Benefits of Using of Social Networks - Essay Example

Social networking sites are increasingly become popular in the world today and more and more people are joining them daily. Facebook is one such sitethat has gained popularity as to have more than half a billion users across the globe and counting. The trend to have many people glued to this social site and others has everything to do with the perception that people have that it shall connect them to family and friends and that they shall meet new people in the site and share ideas and more so experiences of day to day life. A great deal of this has been achieved where people of all ages and nationalities have come to mingle socially through Facebook and some have developed friendships that last (Miller 2009). Facebook on the other hand has been condemned by many who oppose its seemingly exploitative tendency of using friendships as free advertisements channels and reaping millions of dollars of advertisement through this without any financial gains advanced to its users or rather, advertisers. Nations across the globe have also expressed resentment to it by banning its use mostly for security purposes as its users’ information is easily accessible to the intelligence services in the United States. Therefore, Facebook has been beneficial and viewed as such by its majority users while others and mostly non-users (by option) see it as a tool of exploitation, intrusion of privacy and waste of time. Facebook helped a great deal in the development of Peleus which is now the In-Q-Tel; a firm whose primary goal is to invest in companies involved in intense IT approaches in order to have the CIA well equipped with relevant and up-to-date with high level information technology (Facebook 2008). It is important at this point to note that Facebook clearly states that ones information on Facebook can be accessible to the American government in cases of their interests and of security concerns. It has therefore been a useful tool for this intelligence body in harnessing important information for the US government so as to ensure the security of its citizens. The deal here is that for a user to sign in they have to agree to the terms and conditions of Facebook and this includes and not limited to the privacy policy that is in most cases not read by entrants. This among other reasons has made countries like China and Iran to block it and make it actually illegal to use it within their borders (Miller 2009). For a country whose interests clearly conflict with those of the Unites States it would only be sensible to block any avenue where the US may access important information from its citizens. This for the case of human freedom and rights has been seen to be a barrier. There have been protests in these countries for their governments move to block certain social freedoms but these have fallen on deaf ears as the bans continue to be in force to date. Facebook is in no doubt a site that has come to enable people to chat and share information through the internet without actually having facial contact (Facebook 2008). Facebook has come to undermine the differences that are brought about by race, gender, boundaries etc. people from different nationalities are able to talk and share ideas, videos, music and much more freely just by pressing a button from ones side. The issue that the opponents of its spread and use bring forth is that people are being pushed away from sharing that which matters and get connected through Facebook. Facebook takes ones time and in this respect the individual foregoes doing other activities beneficial or otherwise. In some extent where one foregoes an important endeavor to be on Facebook becomes detrimental to them and to others who depended on their actions. It is a fact that even organizations the world over where Facebook is not illegal in their countries, have banned it in the workplaces. It has been seen to occupy the man hours for which the workers expect pay. Therefore, this for organizations has been seen to bring redundancy and therefore losses in man hours (Miller 2009). It is a fact that when an employee is on Facebook chatting or posting items instead of conducting their duties renders them useless to the extent in which they take their time doing so. As much as these institutions and people see it as a bad thing it has made people meet and socialize at the comfort of their rooms or houses or places of work for that matter. Advertisement is a billion dollar industry over the social networking sites Facebook included. Facebook has been reaping billions in revenue for advertising global brands to the millions of its users (Facebook 2008). These users act as a simple and more so a cheap tool for placing and spreading an advert on. The simple term in Facebook, Share, is what almost all the advertisements get to move through. When friends share themes, pictures, songs, websites with specific content and products on Facebook, creates a stream of information to others on these items. It is this information that is termed as advertising and the fact is that Facebook just have it done for free by the users while it is paid millions of dollars to allow such a product or site to be shared. This is no more that exploitation to the many users who forward these shared products as they reap no monetary reward in return. The point to note here is that although it is exploitative for the company to do so, it is an opportunity they found and utilized it to their benefit as the users are more than willing to do it for free. However, some of the postings from Facebook to individual profiles have raised eyebrows on the exploitative trend that the company wishes to take and the level of privacy one actually has as a member. One such case is that of the latter years of the previous decade where Facebook users received posts that friends of theirs had made online purchases at specific shops (Facebook 2008). This was an advertisement directed to these shops and quite a number of users raised this concern as to be an infringement of ones privacy and sheer exploitation. This is a scenario that saw the founder coming forth to give a public apology as they found it also to be rather too obvious an advertisement move. People and organizations like Peter Thiel the Microsoft Corporation respectively shall keep looking onto these kind of firms to venture into and purchase stakes in them for as long as they remain economically lucrative. Peter Thiel is one of the first investors in Facebook and is the PayPal pioneer who is so much on venture capital firms (Facebook 2008). Many have waited and will continue to wait for a while (depending on the major shareholders’ sentiments) for Facebook to go public but in the meantime, its continued growth trend is nowhere near termination. There are also a number of individuals who have proposed their offers to buy some stake in the fifteen billion dollar worth company but in vain. Therefore, both in the public and private limelight new entrants into the current company board of three is not that much welcome but the future definitely has more to offer as this option is to become open in the long term. Social sites shall be with us for centuries to come as there will be more sophistication that will come with them with time and members will be able to do more and more with them. The more they become popular the more there will be willing investors in these ingenious products. It is important for members and prospective members to realize the privacy implications in entering these sites as most have quite minimal security and in this case facebook as well elaborated that they can offer your information if legally asked to do so. Sharing on essential information is this are of technological advancement has been made easier and more convenient through the use of Facebook but users should be aware of the consequences of sharing. They should know that in doing so the company gains while on the same breath should evaluate the positives they derive from facebook so as know how best to gain from it as much as it is gaining from their membership. Works cited Facebook. Retrieved 28 June 2010, . Miller, Frederic P., Vandome, Agnes F., McBrewster, John. Facebook: Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Features, Criticism of Facebook, Use of Social Network Websites in Investigations, Facebook Beacon, MySpace. Alphascript Publishing, 2009. Read More