Social Networking

Social networking serves two purposes: first is to provide users a place for global communication; second is for business use. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish which one is the primary purpose because many social network providers have multiple business other than the social network service. 

Social networking also benefits the society in two ways. First, it improves global communication. Unlike email that require users to click-open or click-submit a message each time, social network users can have the messages displayed on the screen right away. There's distance and time limitation. Users can share their favorites at anytime. Moreover, it compromises those who have little intentional to speak. Secondly, social network helps business growth. Facebook for example, earns millions of dollars each year only from advertising; yet they still have their own developed tools that can help them generate profits such as games. 

Still, two opposites arise against the benefits that social network provides. Although it has the intention to improve communication, we live in a community and still need to face other people around us. We can't bring a little device and typing words while the two people are sitting on the same table. Speaking skill is important, no matter how unwanted one would speak. The other biggest issue about social networking is the privacy. This topic is till under debating nowadays because of the ethical issues involved. While users posting things on these websites, "few of these users realize that the information they post, when combined with new technologies for gathering and compiling data, can create a fingerprint-like pattern of behavior." according to a article called Leaving "Fingerprint":How Online Social Networks Are Redefining Privacy and Personal Security. Many users do not have the skill to check whether their personal information is being gathered for other purpose uses, even though some researches shows that "the majority of young adult users of Facebook are engaged with managing their privacy settings on the site at least to some extent", says Danah Boyd and Eszter Hargittai. 

Excluding all of these matters, we do see how social network has been evolved in recent years. For example, users can have the option to speak on these websites, which means you don't need to dial others' phone number anymore as long as you as you have a microphone.

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-Leaving "Fingerprint":How Online Social Networks Are Redefining Privacy and Personal Security
<<http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2262>>

-Who Cares About Facebook Privacy? Students Do

<<http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/who-cares-about-facebook-privacy-students-do/25877>>