Blog Social Networking

            When it comes to social networking, it is something that plays a big role in our daily lives. It is what has provided us the ability to reconnect with old friends alongside meeting new friends who live across the globe. With all the good things that social networking has to offer, there are also the bad things. One issue in particular that has always been brought up in debates is whether it’s worth sacrificing things such as privacy to be able to freely interact with everyone. Social networking websites such as LinkedIn have allowed individuals to choose how much information they would like their profiles to show to others, but their privacy will always be intruded to some degree.

            Social networking does have many benefits, both for personal use and corporate use. According to the article Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting, “Social networking technology is absolutely the best thing to happen to recruiting -- ever.” The reason for this is because websites like LinkedIn enable recruiters to easily differentiate candidates based on unique keywords that they enter. This will separate all the potential candidates from anyone else who may be searching for a similar position and only provide a high-quality candidate that the recruiters may be looking for. From there, all they have to do is send a message to the potential candidates and wait for a response. Comparing this to traditional recruiting methods, the article also mentioned “With my Rolodex, I had to call any one of these thousand people…”. Instead of having to ask other people and rely on worth of mouth for someone who may be interested in a position, social networking removed all the hassle and eased this process for recruiters.

            Being on the internet puts social networking to be in a position that enables it to also have a “dark side” as well. Scams quite often happen on platforms such as Facebook, as individuals could easily mask their identity when creating a profile. With minimal effort, you are able to create a brand new Facebook account and pretend to be someone you may not be. According to an article by NBC about Facebook scams, it stated “While you're searching for deals in a neighborhood garage sale group, you might think you're talking with neighbors, but you could be talking with crooks.” People are able to engage in full conversations with a complete stranger and not be able to fully know their intentions. This is the case when it comes to one scam that requires people to send their email address, which eventually leads to the criminal sending fake invoices tricking the user into thinking they have bought something on eBay when they have not. It was stated in the article, “A spokesperson for eBay said that over the last three years, the agency had received nearly 27,000 complaints related to fraudulent online car sales, costing victims more than $54 million.” This showcases how social networking platforms can be used negatively against certain

            These technologies have a long way to go in terms of evolving before they are something that can be considered as secure platforms. Everyday people are creating accounts on these social networking platforms in hopes of engaging with other people, but this leaves them susceptible to things such as scams as well. I personally feel that once these technologies have fully secured themselves from outside threats by doing things such as verification of profiles and introducing various levels of privacy options, that they will be able to provide the optimal experience for users. Until then, people will just have to continue enjoying both the benefits and drawbacks of using social networking.

Works Cited 

NBC2 Investigators: Multi-million dollar scam being used on Facebook. April 27,2018. http://www.nbc-2.com/story/38062070/nbc2-investigators-multi-million-dollar-scam-being-used-on-facebook

Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting by Frank Langfitt, NPR, March 16, 2008. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523&sc=emaf