Week 9: Social Networking Services: Refelections on Readings

Once again, when considering anything new I always tend to focus on the pros and cons. My initial response to social networking I must admit was a little negative. I was reluctant to let one more thing invade and/or manipulate my time. Being a bit of a perfectionist I always feel compelled to address, respond to all those who reach out to me, so now I was opening myself up to more possibilities. After reading the research and the opinions, I still feel a little guarded about my privacy and my time but I am now more open to realizing the potential that social networking can provide.
Recently someone, who was looking for my siblings and me, contacted me; she connected with me by searching on Facebook. She had pictures of me and my siblings from when we were very young. As my parents were divorced and my father past away my siblings and I lost contact with my fathers side of the family. She wished to return the photos to me and we managed to connect and make arrangements all through Facebook. It all happened very quickly, in one night we made contact, reminisced and made arrangements for the photo delivery. Not having the medium of Facebook I am positive that the whole process would have taken much longer and would have been more labor intensive perhaps to the point that it would not have occurred. Therefore, I am thankful for the ease and swiftness that Facebook provides.
Evan Williams' talk provided insight into how beneficial Twitter has become. It was originally created to be a broadcast medium of where you were and what you were doing. It has morphed into more of a means to keep current on what is happening in the world today at this very moment. It is instant dispersal of information, eliminating the need to wait and watch the 6:00 news, as our parents did.
Michael Stephens stated many different ways in which he saw twitter being used at a conference
i.e. Commentary, social plan maker, reporting, keeping in touch, discovering and exploring new ideas - inspiring creative thought, and making observations and connections.
So yes social networking does work and does fulfill a need however, I still feel the need to point out the benefits to good old-fashioned conversation. In moderation, I think social networking is great. However, I think that if it becomes the soul way in which one communicated then that could be a cause for concern or focus. There is something to be said about the art of conversation. I think that the youth today need to see role models interacting with each other, face to face conversation provides them with the opportunity to practice their social manners, being able to notice emotion and body language to better interpretate the situation. I think that one flaw of social networking is the void of emotion, which is present in oral speech; emotion allows us to infer and pick up on things, which help us, understand things more clearly.
I had an interesting thought or possible research possibility. I was wondering what effect, if any, there was between the rise in social networking and social anxiety. Conversation provides companionship or can at times be very therapeutic, if we are no longer gathering on the porches or kitchens to share and bond then where are we doing this, hopefully not in the therapist’s offices. Just a thought!!