February 14, 2008 18:23
Category: Writing
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Is social networking an evil or a charm? It depends. To some, knowing thousands of people at the same time looks surreal. But there are benefits - plenty of it. And then there are dangers as well - once again plenty of it.
This article will take a bird's eye view of what it is like for the average web users.
At its basic the concept works on the fact that we, the humans, are social animals. Yet when it comes to actual mixing, no one usually likes an anonymous company. If you know the person next to you is from opposite sex, have good looks and manners that suit you, you'll readily get hooked for him/her.
And since you like someone's company that draws you like a magnet, you'll want to know as much about that person as possible. This automatically means you too will like to tell as much about yourself as you think feasible.
As long as it's 'offline', the real world, the opportunities to mix are few. After all you're not going to interact with all and sundry you meet on the road. In the online world the picture is vastly different.
In the cubby-hole with your computer you may be alone, but when you put your profile online you have the potential company of millions of viewers from all over the world.
Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, to name just 3 of them, have become stunningly popular in a short time, thriving on people's urge to know one another and tell about them.
A bubbling assemblage of millions will attract commerce - no doubt there. But it also attracts wrongdoings in plenty.
Whatever it may be, one thing is for sure. If you've an online existence, there's no way you can escape from the clutches of social networks, or social network sites (SNS in short) to be precise.
With that as background here is a quick rundown of a couple of likely scenarios as they unfold with alacrity. See a brief history excerpted from an article in The Independent toward the end.
The Hidden Moolah
Visualize a village gradually stirring to life as the first ray of the sun strikes. People are waking up to a new dawn to start a new day. Online networking is still like a new dawn for the majority of web users. There is still a marked apathy to embrace it whole hog among them.
Quite a few reasons can be cited. The most appropriate seems to be that many web users feel social networking is for the generation next. They find it difficult to hook on to Facebook or MySpace and keep the momentum going.
Meanwhile, there is simply no stopping the SNS' as more and more of them debut everyday. The trail they leave behind is hot with opportunities simply because these sites attract massive eyeballs.
Take a look at the Alexa graph in my last article on online content that compares pageviews between YouTube and Google. YouTube gets more pageviews daily than Google, its parent site.
Like my dawn-in-the village example above, it will not be wrong to say that the promise the SNS' offer is not yet much understood. This is a great chance to capitalize on. No surprise the Forrester Research is asking marketers to "spend more on online social media as a cheap, efficient way to advertise during tougher economic times."
For more perspectives, see Sherman Hu's account on how Facebook has helped his business,and Sean Aune's tips of 9 Facebook applications that can make you money.
The Lurking Dangers
Not everything is gung-ho with social networking. In an article, Facebook can ruin your life. And so can MySpace, Bebo..., writers David Randall and Victoria Richards paste grim pictures of what can go wrong with SNS'.
The article mainly focuses on the dangers of posting highly personal information on such sites as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo. 2 things can happen. Crooks may make use of such info to dupe the victim.
Or, in more cases than usual, personal info can go against professional career. Many examples have been cited in the article. I'll pick the one below:
Last September, David Rice, Britain's second-ranked tennis junior, and Naomi Brady, national U-18 champion, had their funding pulled and coaching suspended after the Lawn Tennis Association found pictures of them drinking beer, partying and, in Ms Brady's case, posing at a nightclub with her legs wrapped around a vending machine.
Other examples too point to certain degree of callousness while posting info on social network sites.
Taking a slightly altered view, such unbridled enthusiasm to share highly personal info is largely indicative of pleasure one derives online that is still virgin and disarmingly fresh.
That is danger. But that is opportunity also.
The Social Networking GiantsThe Rise And Rise Of Social Networking
For the benefit of discerning readers, I produce below excerpts from The Independent on the topic. Consider reading Wikipedia's article also to know more.
Mid to Late 1990s: First social networking sites emerge, such as sixdegrees.com and classmates.com. By 1999 MySpace is in operation; at the same time Hertfordshire couple Steve and Julie Pankhurst, devise Friends Reunited.
22 March 2002: Friendster is launched by Jonathan Abrams in California. For a while it is considered the No 1 social networking site.
March 2003: MySpace, widely held to be the biggest social networking site of them all, is launched by Tom Anderson.
4 February 2004: Facebook is launched by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg. Initially the network is only for Harvard students. Within two months all the Ivy League schools are included and over the next two years more universities, high schools and corporations are added.
2 September 2004: A lawsuit is filed against Zuckerberg by ConnectU founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, alleging that he illegally used the concept and codes for their site after he worked for it as a programmer.
January 2005: Bebo launched by UK couple Michael and Xochi Birch. The site quickly climbs to the top of the social networking league.
23 August 2005: The domain facebook.com is purchased for $200,000.
March 2006: Facebook reportedly turns down an offer to buy the site for $750m, allegedly claiming it should be able to fetch $2bn.
September 2006: 'Wall Street Journal' reports Yahoo is in talks with Facebook to buy the site for $1bn.
22 August 2006: Facebook signs a three-year US-based deal with Microsoft to be the exclusive provider of advertising on the site in return for a revenue split.
11 September 2006: Facebook opens to everybody 13 or over with an email address.
28 March 2007: ConnectU's lawsuit is dismissed without prejudice. They immediately refile and are granted a new hearing.
3 August 2007: Six major British firms, among them Vodafone, Halifax and Virgin Media, remove their adverts on Facebook after they appear on a rotating basis on a BNP-related page.
October 2007: A Tory aide, Philip Clarke, is suspended from his job after posting pictures of him applying burnt cork to another aide along with racist comments on Facebook.
24 October 2007: Microsoft buys a 1.6 per cent share in Facebook for $240m and will now begin to sell advertising for Facebook internationally as well as in the US.
December 2007: Zuckerberg publicly apologises for launching the dubious advertising system Beacon on Facebook.
The brief but illustrious history of social networking is a testimony of the times to come. No one knows though at this point in time as to how long the fever will sustain. For the moment it's simply jumping onto the bandwagon without delay.
