Social Networking

           There are many ways that technologies can be used. It has impacted the way of social networking in both corporate and personal lives. Nowadays, technology is something that is used on a daily basis. We have become so accustomed to the various technologies that we have in our hands. There are several pros and cons to these technologies. To start off with pros in the corporate world, recruiters from many companies turn to social networking technology to find the best candidates. In the article, “Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting,” by Frank Langfitt, Langfitt mentions a specific platform that is used across a wide network. “One of Crawford-Hentz’s favorite sites is Linkedin, a network of 8 million professionals spread across the world. Linkedin says users include executives from all of the Fortune 500 companies.” Sites like Linkedin help companies market themselves better and also help job hunters find positions more suited to their own tastes. However, this does not necessarily mean companies will be guaranteed high-quality candidates. These technologies only help gather a pool of people. From there, it is up to the professionals to reach out to meet them in person and create a more personal relationship.

            There is a “dark side” to technology. One big issue that many people come across these days is a lack of privacy. On social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, people are constantly posting updates about their daily lives, ranting about problems, raising awareness on certain issues, congratulating one another, building communities and so much more. People are very open to sharing information with their “friends”. All these actions seem like a great use of social media/social networking until it doesn’t feel safe to do so anymore. In the article “Leaving ‘Friendprints’: How Online Social Networks Are Redefining Privacy and Personal Security,” the author brings up an important point that Lance Hoffman mentioned. “Lance Hoffman, a George Washington University computer science professor who spoke at the Wharton conference, noted that by giving up such information as their name, birth date, and a list of their network of friends, users are revealing far more than they know. Third-party applications, he argued, can take data outside of the friendly confines of a social networking site and combine it with data from other sources to piece together enough information to steal a person’s identity. Just a person’s name and birth date – routinely found on a Facebook profile – can be a useful lever for an identity thief, said Hoffman.” People are unaware of how easy it is to be hacked on social media. Not everyone in the world is good. On the “dark side” of technology, there are people who want to take advantage of the clueless.  People on Facebook have friends that are sometimes not even their friends. Anyone can make accounts and roam the various platforms.

            I can see technology growing both in a positive and negative direction. My paper will be focused on the negatives of technology and how it impacts our privacy. However, this does not blind me from the positive impacts that technology can make. As we grow smarter, technology also grows smarter and finds new ways of implementing itself into society. There will be uses of technology that we can’t even think of today. In the future, I believe that technology will improve security on privacy issues, however, I also believe that people will find a way to get around it. People might become too reliant on social media security and believe that they are well-protected. They might post more personal information and reveal more about who they are. Once a hacker finds a loophole and gets through all the security online, all that information can be leaked and potentially cause a lot of harm. It is hard to stay completely positive about a certain thing like technology because anything can happen, whether it is really harmful or in the worst-case scenario, life-threatening.

Langfitt, Frank. “Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting.” National Public Radio, 22 Nov. 2006, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6522523&sc=emaf?storyId=6522523&sc=emaf

“Leaving ‘Friendprints’: How Online Social Networks Are Redefining Privacy and Personal Security.” Knowledge@Wharton, 10 Jun. 2009, https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/leaving-friendprints-how-online-social-networks-are-redefining-privacy-and-personal-security/