In Consequences of Online Social Networking I found the statement that “social networks enable people to set up contacts with individuals they would like to get to know for either professional or personal reasons who they otherwise would be unlikely to meet” really interesting.
Although personally, I usually don’t friend or request anyone on social networks who I don’t already know in person, but I agree they are a helpful device with introductions. The only problem is you really need to be careful about what you show on your social networking site, in order for that person to not get the wrong idea. I also agreed that social networking sites make it easier to communicate with people who have common interests as your own. An example of this might be the classmate finder on Facebook, although this isn’t exactly an interest it is an application to find people you have something in common with. The part in the article that I was most interested by was how we understand group dynamics and social structure. “Mainly driven by an individual’s need for communication, need for belongingness”(Kiehne, 2004) which means to me that we use social networking sites in order to stay in the loop. I can see how this is a theory because I felt pretty out of the loop while I had deactivated my Facebook. Although I talked to most of the same people, we were all so busy it was hard to communicate what was really going on. Social networking sites like Facebook drive us to stay updated on our friends and families day-to-day lives.
Great posting! I am the same. I don’t like to add friend or request anyone on social networks who I don’t know. I don’t want strange people to read my comments or my profile on my social network. My little brother and sister have Facebook and I always tell them to be careful of what they post. A lot of companies today use Facebook as a hiring process, they would go on Facebook and look for your profile to make a decision whether to hire you or not. I don’t check my Facebook, I’m busy with work and I would log into Facebook once a weekend. I like face to face communication because it more personal.
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