The History and Future of Social Networking - Essay Example

? The History And Future Of Social Networking Introduction Social Networks or Social Networking services have eventually become a part of everyone’s daily lives in the modern world of today. Social networks or social networking services can be defined as online facility or an online stage or a website which lays its focuses on the establishment and framing of social networks. Under these social networks, the people who are a part of them, get linked with each other, virtually. In this virtual world users share themselves with others and this helps them in gaining social acceptability and recognition. They may share backgrounds, interests and habits online. Apart from this, they may make use of the additional services offered online, such as joining of groups or communities. Social networks are mostly established over the World Wide Web and give the users an opportunity to interact with each other, via messaging, email and sharing of pictures or videos. Often in scenarios, online community service may also fall under the aforementioned banner, as they tend to be group-centered. Social networking sites may give birth to new innovations and ideas amongst people. Body There are numerous types of social networking sites or services; however the most common types are those which allow the users to connect with friends maintain categories and introduce recommendations. Most of the social networking sites are based in America and include the likes of Facebook, Google Plus. Linked In and Twitter are used globally by billions of people, across the globe (Meyerson, 2010, p.141). It must be noted that the authorities have carried out several efforts at homogenizing the social networking service. These steps were taken in order to reduce duplication on the social networking sites. In the year 2011, the results of a survey showed that more than forty seven percent of the Americans were avid users of social networking sites and services. The history of social networking dates back to the 1970s, when even the idea of computers was not as popular. However, the idea of connected the world through internet and making internet a forum for deliberation, making and meeting new friends and exploring the world was conceived, in its minutest sense, back then. The conception of social networking services was done through the Bulletin Board System. The Bulletin Board System was a software that permitted the users to connect to the system, making use of the respective program, making communication effective. However, the Bulletin Board System proved rather ineffective in the longer run, as connections could not be established through longer distances and it was expensive in cost. Before the Internet could come into limelight as the sole medium for social networking services, there were other avenues that opened along the way too. CompuServe was one of such initiatives, introduced in the 1970s and later made public during the 1980s decade. This service permitted its members to have access to news and events across the world. They also enjoyed the liberty of sharing files and pictures with each other, sending instant messages via email and joining the discussion forums of CompuServe. “But if there is a true precursor to today’s social networking sites, it was likely spawned under the AOL umbrella. In many ways, and for many people, AOL was the Internet before the Internet, and its member-created communities, complete with searchable “Member Profiles,” in which users would list pertinent details about themselves, were arguably the service’s most fascinating, forward-thinking feature” (Goble, 2012). The year 1995, gave birth to the revolution in the Internet industry with the evolution of websites, such as Yahoo, Amazon and MSN, which were to set the foundations of the current social networking strata in the world. The social networking services have observed an emerging trend in the recent past. These social bookmarking websites are increasing in numbers day after day, every day a new website is launched and the competition between these websiotes for higher number of users increases and this healthy competition has driven these websites to develop new features for the entertainment and business of the users. These websites have gone way beyond than acting as mediums to connect with friends and interacting with other people from across the globe. Social networking websites, in the status quo of today, are the most active and used means of marketing products amongst the users online. Moreover they are also used for measuring a respective brand’s health and performance, which helps the firm calculate the effect of the overall awareness campaign, the effect and impact of niche marketing, competitive advantage and consumer gratification. It has also been found out, through recent studies that, a major faction of the users of social networking websites, such as Twitter and Facebook are staunch followers of firms and brands online. The social networking sites may also be used to improve their targeting of customers, using their customers’ data from the social networking websites. In the case, where a firm may have specific and greater information about their customers, that very firm may be able to market the product, properly and to the right people. These social networking sites can act as a platform through which information may be shared between their users and the commercial world, making the buying-selling process easier for all the stakeholders involved. This may also help the firms with market research, moreover, market segmentation, with respect to different demographics of the society. One of the most major uses of social media as a part of the emerging trends is the fact that it helps in understanding the stimulus factor through the activity on the social media, of their target markets or the people being targeted. This can be observed by analyzing the creation of likeness or relationships for any certain product or interest on the social networking websites, amongst the masses. It however only takes one person to start the streak and others then follow trend. The people on social networking sites may also be expressive about their opinions about a certain product and this may also help improve the marketing and/or pricing strategies of a firm. Social networking websites or services like any other service in the market have its pros, cons and all sorts of issues attached with it. The first and foremost issue that has had relevance in the recent past too is of the privacy infringement of all the members and users of social networking websites. The key point, after