Social Networking

Technology can be used effectively to benefit the corporate world as well everyday people. With the expansion of social media comes the advancement of social networking. The convenience and accessibility of the various networking platforms allows anyone and everyone to stay in tune with what is happening. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn became tools that people and corporations can use to network with counter-parties. Facebook can be used to promote your own personal image as well as a corporations through personal profiles or company pages. Twitter can be used by companies to connect with their followers more easily and allows a streamlined form of communication. This transparency and easy outreach can really help promote a company’s image. LinkedIn, much like Facebook can be used to network. However, LinkedIn has a more professional connotation to its network and can be used by companies to help prospect employees. It can also be used by employees to find the perfect job.

I think technology has a lot of benefits to society. The most important aspect of technology is that it connects us together. Technology created so many forms of communication which allow you to always be updated and facilitate has growth in society. In Frank Langfitt’s “Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting”, it highlights the fact that social networking is used heavily by professional recruiters to look for job candidates. The article specifically mentions LinkedIn which has an advanced search engine that can help both parties find a perfect match.

Even though there is a lot of upside to the increasing sophistication of technology, I still believe there is a “dark side”. My caution to the advancement in technology is exemplified in “Antisocial Networking?” written by Hilary Stout in the New York Times. It talks about the increase in texting, instant messaging and the large decrease in actual face to face communication. This change in communication creates less intimate and personal conversations and can lower all of societies “soft skills”. We have become confined to the internet and cyber communication and it has dramatically affected our ability to actually have a normal conversation. Instead of phone calls or in person chats we resort to texting or messenger applications. To me, this is the dark side to the advancement in technology. It has made communication so easy and accessible that many of us use technology instead of waiting to talk to someone in person.

For the foreseeable future I believe that technology will keep advancing and will limit how people communicate. I think a majority of people would rather text or Facebook message than actually communicate in person. This will heavily affect business, society and our world.

Sources:

Langfitt, Frank. “Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting.” 22 Nov. 2006. Web. 08 Mar. 2015.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523&sc=emaf

Stout, H. (2010, April 30). Antisocial Networking? Retrieved March 7, 2015, from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/fashion/02BEST.html?_r=0