Blog Social networking

            The technology of blog social networking is used for almost everything in today’s society from careers and businesses to personal pleasure and entertainment. Businesses use these outlets to spread word about their business. Blog social networking is beneficial to anyone with a message or a photo that they want to get out to the public. Small new restaurants that would not otherwise be known across such a huge audience such as Black Tap who got a picture of their signature milkshakes on Instagram are now one of the most popular and trending places to go. Companies research possible employee candidates to see what they could find out about their lives and how they behave before they consider hiring them. People post what they do and where they go, follow what interests them, and stay in touch with people whom may otherwise be hard to communicate with. Social networking is especially important to students in this school because there are so many international students who need to be able to contact heir families back home.

            I believe there is a dark side to these technologies. When people sign up for Facebook and other social networking services, they give up their privacy. So much of people’s personal information is released onto the Internet every day and they do not even realize it. Between intentional sharing of information and the power of social networking, you could find out almost anything about anyone in today’s society and that is pretty scary. Strangers have the power to know where you are and what you are doing, if you are home, with friends, or on vacation.  With this information, you could easily be a target and a victim both physically as well as online for identity fraud. As seen in Virginia Heffernan’s article by a previous user of Facebook is, “What especially galls him is the commercialization and corporate regulation of personal and social life. As Facebook endeavors to be the Web’s headquarters – to compete with Google, in other words, and to make money from the information it gathers – it’s inevitable that some people would come to view it as Big Brother” (Heffernan).  We see the same issue in Wharton’s article about privacy and personal security. This issue is basically summed up by the fact that, “Few of these users realize that the information they post, when combined with the new technologies for gathering and compiling data, can create a fingerprint-like pattern of behavior” (Leaving ‘Friendprints’: How Online Social Networks Are Redefining Privacy and Personal Security)

            I feel that even though these technologies have revolutionized the way we communicate, they will only get worse in the future. I personally do not use any platforms of social media and prefer not to. I see the benefits for businesses as a way for them to advertise and spread the word about what they are currently doing but I feel that it is unnecessary for people to share every moment of their lives. People use social networking to show off what they are doing and if the people you follow were your real friends, they would already be clued into the events of your life.

1.  Heffernan, Virginia. “Facebook Exodus", NY Times, August 26, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/magazine/30FOB-medium-t.html?_r=2&ref=technology

2. Knowledge@Wharton, "Leaving 'Friendprints': How Online Social Networks Are Redefining Privacy and Personal Security.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/leaving-friendprints-how-online-social-networks-are-redefining-privacy-and-personal-security/