Social Networking

Social networking sites have become a staple in both our personal and professional worlds. The uses of social networking media are endless, with great benefits, and of course risks as well.

It's a common jumping off point for dating and new relationships, even yours truly has a few ex boyfriends care of them (though I suppose their "ex" connotation doesn't fare well with my use and judgment in using it). For many people, it's a great "pre-screening" alternative to meeting a random person at a bar or nightclub. You can do some research on their activities, hobbies, network of friends, etc. At the same time, this may keep you from actually stepping outdoors and meeting new people by actually, you know, DOING something. So I suppose everything in moderation is the key.

Students use it to create their own mini network of students in their school. You can know/have a group of friends at school before ever stepping foot on campus! It's a great social support mechanism for students. However, having such easy access to a large number of students can make you more easily victimized by potential classmates. The recent tragedy at Rutgers University is a very harsh reminder of those risks.

Recruiters can peruse professional-focused websites like Linked In to find not just viable candidates, but better candidates than they could normally reach. It multiplies their network and candidate options exponentially. As LinkedIn founder Konstantin Guericke stated in a 2006 NPR article entitled Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting, "With social networking, I don't need to go to Bob directly to find out who Bob's friends are. Or Bob's friends' friends. So, effectively, I have a thousand contacts that could potentially lead me to 100,000, now I have 8,500 contacts that could potentially lead me to 4.5 million."

At the same time, both recruiters and companies can investigate potential new employees by exploring their Facebook, MySpace, Linked In, etc profiles, to get a more in-depth knowledge of these candidates. This is great for employers, but can be damaging to employment candidates. If you found yourself in a compromising photo, etc when you were 17/young and stupid, that photo can easily be lingering in social media somewhere, and permanently damaging to your reputation as a professional. Our "young and stupid" phase now has the potential for permanent consequences.

Companies use it to help employees within or across locations to discuss, collaborate, and help evolve the process of learning and decision-making. Coming up and implementing new strategies can now take a fraction of the time and effort, since they can pool together a very large network of employees. Companies can also use it to market products (we've seen countless Facebook profiles for products), get consumer feedback, etc.

Politicians, like Barack Obama, can use social media to reach a wider audience at a much lower cost, while at the same time allowing for a more interactive and up-to-date experience for followers and supporters. Instead of being fed information through quickly out-dated info, supporters find themselves getting up-to-the-minute info, being able to easily and widely voice opinions, participate and even plan events. It's the modern twist on grassroots politics. In an interesting NY Times article published Nov.9, 2008, entitled The Media Equation, How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks' Power, Ranjit Mathoda astutely noted, "Senator Barack Obama understood that you could use the Web to lower the cost of building a political brand, create a sense of connection and engagement, and dispense with the command and control method of governing to allow people to self-organize to do the work.”

It's hard to imagine any facet of our modern life that DOESN'T involve social media. Even government agencies have Facebook profiles/pages. So what does the future of these technologies hold for us? Perhaps one day, instead of turning on our usual, standard morning news shows before leaving for the office, we will turn on the TV for our personalized, customized, socially networked news show - content and layout completely tailored to the individual!