Social Networking

Social Networking is a new form of communication that has rapidly changed the world over the past decade. With sites like Facebook and Twitter, it has become even easier to connect with family and friends especially when they are thousands of miles away. However, Social Networking comes at a price of privacy and quite possibly harassment.

Let's look at the positives first: Social Networking helps people become more aware of who they are dealing with and allows for them to make connections with people that they like or think that are worthwhile. This extends into the job market especially with sites like LinkedIn. These kinds of sites are connecting job recruiters with potential candidates that they believe are worthwhile and  likely to be beneficial to their company. Frank Langfitt says that "Social Networking technology is absolutely the best thing to happen to recruiting ever." He adds on to this claim by stating that the job application process is streamlined when using Social Networking as it would paint a better picture of a person's skills and abilities than an actual paper resume as they have the ability to check the background of the candidate and see whether he is beneficial to the company's cause.

However, with all good things, there is the "dark side" and the major dark side with Social Networking is that it can be used to hurt and harass others when abused. Jeffrey R. Young illustrates this point with the recent resurgence of college gossiping sites such as Campus Gossip which is aimed at teens and college students anonymously attacking fellow students with nasty comments and blackmail. The amount of heinous material posted on these sites really shocks the conscience, however, if authorities were to take action, they would be met with opposition as people would claim that the enforcement of restrictions on these kinds of sites impinge on their right to free speech as declared by the First Amendment. The way that I see it is that it is a lose-lose situation for both the person who is being harassed and society itself for allowing these deplorable sites to continue.

The best way for Social Networking technology to continue is to find a balance between communication and privacy. With sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, it may be easier to connect with others, but it comes at the price of exposure for harassment and blackmail. I also believe that some measure must be created to limit the influence of social gossiping sites to better society as a whole. If you have any thoughts or questions: feel free to comment down below.

Sources:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523&sc=emaf
www.chronicle.com/article/Theyre-BackTheyre-B/48220/