I recently ran upon an article on cnn.com, “Face to Facebook: Social Networks Hit the Streets”, http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/09/25/social.networking/index.html#cnnSTCText. This article states that facebook and myspace are of course the reasons people procrastinate, network, and make business connections. According to a social networking expert, Catherine Fake, social networking is only in its prime, the future of these networks is way more exciting. She is the co-founder of Flickr in 2004, and has been an active blogger, and online groupie. Fake states, and I quote, “Online sociality is really the nature of the internet”. She has read that 25 % of internet traffic is online is social networking. The evolution of these social networking is starting to become selective on the people you choose to have contact with. There has been a change from just random befriending to choosing a more selective social group.
Social networking is also becoming more of collaboration more than anything. The article states that it’s more a real-world sociability. An example would be if someone places a picture of maybe a resort they have visited, someone else may see it and that could spark connection to information be given about how this is the place to see. What better way to receive information about something than to get from someone who has experienced it. This is how Fake described the success of Flickr, the consistency of interaction.
This article is so relevant because for the past week for my electronic communications class has been reading and commenting on different article about the creation of online communities, and everything a community needs to succeed. This article talks about how people in social network share comments and form groups based on common interests. This is similar to how communities are formed. Being in a community involves constant interaction which seems to be the reason social networks like Facebook and Myspace are so popular and prosperous. People enjoy the comments that are being left about their pictures or show you interest based on something they see you both have in common. I am actually excited about the evolution that is taking place with social networking because it allows for more interaction and expands my circle to a broader community.
I believe the expansion of social networking could potentially reach a point where that maybe the only way to communicate with others. That could be advantageous; it would make it easier and faster to connect others. However, that could completely have a reverse affect and keep people from truly engaging on a personal level, which can lead to miscommunication and misinformation
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Let me just say that every thought I had while reading this post was covered eventually in it which really impressed me! But anyhow, It is interesting how the concept of online communities can come up in an article such as this without consciously doing so. It doesn't seem like the author was trying to talk about community formation or anything of the life but inevitably, because it is such an important factor in the online world, she ended up indicating it throughout. As you mentioned though, while this could a remarkable way of networking and meeting new people, if this type of communicaition only gets larger, we could lose a lot of the intimacy that comes with face to face communication which I don't see having a good result!
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