Social Networking

It should come as no surprise to any of us just how popular and revolutionary (Arab Spring anyone?) social networking has become. It informs many social aspects of our lives and since we are naturally social creatures this inevitability was only waiting for the technology to catch up to our natural inclinations — which it has, and here we are. Social networking can be used by corporations to advertise to current and potential customers, advance a public relations agenda (like BP did after their disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010), track customer feedback, and attract, recruit, and vet potential partners and employees. As Maureen Crawford-Hentz, a recruiter in the Frank Langfitt NPR.org article titled "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting," states [s]ocial networking technology is absolutely the best thing to happen to recruiting — ever."

                                            Oil covered ducks on account of BP oil spill.


On a more personal note, many of us in this class know how social networking can be used for entertainment, collaboration, critique, self-aggrandizement, and staying connected to people that we love/like/dislike/pine for (you should really stop looking at their <insert social networking site here> page now, it's over! Lol).

The benefits of social networking to society are immense. As I mentioned above, its use to get people organized to (hopefully at least) change things for the better, to create new jobs, to educate, and to connect people are unprecedented. Another aspect of social media's benefit that most able bodied people don't think about is described by Roger Ebert, with the help of his wife Chaz, at the 2011 TED talks tilted "Roger Ebert: Remaking my Voice:" he states "writing on the internet has become a lifesaver for me. My ability to think and write have not been affected [by my  thyroid and salivary gland cancer] and on the web my real voice finds expression. I have also met many other disabled people who communicate this way."

Like with most things in life, where there is light there is also dark. When thinking of the "dark side" to social media I am reminded of the rash of young and impressionable pre-teens and teens committing suicide over cyber bullying. Also, the New York Times article by Hilary Stout titled "Antisocial Networking" notes how our social networking culture may be eroding youngsters' "face-to-face communication with friends" and the negative psycho-social effects this might have on them in the future.

I feel that in the future all things are possible so it is difficult for me to form a concrete opinion but for the sake of argument: with the making and marketing of on-skin virtual reality enhancements like Google Glass and a predecessor worn by a Canadian professor named Steve Mann who has had his version surgically attached to his skull, I see cyborgs happening in the future, lol. More precisely, people will be using hardware that is surgically attached to them in order to facilitate brain to brain social networking, much like the Borg in Star Trek.

                            Just a couple a' Borg. I'm sure we'll be livelier and more diverse!