Blog about Twitter

            Twitter discussions, BlackBoard discussions and in-class discussions are three means of communication that allows for modern day students to connect with their peers. These three methods of discussion similarly allows the average student to share ideas and thoughts with ease but they may also be compared to show their unique differences. Twitter discussions differ from BlackBoard discussions in mainly formality and audience. The discussions on Twitter consists of many small, public conversations, also called "tweets," and contains informal language and slang as users mainly speak with comfort. In contrast, BlackBoard discussions tends to be written with more formal, academic language and the discussions are usually directed towards a single academic group of students to invoke course-related ideas and thoughts. In addition, in-class discussions greatly differs from both, Twitter discussions and BlackBoard discussions. In-class discussions occur in person within the classroom rather than through the use of the internet. Within in-class discussions, only one individual speaks at a single time and there tends to be more focused attention on the verbal thoughts that are communicated compared to discussions through the internet. Each of the three forms of discussions have its own exclusive appeal and it is up to the user to decide which is best for the type of discussions that they plan to engage in.

Social Networking Sites

            Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit are four different, popular social networking websites that exist today. Facebook mainly allows for users to share pictures, news, and activities to friends and family within their own personal network of relationships. The most noticeable unique features includes a timeline for each user's profile that shows the user's activities in chronological order, a convenient messenger, and a news feed that constantly displays activities and shared content of friends and family. Facebook primarily replicates a private space for users to interact with their personal connections. Twitter mainly allows for users to view the thoughts of other users that they follow and share short dialogues, in the form of tweets, to the user's followers. Twitter is purposed for sharing of quick, short thoughts for public viewing and imitates as an open space for largely connected, brief conversations. YouTube is a video sharing website that houses content creators and viewers. Different YouTube channels, each with a different content creator, allows for video content for all subject, and purposes, including guides, entertainment, music, and rants. YouTube represents a space for showcasing and displaying of different ideas through different videos and viewers acknowledge these content through subscriptions and comments. YouTube may be compared to a public gallery that exhibits different works for an eager audience. Reddit is mainly a discussion board for all different types of content. The different types of categories, and content, are grouped into thousands of subreddits that allows for different groups of audience to participate in comments and view contents pertaining to the unique subreddits. Reddit resembles a venue that houses different groups of clubs that allows for interaction between like-minded individuals. Each of the four social networking websites have their own unique applications and different uses that we, as users, are allowed to explore.

Social Networking

            In general, social networking technologies provides many benefits to users in today's society. Social networking allows us to keep up on current events, or news, and the activities of our friends and family with convenience as information is spread extremely quickly. Faster dissemination of news allows for people to be generally more informed. Social networking also encourages social behaviors and allows individuals to make new friends and improve current relationships. In addition, social networking allows any individual to promote themselves for career and academic reasons. Many companies, including small businesses and large corporation, has also integrated the use of social networking in order to improve their businesses, thus it can be said that social networking is also encouraging economic activity.

            Many businesses have incorporated social networking into the different levels of their businesses. Social networking are often used as a means of marketing. On social networking websites, many businesses advertise their products and services to possible customers that view their webpage. Businesses have also been known to recruit employees through social networking technologies. According to the article, "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting," Linkedin is a business networking site used by many professionals, including executives from Fortune 500 companies. The author states, "Using Linkedin, Steckerl says he can scout a group of job candidates in just half an hour." Social networking technologies not only allows for the employers to find possible employees, they also allow for the employers to learn about candidates of employment by reviewing the individual's social networking profiles.

            Although there are many benefits in social networking, there are possible negatives that may be considered as well. One major concern in regards to social networking is that the increased use of social networking may result in a lack of privacy for the users. The article, "Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isn't Private," says, "Facebook privacy settings are too confusing, and if you really don't want intimate photos out there, don't put 'em on Facebook. But also, don't expect to hide something if you do - everything can be shared and re-shared these days." As individuals become more active on social networks, there tends to be a collectively, large amount of information about each individual that remains on a website that remains accessible to many when privacy settings are not properly managed. Another concern is that the quick dissemination of news also results in dissemination of misleading, incorrect information. Also, social networking unintentionally allows for cyber bullying, fraud, and many other criminal activities as it allows for an anonymous means to commit such crimes.

            I believe that social networking technologies have become a large part of society within the past decade and within the next few years, it would only grow larger. As an individual that uses social networking technology as well, I have also grown dependent on such technologies over time. These technologies allows for the convenience of quick communication and such ease is appealing to many as efficiency and speed becomes more important. It can be seen that social networking have been effectively used to improve business processes and I believe it may even be integrated into the classroom of younger students for educational purposes, and to encourage collaborative, interactive learning between students.
Citation:

Greenfield, Rebecca. "Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isn't Private." The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group, 26 Dec. 2012. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.

Langfitt, Frank. "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting." NPR. NPR, 22 Nov. 2006. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.