Is Social Networking a Problem Rather Than a Unique Benefit Offered to Online Users - Essay Example

The paper tells that recent advances in social networking have turned social networks into a unique instrument of education and healthcare. Never before had medical and education professionals been so advanced and equipped in terms of computer technologies. As long as social networking enables communication and promotes continuous widening of social contacts, it can be universally applied in all fields of human functioning. In one of their recently published articles, Conole and Culver described the way social networking could be used in learning design.

The fundamental principles of Web 2.0 and cloud computing display unprecedented learning potentials. Social networking has proved to serve the needs of instructional designers and teachers, by creating an atmosphere of socialization and interactivity in the analysis and design of new learning frameworks. Actually, cloud computing is one of the most recent and promising trends affecting social networking. Based on the principles of collective intelligence and user-generated content, present-day social networks favor connectivity and even create a virtual social reality in which billions of users around the world communicate and live.

Another recent achievement in the social networking field is the development of social networking applications for the healthcare industry. Again, Web 2.0 technologies drive the emergence of new technological solutions and platforms. Eysenbach describes Web 2.0 applications that facilitate social networking, apomediation, participation, collaboration and openness among medical professionals. Social networking has become so popular in medicine that the Journal of Medical Internet Research publishes regular Web 2.

0 theme issues. Yet, it would be fair to say that, despite the growing complexity of social networking features, they do not cross the boundaries of cloud computing and Web 2.0. Everything new that has been created in the social networking field in the past years is directly linked to the principles of Web 2.0. The latter became a real revolution in computer sciences, but it is time for social network developers to move onto a new quality level of collaboration and networking performance. Social networks have considerable advantages, but they also display serious weaknesses.

Privacy is at the heart of most, if not all, problems associated with the development and implementation of social networks. It is a privacy paradox that allows users to preserve their anonymity and, simultaneously, makes it easier for them to monitor other users’ activity. Social networks create a vision of secrecy, encouraging users to share their most intimate thoughts and concerns online.