The Impact of Online Social Networking on Personal Effectiveness - Essay Example

Social Networking Sites Name Course Instructor’s Name 6th April 2010 Outline Introduction – this section defines social network services and briefly defines its importance and roles. Body – categories of social networking – this section outlines the various types of social network services like face book, Disaboom, and Netlog. It also presents utility of online networks, which means that it explains the importance of OS to the individuals, in the work, and a well as the society. Conclusion – this section concludes the whole essay by briefly stating the impact of OSN in the current world. Introduction Online social networking is a term that denotes the network services whose main aim is to build social interactions and improve relationships among people mainly peers (Farmer, Holt, Cook, & Hearing, 2009). They provide an avenue on the web through the internet for people to interact and pass information. Through them people are able to share ideas events interests and even activities that are within their interests. OSN refers to such sites as face book and friend star as well as twitter. They are grouping oriented and they present categories where people such as classmates and college mates are provided with sites where they can interact or even people who work in the same organization. Categories of social networking The online social networking could focus on a lot of areas each category deals with a different interest and those with that particular interest are able to join the network. Some like Avatars United deal only with online games others like The Arteurs deal with movies and cinemas online. Others are on books and music. There is also a networking for people with disabilities like the Disaboom network. Others include Fubar, which is a dating site for the singles, and the Library Thing, which is for book lovers (Bradburne, 2007). There are also sites that link religious groups like My Church for Christian churches and also The Muslim portal site for Muslims. Some of them link people of a particular age and they are strict about it like the Netlog in European countries that restricts people under the age of 13 to join.Another network that is age restrictive is Face Party in United Kingdom, which allows only people over eighteen to join. To others age is not an issue. Others restrict as per their geographical location while others like face book are global. Others are only for pregnancy information as well as birth and others like the focus on swimming and so the only people who can join are those interested in swimming. The list goes on and on for there are millions and millions of network sites and each deals with a different category or interests a given category. Utility of the Online Social Networks 1. on the personal effectiveness The OSN aids in improving the effectiveness of the individuals in the network groups. This is because they provide an effective avenue for people to improve their interests as well as a participatory ground for people to develop and improve their talents and interests. For example on face book, certain artists who major maybe on music are able to create pages whereby they can interact with their fans. The artists are then able to get the views of their fans and using the information they get they can improve their effectiveness as well as their performances (Bradburne, 2007). Online Social Networking also allows people like parents to be better and more effective on their job as parents as there are also sights that allow them to learn about parenting. They also get and share information about pregnancy and birthing. Any mother who is a starter and logs in into such a site is able to gain information on what is expected and they are now more effective through the gained information. The sites that link people with a particular interest like swimming also provides ample information for those interested in such a field to gain more and more information through interacting with each other. More so, it allows them to interact with the people who are already experts in the field and they become more effective. These links are made more effective by the fact that some social networks are able even to upload videos that are live and these forums hold discussions where people can ask questions and receive immediate feedback. This to a large extent improves the effectiveness as well as the efficiencies of the individuals who are involved. Further focusing on such net work groups like the Disaboom network that links people with disabilities, they enable such people to interact. Through socializing with people with similar or worse disabilities, they share their experiences and they are able to build their self-confidence. Disaboom also gives them survival tips and through suggestions of maybe how to be independent, they are able to become more effective in their day-to-day walk. 2. Work Online Social Networking also improves the work aspect of an individual. The first aspect is business. Many individuals are currently involved in carrying out business activities and OSN has offered them with an opportunity to advertise their businesses through the online networks. Furthermore, they are able to improve their effectiveness as well as improve their work through a wider market as well as a greater influence from the information they gain when they join groups that network business people in the same sights and this way they get new business tips. Businesses also use these links to improve their brand names as well as their business image. They learn about competitors as well as gain tips on hiring and recruitment (Livingstone, 2008). They create their online sights, thus easily interact with their clientele, and thus improve their works by earning higher profits at lower costs. Professionals are also able to improve their work skills through such an OSN as the Linkedin.com that allows them to exchange information concerning their profession. This link also allows them to exchange ideas as well as new information. These could be lawyers as well as doctors. When a doctor gets the new knowledge that is passed on to him through such a site and maybe he is a private practitioner then he is able to apply the latest skills or ideas that have been passed on to him (Patch, & Hinduja, 2010). This in turn improves his job skills and his work becomes more efficient. This is also the case for any other professional like a lawyer through sharpening his knowledge by gaining more and more information concerning his job. Police men and bankers are also able to improve their skills through sharing ideas and information. As a result, the work place is improved. 3. Society The Online Social Networking has also altered the world to a large extent. It has changed the society into a small village where it is possible for people to access the world from any corner so long as they log onto these sights (Livingstone, 2008). Through making it possible for people with similar interests to merge and people of similar profession to come together and share skills and ideas it has made the world a more efficient place. It has transformed the business world making available it easier for business people to conduct businesses more effectively because the customers are just as far away from the businesspersons as their computers are (Aleman & Wartman, 2009). Online network services also have provided dating sites in which one submits information about themselves like their age, dreams, interests and the qualities of the partner they desire. They sometimes even include their snaps and this to a large extent has changed the traditional way especially in the communities where culture had to be greatly observed (Magid & Collier, 2007). These dating sites allow singles to meet the men or women of their dreams and such relationships more often than not end up in a marriage set up. It also improves schoolwork for it is observed that most of those people or students who use social networks talk about school works. There are also social networks that are meant solely to improve the teacher and student relationships and also learning content is shared through them (Aleman & Wartman, 2009). The health care professionals also use it to track their members and avoid impersonators who could join the profession illegally. In the medical arena, people with similar maladies are linked up to keep communicating. The addicts and alcoholics are also linked to communicate and help each other on their way to recovery (Livingstone, 2008). Government agencies are also currently using these avenues of communication to keep the public updated on their activity and to get the public opinion thus making the leadership system in a democratic state. It also has had a social impact in the society where academicians now want to carry out studies on face book and other social network sites. Thus, the society has been immensely influenced by the online networking services. Conclusion In conclusion, the Online Social Networking has made communication and linking up easier for friends’ families and also for people of like interests. It has to a great extent improved the way people communicate and more so it is a cheaper way of communicating and there fore it is more convenient to use. This makes it a more convenient way of doing business as well as of keeping in touch with the world. It enhances effectiveness among the different groups and it allows improvement as it is also a means of gaining knowledge. Thus, it has improved by the world and it a better place to live in through enhancing communication. References Aleman, A. & Wartman, K. 2009. Online social networking on campus: understanding what matters in student culture. London: Taylor & Francis Publishers. Bradburne, A. 2007. Practical rails social networking sites. New York: Apress Publishers. Farmer, A., Holt, C., Cook, M. & Hearing, S. 2009 Social networking sites: anovel portal for communication. Postgrad. Med. J. 85: 455 – 459. Livingstone, S.2008. Taking risky opportunities in youthful cotent creation: teenagers’ use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy ad self-expression. New Media Society 10 393-411. Magid, L. & Collier, A. 2007. Myspace: safe online networking for your kids. New York: Pearson Prentice Hall Publishers. Patch, J. & Hinduja, S. 2010. Trends in online social networking: adolescent use of MySpace over time. New Media Society, 12 197-216. Read More