What's Social Networking?
Facebook. Twitter. Google+. Instagram. YouTube.
These are common places where you can find anyone at any given time posting, reading, and being updated about, well, life. Whether big or small, important or juvenile, it's out there. Whether it's a Facebook wall post on your Timeline, a Tweet posted to your followers, or a picture taken and posted (and effectively edited as such) it's out there for the world to see.
Can anyone remember a time without the world of social networking? Remember times when playing outside with friends? Actually making phone calls to people, and talking on the phone?
I think we all remember the days of MySpace, and the sweeping effect it had on the generations. I remember having my MySpace profile through high school, and being hesitant to switch to this new thing, Facebook... which at the time was only for college students. I remember only getting a Facebook account because I thought it would be something required by teachers, or something to that effect. Eventually that snow-balled, and then Twitter took off It took noticeably longer for me to get a Twitter account, and even now after having it for a few years I'm just now about to cross 1,700 tweets.
So what effect has the social networking had? Well I think it's pretty obvious if you look at what goes on around us. Pretty much everything now has a Twitter Account, Facebook fan page, Instagram account, Google+ account (although more uncommon than the rest), and a YouTube page for videos. People and companies offer perks and the like if you follow them on Twitter, or Like their page on Facebook.
Pretty amazing to think about how this stuff didn't exist even 6 years ago.
The one thing that is off-putting is how people judge friendships off of social networking. If you don't like a status (or even just read a status), it's like the end of the world in some cases. It's like people judge their whole friendships off of some form of a social network site. If your friendships are solely based off these websites, then I highly suggest you evaluate your friendships and see what they truly mean.
I don't notice it so much in people my age or my friends, but in a lot of younger folks, it's like their whole lives are put online. There's nothing more annoying than to see someone put everything about themselves on the Internet. I mean, where's the good in getting to know someone if all I have to do is go look at their Facebook profile and learn everything, even without knowing them? The whole part of making friends is in the getting to know you phase. At least, that's what I like.
And that pulls me into my next thing..... putting everything out there. I don't understand why people put themselves out there so far. You can't complain about privacy and a lack thereof when you have a public Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, you censor nothing you say or even act as if you're cognizant of what you put out there, and just pretend like it's all okay. I know of too many people that do this, and frankly it's annoying.
The one thing I always talk about is privacy. The easiest way to make sure your life is private is, in some cases, not putting everything out there for the world to see. More often than not, it's just easier. I don't put anything online I wouldn't want my family to see or know about. Everything I put up is perfectly safe for public viewing, and even that is more private. My Facebook isn't open for the world to see. My Twitter account is locked, so I have to accept any followers. My Instagram and Google+ accounts are both open, but again, one's something I accidentally opened, and the other is a social network based off of pictures. I'm not entirely worried.
Remaining cognizant of what you put online is the whole point. It's very easy to just avoid doing the stupid thing and putting up something that you don't want the whole world to know about. That's why all these other websites exist that poke fun at these people. You put it out there for the whole world to see, you can't be upset that the whole world does see it.
Social Networking has created a whole different scenario in today's world, where it unfortunately controls a lot of what we do. I'm smart in how I handle myself on them. Sure, I have my slip-ups, as no one is perfect. But I don't judge my friendships off of them, nor do I put myself out there on them. It may be because I'm naturally a semi-reserved person anyway, but to me, it's only common sense for one to watch what they post on there. Maybe it's just me though.
I do have to admit they're fun things though.... and great ways to procrastinate. Why do you think it took me so long to post this blog?
These are common places where you can find anyone at any given time posting, reading, and being updated about, well, life. Whether big or small, important or juvenile, it's out there. Whether it's a Facebook wall post on your Timeline, a Tweet posted to your followers, or a picture taken and posted (and effectively edited as such) it's out there for the world to see.
Can anyone remember a time without the world of social networking? Remember times when playing outside with friends? Actually making phone calls to people, and talking on the phone?
I think we all remember the days of MySpace, and the sweeping effect it had on the generations. I remember having my MySpace profile through high school, and being hesitant to switch to this new thing, Facebook... which at the time was only for college students. I remember only getting a Facebook account because I thought it would be something required by teachers, or something to that effect. Eventually that snow-balled, and then Twitter took off It took noticeably longer for me to get a Twitter account, and even now after having it for a few years I'm just now about to cross 1,700 tweets.
So what effect has the social networking had? Well I think it's pretty obvious if you look at what goes on around us. Pretty much everything now has a Twitter Account, Facebook fan page, Instagram account, Google+ account (although more uncommon than the rest), and a YouTube page for videos. People and companies offer perks and the like if you follow them on Twitter, or Like their page on Facebook.
Pretty amazing to think about how this stuff didn't exist even 6 years ago.
The one thing that is off-putting is how people judge friendships off of social networking. If you don't like a status (or even just read a status), it's like the end of the world in some cases. It's like people judge their whole friendships off of some form of a social network site. If your friendships are solely based off these websites, then I highly suggest you evaluate your friendships and see what they truly mean.
I don't notice it so much in people my age or my friends, but in a lot of younger folks, it's like their whole lives are put online. There's nothing more annoying than to see someone put everything about themselves on the Internet. I mean, where's the good in getting to know someone if all I have to do is go look at their Facebook profile and learn everything, even without knowing them? The whole part of making friends is in the getting to know you phase. At least, that's what I like.
And that pulls me into my next thing..... putting everything out there. I don't understand why people put themselves out there so far. You can't complain about privacy and a lack thereof when you have a public Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, you censor nothing you say or even act as if you're cognizant of what you put out there, and just pretend like it's all okay. I know of too many people that do this, and frankly it's annoying.
The one thing I always talk about is privacy. The easiest way to make sure your life is private is, in some cases, not putting everything out there for the world to see. More often than not, it's just easier. I don't put anything online I wouldn't want my family to see or know about. Everything I put up is perfectly safe for public viewing, and even that is more private. My Facebook isn't open for the world to see. My Twitter account is locked, so I have to accept any followers. My Instagram and Google+ accounts are both open, but again, one's something I accidentally opened, and the other is a social network based off of pictures. I'm not entirely worried.
Remaining cognizant of what you put online is the whole point. It's very easy to just avoid doing the stupid thing and putting up something that you don't want the whole world to know about. That's why all these other websites exist that poke fun at these people. You put it out there for the whole world to see, you can't be upset that the whole world does see it.
Social Networking has created a whole different scenario in today's world, where it unfortunately controls a lot of what we do. I'm smart in how I handle myself on them. Sure, I have my slip-ups, as no one is perfect. But I don't judge my friendships off of them, nor do I put myself out there on them. It may be because I'm naturally a semi-reserved person anyway, but to me, it's only common sense for one to watch what they post on there. Maybe it's just me though.
I do have to admit they're fun things though.... and great ways to procrastinate. Why do you think it took me so long to post this blog?
Comments
Post a Comment