SOCIAL NETWORKING

SOCIAL NETWORKING

SOCIAL NETWORKING

Introduction

The media practices in the modern world have evolved considerably keeping the key concept as interactivity and participation (O'Reilly, 2005, p. 1). Our modern society has entered in to a digital age, where the lives of people are spread out making use of as much media as possible. Most of this media refers to the online media accessed through the internet. “The internet is a part of our daily lives because we follow the same pattern as on internet in our routine life as well, but it is a little faster and cheaper” (Mehnert, et al, 2008, p.2). The internet is being used as a channel to communicate throughout the world. This phenomenon is becoming increasingly popular. Facebook, Myspace and Twitter are examples of these social networking sites. The definition of a social networking site could be that these are websites which allow individuals to create their own profiles and define their hobbies as well as their interests (Hawkins, n.d). However, the cultures which arise as a result of this social networking vary a lot (Ellison, 2007). The social media websites place a lot of emphasis on interaction and participation, basically anything which encourages communication between individuals. Fan groups, support groups, etc. are tools to achieve this objective. On websites such as YouTube, individuals are encouraged to provide video responses to promote conversation and communication. It is believed that social media websites are considered as a real life extension of the individuals (Siegler, 2009).

Discussion

There are various other activities offered in social networking. These include games which also have the facility for multiplayers as well as polls, chat rooms, messaging services, etc. All of these tools promote communication and interaction with others. Other activities offered include customizing personal profiles with various different backgrounds and images with appealing and attractive layouts available to choose from. This would be considered as one of the benefits of social media as it allows an individual to highlight or express itself in a way that makes it attractive. “Convergence is a term tied up with digital technology” (Bronk 2008). As most of our routine communication today depends on digital gadgets. The basic purpose of these social media websites is to allow an individual to fight off its loneliness and utilize the time that the individual is being bored in by providing various applications, depending on the interests. These sites allow people to overcome reality boundaries of time and space by allowing continuous links for communication with others and a feeling of belonging and participation is then created (Jansson, n.d).

Social media influences individuals and societies in a lot of different ways. They effect the buying behaviors of individuals as 91% of the consumers believe that the reviews of other consumers allow them to make better buying decisions and judge products before even using them, whereas 87% people stated that they would rather act upon a friend's advice, according to the Digital Influence Group (Fox, ...