Trends of Social Networking free essay sample

The Trends of Social Networking Social communication has always been a vital need to humanity. At its core, social communication did not change. People still exchange thoughts, feelings and news; however, the ways they socially communicate have radically changed. Online social networking is a recent form of social communication conducted over the internet. It witnessed a huge growth since 1997 with the first social networking website SixDegrees. com (â€Å"Boyd†). Social networking websites provide a great socializing capability for their members. Primarily, they aim at connecting people with their acquaintances from all places, at all times. Such websites attract more than 1 billion users around the globe (â€Å"List of social networking websites†). Beside for personal use, social networking websites are used for e-marketing and legal investigations. One of the most rapidly growing social networking sites is Facebook. com, with more than 80 million users and a 270% growth rate from 2006 to 2007 (â€Å"To facebook or not to facebook†). We will write a custom essay sample on Trends of Social Networking or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It was founded by an American Harvard Student, Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. Huge acquisitions offers were proposed for Facebook reaching as high as $1 billion. This big success may be attributed to Facebook’s ease of use and unique socializing features. Facebook allows users to connect to others by sharing pictures, blogs, videos, interests and more and has taken over American teens and even adults. There have been sites long before Facebook was created but this fairly new site has become the most popular today by far. Many people believe that Facebook is dangerous for users because of the amount of information that can be added on to one’s account. Also, those who oppose the use of the site feel that time should not be spent online because it takes time away from family and puts more emphasis on virtual rather than physical relationships. Others feel that this site allows for socialization and is just a way to have fun and keep in touch with others. Facebook should be allowed to be used by people under 18. It allows members to check students who are taking the same class, living within the same area, or coming from the same school. There are several reasons why Facebook should be used by teenagers. Facebook is well secured and organized website. Individuals who have an account in Facebook are now using more of their time to socialize with other people from far distance and lack of time. It makes easier to join groups having similar likes and dislikes, and can be used as a dating system. Facebook allows users to search for new and old friends, it makes less awkward when communicating with strangers or people we are not familiar with, and also why all of us should have Facebook is that it allows members to check students who are taking the same class, living within the same area, or coming from the same high school. What’s the first thing that pops in your mind when you think about MySpace? Is it friends, danger or is it drama? MySpace or facebook. com are often thought as dangerous websites because of the incidents that have happened or people have seen on TV like girls getting raped, kids getting kidnapped and teenagers getting killed because of MySpace. Now the big question is should myspace. com be restricted to people younger than 18 and only be used by people 18 and older? I personally think that it should not be because MySpace can be beneficial to all ages, a great way to keep in touch with old and new friends, and last but not least a great way to express yourself. Myspace is also another popular social network owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003. Their headquarters are based out of Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had a little over 33 million U. S. visitors. Myspace was founded in 2003. From 2005 until 2008, Myspace was the most visited social networking site in the world. In June 2006, it was the most visited site in the U. S. Despite a lot of changes the number of users decreased. Myspace. com is a very social able website and it’s not as bad as everyone tries to make it. This site is made for people to meet and find each other, listen to music, play games, write blogs and bulletins, and put up pictures within reason. When used properly, nothing bad can happen. MySpace isn’t bad for people under 18 as long as you can be smart about what you put on your MySpace and not give out too much of your information, and be careful with whom you talk to. MySpace can also be very beneficial in multiple ways. For example, if you miss a day at school and you need to get homework you can always ask a friend over MySpace what the homework assignment was or, your teacher can have a MySpace and she or he can post the assignment on MySpace that way every student knows what the assignment is another example on how MySpace can be beneficial to people. If you were like me when you heard about twitter, you probably thought it was pointless. I remember thinking â€Å"what can it do that facebook or MySpace can’t? It just seemed like another social media website to waste time on. I don’t know about you, but I waste too much time already on facebook. I assumed it was just like all the other social media websites that have come before it. Hearing of so many celebrities using it made me wonder what exactly the benefits of twitter are. Twitter lets you share information with people through short messages called â€Å"tweets. † An yone can read what you have to say by following you, or by viewing your profile. At first glance you may think it’s just a bunch of useless information that nobody would care about. When you look more closely at it you can see that there are a broad range of topics being discussed by millions of people. The information being exchanged can range from people just having a good time, to interesting and valuable information. It all depends on what you want to use it for. Twitter is especially valuable for businesses. Staying on top of the latest trend’s and what’s being said about them in real time is a very useful. It helps them more than any other social media website. They can better satisfy their customers if they know exactly what issues customer may have with their business. Being able to reach customers, and understand them so quickly makes twitter an invaluable asset to business. Catching on to twitter in the beginning can be somewhat frustrating. You look up people, or businesses you want to get updates on and follow them. It has a language of its own. You use @username to direct a message to someone, or to reply. Everyone can see this type of message. You can send a direct personal message to someone, but you both have to be following each other. Those are just the basics, and it gets even more complicated from there. It can all seem overwhelming at first, but after you get the hang of it you’ll be fine. Despite the success of online social networking, many opponents find social networking websites as great source of discomfort and risk. Social networking may lead to psychological and financial problems. But all in all as the internet becomes more of a friend then a foe we tend to rely on it from day to day. Maybe it’s because we are hooked on it, or maybe it is because in today’s society we need to have it. What will our next trend of the century be? Only one knows.