Short Ends of Social Networking

 

             The frenzy of Social Networking is all about us. Through media websites like Facebook, Google +, and Twitter, people are connecting both personally and professionally. Armed with an interactive arsenal of tools like e-mail, blogs, and message boards, individuals are reaching out to convey their interests and concerns. The technology is being professional utilized by businesses to create career contacts, to educate, and to conduct commerce. Social media increasingly become more subjective.

                Even in connection with businesses, blogging has emerged as a staple. In fact, today a business is neglecting their potential reach if they do “...not have a blog (or “learning center”) that is actively updated on a regular basis.”(Beachum) Whether its conventional blogging or Microblogging, the broadcasting of up-to-date activities can help to keep interest in your ideas, and the incorporation of hashtags will indicate a trending topic.

                Other services, such as Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) enable messaging by way of cell phones. Though this facilitates a mere 160 characters on average, it also allows the transfer of audio and video files via text messaging.

                The ability to Chat is facilitated through a web interface or special client. Within a chat room, people are able to converse in real time, on usually a particular designated topic. However, there are chat sites more tailored toward conventional discussions, such as the ever popular Skype or web-based chats that allow participants to explore a variety of ongoing discussion threads. As always though, caution must be taken to insure the security of personal information over such sites. Not all users of social media are as friendly as the sites they may prey upon.

Beachum, Nicole. “Blogging is More Important Today than Ever Before.” Social Media Today.  6 April, 2013. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. http://socialmediatoday.com/nicolebeachum/1338806/blogging-more-important-today-ever

Mccabe, Laurie. “What is Social Networking, and Why Should You Care?” Small Business Computing. Quinstreet Enterprising.  7 April, 2009. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/biztools/article.php/3813971/What-is-Social-Networking-and-Why-Should-You-Care.htm

Shelly, Gary B., and Jennifer T. Campbell, Discovering the Internet: Complete, Fourth Edition.  Boston: Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.