Social Net'g

     Social networking has become a new means for individuals to connect and communicate with one another. This form of networking has even extended to businesses and organizations as a way for them to reach out their target audience and new potential customers. Start-up companies that are not well known can gain publicity through social media marketing campaigns and frequenting social media sites to familiarize people with their company. Through social media websites, I have learned of companies that I otherwise would not have known about and have made purchases from these companies.
     Social media websites can be used in many ways to promote a company, brand or organization. They can gain a new market niche by creating social media ads that are targeted towards a specific audience. They can promote events, promotions and deals that are currently going on to attract more people to their activities. Aspiring artists, dancers or anyone in general who believes that they're talented and would like to gain recognition for this, can promote themselves. Singers such as Justin Bieber and Colbie Caillat have gained stardom from being found on YouTube. This also makes it easier for talent scouts to look for talented individuals.
     However, there is a down side to social media sites. When people are behind a computer screen they tend to become a little more brave and are more inclined to write or say hurtful and mean things, this is known as cyber bullying. According to Young, from the article "They're Back and They're Bad: Campus-Gossip Web Sites" gossip sites give "a chance to talk about the damage that sexism, racism, and homophobia can do." Another, down side to social media sites is the extent to which people share personal pictures, information and posts about themselves which can be damaging to their reputation in the eyes of their future employer. Which is probably why, according to the article "Who Cares About Facebook Privacy? Students Do", "researchers, Danah Boyd and Eszter Hargittai, report that most Facebook users modified their privacy settings at least once in 2009" a majority of those people being young adults between the ages of 18 and 19.
     I believe that social networking will only become more advanced as time progresses. Society will soon learn to adapt to new advancements in technology and social media sites will develop as well. I look forward to seeing what social media has in store for us in the future and how much more advanced it can get.