it, they are creating a behavior pattern that is available to the public on the Internet. In the article "Leaving 'Friendprints'", Shawndra Hill says that "a person's pattern of behavior on various networks can reveal tell-tale signatures, similar to fingerprints...that can be used to solve a wide range of business challenges". Another example that these technology tools changed business is the effect on the recruiting process. A more professionally used website very similar to that of Facebook is LinkedIn. Recruiters have been shifting the traditional process of waiting for the right candidates to they are now actively tracking down for the right candidates through social networking site. Shally Steckerl who recruits talents for Microsoft says in the article "Social Networking Technology" mentions that "with LinkedIn, he can find people faster using a vastly increased network of contacts". Therefore, social networking technologies have drastically changed the way business are conducted in ways to save time and resources.

However, there is always two sides to everything including social networking technologies. As much as the new technologies impact businesses and our everyday life positively, it is also threatening the boundaries to personal privacy. It raises the questions of privacy on social networking website such as Facebook. In the article "Leaving 'Friendprints'", Lance Hoffman who is a computer science professor at George Washington University mentions that "just a person's name and birth date - routinely found on a Facebook profile - can be a useful lever for an identity thief". In another article about Facebook privacy by Rebecca Greenfield says that "...if you really don't want intimate photos out there, don't put 'em on Facebook. But also, don't expect to hide something if you do - everything can be shared and re-shared these days". Nothing we post on social media can be hided because once it is out there, the chances of it being re-posted or shared is no longer within the control of the original publisher.

Regardless of the many positive and potentially dangerously negative impacts that social networking media contains, it will continue to take a role in our everyday life. As it is used more as an entertainment channel than a professional tool, the only way for social networking technologies to evolve is to become more official to use in the professional world.