settling of all legalities falls upon the fact that the users must be aware and careful about their privacy settings online, in order to avoid the breach of their privacy. Another related issue which is interwoven with this one is of the content ownership and the intellectual property, which too may be breached in usual cases. “Not surprisingly, given the abundance of content and the myriad ways to access it, intellectual property infringement is an area generating much legal interest," reads the report. For example, copyright infringement comes into play when there are photos, videos, and graphics and blogs being exchanged and posted on social media sites. "From posting someone else's photo on a Facebook wall to sending a song to a friend via Twitter, using any third-party content without permission can result in both criminal and civil liability." It adds that protection of trade secrets is another aspect of intellectual property infringement that warrants attention; for example, if an ex-employee shares a former employer's confidential information, they would be held liable” (Mcnickle, 2012). There also have been several reports of legal cases which happen to exist under the broad banner of illegal or unlawful actions. Many of the aforementioned cases, did not exist before the evolution of social media. These include discrimination, pestering, and slandering as well as felonious activities and after the growth of social media, these activities have risen by a considerable thirty five percent. As the social media is fast developing, by the day it is being used as a service from which each and every pillar of the state can benefit. The application domain of the social media, particularly in the United States of America has gotten as vast as it could ever get, as the social media covers numerous aspects of daily life, including education, businesses, entrepreneurship, matrimony, finance and even healthcare. Taking the example of the social and political sector of the society, one must not let go of the example of the revolution in Egypt, in the year 2010. In the mentioned revolution, Facebook and Twitter played a very imperative role by keeping everyone informed of the revolution and its updates. These social networking websites proved to be a platform for thousands of Egyptians who not only used them to communicate with each other, but also shared pictures, videos and stories of the callousness of the Hosni Mubarik government. The protesters and leaders of the revolution, namely, Mohammad al-Baradei openly gave credit to the social networking sites for playing the important role in the Egyptian revolution, throwing down the Hosni Mubarik government and largely, being the backbone of the Arab Spring. “The Internet is a democratizing medium that gives ordinary people the power to be content creators and information disseminators. This point has been discussed to death on the vessels of that change – blogs and social media (journalists love nothing more than talking about journalism). On the flip-side of this, the Internet takes away power from people who do not create and do not create a virtual presence for themselves. If you can’t find someone or something on Google, it might as well not exist. Therefore, entrepreneurs have found ways to give the power of content creation to as many people as possible, and have been rewarded handsomely” (Norby, 2012). The future of the social media, as stated earlier might be in return endangering our own future. Social networking websites, search engines and data and software stores instead of creating awareness and making life fast and effective are actually creating hindrances and obstacles in the way of the members or the users. The members of such sites must be given full liberty to be in-charge of their content published on the website, instead of it being stored on the cloud permanently. Another very important aspect or factor which may endanger our future via the social media is the upheaval of spam, initiated by companies and firms in order to promote their products. As a result of which, social media and networking websites should include options of spam filters. Education and awareness needs to be imparted to all those who are benefactors of social media. Imparting of this education will not only help them but will also stop endangering the future of the mankind at the hands of social networking websites. This must start from the basic level, where the setting privacy settings must take place, and should be extended onto a larger macro level, where the consumers can demand for a better privacy policy from the respective social networking website. Conclusion The conclusion of this may be that it took the social media, a lot of time and effort to evolve into what it is today, as the figures show that the works started in the 1970s, however it must not be ignored that social media has now seeped into our lives and become a necessity for basic means of communication amongst individuals. It is not only used by individuals but also is being used on the macro level by firms and multinational corporations. This service may have its strings attached but analysts, in the recent past have believed that the negatives overcome its positives, therefore the social media is on a rise. “The greatest takeaway may be for companies. Adapt or die is a popular axiom. More fitting now may be "engage or die." Media buys and paid PR are giving way to clever companies that create their own content and insert it into the media cycle. Most companies are based on the very principle of leveraging broadcast and social media to circumvent media buys” (Charlene Li: The Future of Social Media, 2012). Bibliography Charlene Li: The Future of Social Media. (2012, May 9). Retrieved October 22, 2012, from Washington Times: http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/status-update/2012/may/9/charlene-li-future-social-media/ Goble, G. (2012, September 6). History of Social Networking. Retrieved October 21, 2012, from Global Trends: http://www.digitaltrends.com/features/the-history-of-social-networking/ Mcnickle, M. (2012, July 2). 5 keys to legal issues of social media in healthcare. Retrieved October 22, 2012, from Healthcare IT News: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/5-keys-legal-issues-social-media Norby, V. (2012, July 29). Why Social Media is Endangering our Future? Retrieved October 22, 2012, from Social Media: http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2012/07/29/why-social-media-endangers-our-future/ Meyerson, Mitch. Success secrets of the social media marketing superstars. Irvine, Calif.: Entrepreneur Press, 2010. Print. Read More