Social Networking - Essay Example

658065 Social Networking The population of the adults who use social networks sites to up their status is approximately 11% of the total population (Tatnall & Anthony 20). Most people use the social networking sites to improve on their happiness. Social networking sites assit people to take part in self confession which leads to excellent relationships with others. This relationship improves a personal logic of well-being (Carla, Kathleen & Lene, 56) People are using social networking sites to meet their health needs (Bradburn, 45). “Patients like me” social network site (www/patientslikeme.com) for example, assits persons with particular mood conditions or health concerns such as Parkinson disease, multiple Selerosis, and Lou Gehrig disease. It allows them follow their health conditions and share their experience with the community (Tatnall & Anthony, 78). “Patients like me” encourages open sharing of information. The wide sharing of information leads to the derivation of scientific facts in drawing conclusions concerning treatment including its effectiveness and side effects (Carla, Kathleen & Lene, 60). A community based website called ‘medhelp.org’ offers assistance to people by giving free anwers to their questions in form of professional advice and opinion. ‘Psych Central’offers similar services through its “ask the therapist” and “Psych Central Answers” services. It has more than 150 free online self help support groups (Tatnall & Anthony, 45). These sites allows people to simply network with health professionals, and proceed to persuade persons to look for professional treatment for their health requirements. People use social networking sites to encourage teamwork at the work place (Bradburn 49). If a person is seraching for an employment for instance, he/she will use the social network sites to get references from the colleagues. It is also easier for one to connect with people who are already working in that company. Managers use social networking sites when recruiting people with particular skills (Tatnall & Anthony, 56). Some people use social netwoking sites as a podium for holding recognition contests (Bradburn, 67). They use social networking sites to seize numerous friends, persons with a small number of friends may be regarded as losers or people with pitiable social skills (Tatnall & Anthony, 78) People with deprived social skills may use social network sites to depart from real life situation (Tatnall & Anthony, 89). These people, when they are involved in online deals, they feel little pressure. This makes them to dwell on the online paraphernalia as a means of interracting with their friends and peers. This character is risky since people will spent a lot of time with online friends instead of dealing with genuine friends in person (Bradburn, 89). Social network sites are used in linking businesses to customers (Carla, Kathleen & Lene, 120). Most businesses, for example the Virgin Trains Company is using social networking in marketing. The company is using new incentives to allow direct connection of business to the customers via social networking sites. Virgin Trains Company has realized that the best way of presenting themselves, is through direct chat with the customers via twitter; a social network site. The company reputation is thus improved; since it has acquired optimistic reviews and has shown its concerns about the customers. In the twitter, the company is represented as a person. This assists the company to interact and retain its customers. In order to know the feelings of their consumers, Virgin Trains Company has created a forum on twitter where customers are free to ask questions about the products, or raise complaints about the products. These are quickly responded to. In case of a complaint the reply might be a small apology, which gives a human element of the company and by doing so; the company has acquired and retained many customers. Social network sites are also used in offering consumer services online. If individuals for instance, fail to pick their tickets from the machine, the tickets are posted on twitter, and they get responses on the information they need. This boosts the efficiency and saves time thus, boosting consumer loyalty to the organization (Bradburn 45). Dell Company is using social networking site to implement the internet marketing strategy. The company sells refurbished PCs on its channel site. The details about the most modern models are always posted on their twitter feeds (Bradburn, 34). The incentive Dell is using to attract the customers is posting their special offers for twitter users and by sending sales, alongside discount vouchers to followers on twitter. The company has thus acquired huge profits from this undertaking (Carla, Kathleen & Lene, 134). This is an indicator of the power of social network marketing. Entertainment is another use of social network sites. The “social” aspect of social networking is directly linked to entertainment. Some people mainly use the social network for entertainment (Tatnall & Anthony, 70). “MySpace”, social networking site; has revealed various famous music artists. On this site a lot of attention is given to music. Videos, like “YouTube viral offerings”, are found on social networking sites (Bradburn, 89). Facebook offers numerous game applications that have appeared over a long period. The most popular game offered on “facebook” is the “Farmville”. 72.9 million “facebook” users play this game in a month. The game is about running a virtual farm (Carla, Kathleen & Lene 25). Social networking sites are used to educate (Bradburn, 95). Research has shown that approximately 96 % of students who have access to the internet have used social networking technologies (Carla, Kathleen & Lene, 156). These technologies include; chatting, messaging, and blogging, among others. Students mainly discuss education on social networking sites. Approximately 60% of the students using social networking sites discuss educational matters and 50% discuss their course work (Carla, Kathleen & Lene, 157). Through social networking, students learn online behaviors and skills that show leadership skills (Tatnall & Anthony, 59). Social networking sites are used in human trafficking (Bradburn, 134). Traffickers are using social networking sites and online classified sites to advertise, hire, trade, and develop criminal deals. Most of the sites are open while others are hidden. Conventional sites such as Craigslist, Backpage, and MySpace, have been used in human trafficking. This is indicated in legal cases (Bradburn 49). Work Cited Bradburn, Alan. Practical Rails Social Networking Sites. Berkeley: CA Press, 2007.Print. Carla, Sofka, Gilbert Kathleen and Noppe Lene. Dying, Death, and Grief in an Online Universe: For Counselors and Educators. New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2012.Print. Tatnall, Arthur and Jones Anthony. Education and Technology for a Better World: 9th Ifip Tc 3 World Conference on Computer in Education, Wcce 2009, Bento Gonc?alves, Brazil, July 27-31, 2009 : Proceedings. Berlin: Springer, 2009. Print. Read More