Advantages Of Social Networking In Contemporary Society

In the past five years, the popularity of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace has skyrocketed. These sites are growing at an alarming rate. Every day it seems like more and more people are joining these sites. The effect on society can even be seen in language, with “friend” now being a verb as well as a noun. All this hype begs the question: What are the benefits of social media networking?”

Social networking sites have become big business. It’s no secret that the bigger social networking sites out there are making huge profits, and so are the companies that advertise through them. Some might argue that these websites are making money off of their users, and that they’re just using their members. Still, most people who belong to social networking sites don’t think they’re being taken advantage of. They see it more as a symbiotic relationship.

The creators and administrators of these websites see the benefit in terms of cash. For many of these sites, the start up cost was minimal. For the price of some server space, and a little skill, programmers were able to set up social networking sites on the cheap. Established sites aren’t cheap anymore though. Now many of the same sites started out of basements are selling for millions of dollars, and turn millions of dollars in profits annually. For many of the college age kids who start these sites, this means an early retirement.

The ready availability of this information is perfect for advertisers. Say an advertiser has been hired to promote a new brand of paintball equipment. The advertiser could try to run ads during the evening hours on sports related channels and hope to hit his target audience, but there’s no guarantee that his ad will reach the right people. He could also run a print ad in a paintball related magazine, but that magazine would already be saturated with paintball related ads.

Social media sites don’t just introduce people to one another, they also help people who already know each other keep in touch. It’s no longer necessary to send letters out to all of your friends if you move. You can simply send out a message through a social networking site, or update your profile to reflect your new address. Friends will be notified about the change, and you won’t have to worry.

Recently, some social networking sites have experimented with selling the email and home addresses of many of their users. Some sites have claimed that their privacy policy gives them rights to any information posted on their sites and therefore can sell the information to third parties. Whether or not this is legal or ethical remains a heated debate.

Social networking sites have started to become more and more specialized. Dating specific sites are springing up, and so are friendship specific sites. Some sites cater to athletes, others to artists. The biggest sites, however, still have room for everyone, and allow people to split themselves up, or join themselves together, as they see fit.