Social Networking

For the most part, I believe that social networking sites are a positive aspect of social media. Aside from allowing people to connect on a personal level that was never possible before, it also introduces new opportunities for businesses. Even colleges such as Baruch are using websites such as Twitter to keep their students as updated as possible!

Take, for example, the New York Times article "Being There" by Virginia Heffernan. In it, she talks about the infamous Facebook status updates, and addresses the question, "What makes a great status update? " And it's true, we all have people who's statuses we sincerely look for on our news feed, we all have our favorites. However, it's also incredibly useful for your long distance friends and relatives. Almost all of my close friends go away to school, but keeping an eye on their statuses let's me know whether or not they're okay. Additionally, it helps my mother (who is unfortunately on Facebook now) keep an eye on me and my sister when we're not in the house.

On the other side of the spectrum, there's the benefit social networking poses to businesses. The NPR article, "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting" by Frank Langfitt talks about the benefits employers are getting out of social networking websites such as Myspace and Facebook. Now, sending in your resume and cover letter is not the end of the application process. Once a company has your first and last name, they are blessed with the opportunity to look you up on Facebook and Myspace, A positive Facebook, with no pictures of that kegstand you did last weekend, or citing your favorite movie as "Edward Penishands", can get you hired. A page that has some of those components can be detrimental to a candidate that otherwise was perfect on paper.

Personally, I think this is bull. That might be because I'm a party animal in my personal life and I don't mind drunkenly posing for a picture or two every now and again. My Facebook is reflective of my personal life and I don't intend for it to be judged from the perspective of a work environment. I feel that this applies to a lot of people, especially students. However, perhaps that is the dark side of social networking, because a picture says 1,000 words and I'm not exactly going to place a text disclaimer on every drunk picture of myself saying "I swear I'll never show up to work like this!"