Social Networking
Social networking has
become the mainstream by now. The term refers to the use of social media
websites and apps like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and the
list goes on. A common characteristic of
all social medias is the network effect which means that with the increased
numbers of people in the network the value of the goods and services, the ideas
and shared experiences increases as now there are more people in the same
network with the same interests.
The social networking is
a great tool for reaching out to a large
audience when you want to get a message across.
These techniques are available to everybody and have been used by
corporations, politicians, digital marketers, and common citizens. Being on
social media has become a very effective and low-cost way of reaching someone
who shares similar interests with you. In his article “How
Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power”, David Carr describes how social
media platforms were used by the Obama campaign and were the main
contributing factor to his reelection. And all at virtually zero cost. Compare
that to the $120 million spent by the Hillary campaign. Fast forward to 2016,
President Trump famous with his midnight Tweets is another president benefiting
from the networking possibilities of social media. In addition, it is hard to
come across a company website, or business card that does not contain a social
media logo somewhere. Some corporations even have created military like rooms
with the sole purpose of Social Media Listening (SML). And why are all
businesses there – because that is where almost every individual is nowadays. Individuals
hashtag, tag, join groups, make comments and reviews trying to exchange
information and help each other.
There is a dark side too. It starts with losing your
privacy immediately after joining a social media. You are now a subject to a
variety of algorithms that are trying to deliver insights to their owners of
how you could be targeted more successfully. An article published by University
of Pennsylvania describes how Facebook and LinkedIn have been first analyzing
the data of their members for use in their own business processes and then then
have been selling it for additional revenue to 3rd parties.
Another dark side is the fact that participants often take
an advice from their group who might not be a qualified professional. Hence,
such advice may be counterproductive and even harmful.
From my perspective, one of the most negative effects is in
the realm of review and rating sites. While an opinion expressed from
experience is a extremely valuable, the way recommendation engines work creates
a situation in which the same goods and services are always on top and it is
hard for a equally good product that is a new comer to penetrate the market. It
creates a winner-take-all system in which the few benefit by a lot.
It is hard to imagine how social networking will look like
in the future. As we remember from the materials of the first lecture, many
predictions about technology couldn’t have been further from the truth. What I
would like to see though is the government to catch up on regulations about
online privacy and for the consumer to become more educated on the
opportunities and threats of social networking.
Works Cited:
Carr, David. (2008, Nov 9). How Obama
Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power.
Retrieved
from: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/business/media/10carr.html?auth=login-email&login=email
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