Social networking is the new online communication tool which allows sharing the ideas, information, and materials with relatives, friends, and colleagues without references to the geographical location and any barriers. However, today such social networks as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and Pinterest play more significant roles in the social life of people than several years ago because the primary purposes of online networks as communication tools are associated with the promotion, advertising, and social and political activities.
Online networks can be discussed as an effective platform to influence the public’s minds and affect people’s actions and decisions. Nevertheless, the changes in the social networks’ purposes can lead not only to positive results but also to negative outcomes which should be discussed in detail to conclude about the effectiveness of social networks as the modern social media and communication tool.
In spite of the fact that social networks are closely connected with the issues of free speech and negative changes in the role of the face-to-face communication, the development of social networking can be discussed as the positive tendency because of such benefits as the stimulation of personal interactions, the role for the personal and professional growth, the impact on the persons’ progress in business activities, and the contribution to the social and political activities.
Communication with the help of social networking resources is the key factor to develop modern personal interactions. Facebook and Twitter were initially developed as the platforms for young persons to stimulate their communication and interactions with the help of online profiles or microblogs. Several years ago, people used Facebook as an additional tool to interact with each other because of the possibilities to avoid geographical barriers (Simpson 2011).
Today, the link to the Facebook profile is asked as frequently as the e-mail address because it is almost impossible to imagine the fact that a person has no Facebook profile. Such social networks as Facebook and MySpace provide persons with the opportunities to generate new personal ties and form groups for communication with the help of private message systems and official group pages (Collier 2010).
People receive the opportunity to communicate and share their interests online without depending on time and place limits. As a result, personal interactions in the social networking space can become even more active than in the real world. However, this tendency cannot be discussed as completely negative for persons because virtual connections are often based on communication in the real world.
Although communication can be considered as the primary purpose for developing social networks, people’s personal and professional needs are also satisfied with references to the variety of social media which are differentiated according to their main ideas. Thus, Twitter is important for persons to form ties with followers and express personal visions and ideas. Tumblr is the key to the personal self-expression and self-realization with the focus on blogging activities (Staples 2013).
Pinterest is the attempt to draw the public’s attention to the personal interests and abilities (‘The dos and don’ts of Pinterest’ 2013). LinkedIn is directly connected with the professional life of a person because it is a contemporary tool to establish important professional ties. The number of social networks differs in their purposes, and main ideas increase regularly because people demonstrate the enormous interest in social networking as the way to fulfill their personal and professional needs (Staples 2013).
It is important to note that the focus on social media in the form of networks is more effective today than the traditional approaches to promotion and sharing ideas because social networking and online ties are the reflections of globalization trends and the modern society’s development.
Social networks changed people’s approaches to distinguishing between the formal world of business and informal communication. Such networks as Facebook, which are originally developed to enhance the interpersonal communication, are also popular today as the effective tools to stimulate the formal communication, and Facebook pages are used as professional platforms to discuss business issues, find clients and services (Dewar 2012; Lewis 2010).
As a result, modern social networks are also associated with advertisements and promotional activities. To respond to contemporary trends, LinkedIn was established as the social network to unite professionals interested in their career and professional growth (Sullivan 2011). Today, the search for new positions, clients, services, and consumers is started on social networks websites because these platforms provide more chances to succeed in the search.
The secret is in the abilities of people to share and repost the information about requested positions or services actively. Using Facebook or LinkedIn to enforce career development, a person relies on a chance to receive the feedback and necessary advice (Sullivan 2011). Thus, social networks are effective platforms to provide people with the most important information on personality, skills, knowledge, occupation, and services proposed.
Facebook and Twitter are also often used to stimulate definite social and political activities because these resources can be discussed as the direct path to the public to influence the audience’s opinion, to receive the feedback, and to call to action. Today, social networks are used by agencies to seek for people; civil organizations focus on the networks’ possibilities to share definite ideas and call to action, and political organizations try to affect the people’s opinion before the significant political events (Staples 2013).
Public meetings to discuss and resolve certain issues are changed with public services such as social networks. The number of participants grows every day, along with the positive outcomes of social activities. Thus, social networks as social media are more effective today to raise money, receive feedback, and help in searching for people than television or radio advertisements.
Nevertheless, the extreme development of social networks is also associated with such drawbacks of the process as free speech rights, the right of expression, and limits in personal communication in the real world. People are interested in social networks because they receive the opportunity to share ideas and opinions openly and freely, with references to free speech and expression rights. The problem is in the fact that such openness cannot be shared as a positive phenomenon by employers or business partners.
The question of free speech in posts is discussed today as the significant social and legal issue which is connected with the aspects of human rights. Those persons who concentrate on free expression are at risk to be fired when those people who control their open messages suffer from self-regulation (Smith 2013). The emergence of such issues supports the idea that it is necessary to pay more attention to the legal regulation of social networking as an important tool for the community to share interests and opinions.
Virtual communication influences the real interactions of persons negatively because it is more important today to focus on the active status within the network than in real interactions. Pauses in the virtual activities mean the decreases in the public’s interests in the personal profile, which result in losing important social ties. That is why people are inclined to connect their profiles in different networks to maintain the high levels of virtual social activity.
Pauses in face-to-face communication are explained today with references to the career development and absence of time for conversations (Lewis 2010). As a result, these pauses are compensated with the help of social networks, and the problem acquires the obvious contours. It is possible to speak about the threat of social networking to personal face-to-face communication.
Such networks as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or LinkedIn are not only popular social platforms but they are also the necessary part of the persons’ daily interactions and specific measures for the people’s social activities. As a result, persons develop their interactions forming special circles for communication, contribute to the personal and professional growth while sharing interests and ideas, influence the progress in business while establishing connections with partners and consumers, and participate in the social and political life with the help of special social and political resources.
Nevertheless, there are some drawbacks associated with the issues of free speech and expression and the role of virtual communication for decreasing the rates of face-to-face interactions. Although definite weaknesses are observed, the positive features of social networks can explain the phenomenon of these social media platforms’ popularity. To focus on the advantages and to avoid weaknesses, it is important to work out effective policies to control the development of the process as any other media’s progress.
Reference List
Collier, A 2010, ‘The ins and outs of social networking’, Town & Country, vol. 164. no. 5360, pp. 96-97.
Dewar, R 2012, ‘Social networking for business — toy or tool?’, Keeping Good Companies, vol. 64. no. 4, pp. 248-250.
Lewis, A 2010, ‘Facebook and Twitter: socially network yourself to success’, Training & Development in Australia, vol. 37. no. 1, pp. 8-11.
Simpson, S 2011, ‘Using online social networking’, World & I, vol. 26. no. 1. p. 9.
Smith, P 2013, ‘Facebook & free speech’, The New York Times, 13 May, pp. 6-7.
Staples, G 2013, ‘Social media: new tools helping get message to the people’, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 11 Jun, p. 7.
Sullivan, J 2011, ‘How I found a job through LinkedIn’, The Quill, 01 May, pp. 40-41.
‘The dos and don’ts of Pinterest’ 2013, Director, vol. 66. no. 6, pp. 81-81.