Social media such as Facebook, MySpace, Youtube and Flickr have taken over our lives and revolutionized the field of Communications. It has been predicted that within 5 years, these websites would have attracted 5 billion broadband users!
What are the advantages/ disadvantages of these new methods of sharing? What field are you in and how could you utilize these resources in your career?
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4 comments:
Advantages: Masses of information available at the click of the button...communication is now more convenient, more efficient, and more fun than ever.
Disadvantages: The internet has created a world of anonymity. Nameless, faceless, and even heartless people take the place of real personal contact and real relationships. As easy as it is to keep in contact with loved ones, it's even easier to get distracted from the simple (and good) things in life.
Like most types of techonogical advancement, mass information sites like these have adv. and disadvantages. While I enjoy being able to keep track of what all of my peeps are doing, I don't like low level of social reaction that we have these days. Instead of actually talking to someone we just text or facebook them (yes, facebook is now a verb too). I wish that my friends back in AZ would just call me once in a while instead of sending me useless crap via facebook.
Like all things technological, sites like facebook have both advantages and disadvantages. It is so easy to keep track of all of my friends, and if I need to get a hold of them but have lost their number, facebook is a lifesaver. However, now people use it as a way to get out of having to have real conversations. I would much rather have a nice 5 minute phone call with some of my friends from back in AZ than recieving hundreds of stupid aplication invitations. Our society is getting to anti-social as it is. So instead of texting or facebooking (yes, facebook works as a verb now) why can't we go back to being humans again instead of machines?
Although many of my friends and acquaintances have suggested I open an account on myspace or facebook, I do not plan on posting my face or my social circles on-line. There are a couple of reasons I have resisted the cyber-social craze of the 21st century.
The most important reason has to do with my personality. I have a strong aversion to people keeping track of me. Blame it on my up-bringing, I hate people asking with whom I have been hanging out or posting my political and romantic views on-line. Some of the friends I keep are not friends I would like to advertise. Perhaps I don't want their words or actions to in any way represent my way of life. Barack Obama will tell you what I mean. Perhaps on his facebook page (if he has one) you'll see Jeremiah A. Wright, Luis Farrakhan, and Tony Rezco. Life can be easier when not everyone knows all your friends.
The second reason: time. It is comical how much time some young adults spend on facebook or myspace. The library computers at my university campus are constantly being used for social web-sites. The face-to-face relationships people used to seek after have been replaced by some by messages on walls and on-line chatting. I have seen girls come to a social outing in the mountains for just long enough to snap some photos to show their cyber friends that they went to the mountains. These girls didn't stay more than five minutes for roasted marshmallows and games that the rest of us enjoyed.
Lastly, if I feel the urge to tell someone something, I will likely give them a call and tell them. I don't see the point in a message on a message wall.
I think computers are great and they serve their purpose as a means of practical communication. But let's face it: Facebook is nothing more than the hip version of dating web-sites like e-harmony.
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