Stole the idea for this from a thread by Grissle that was closed, and I hope that it doesn't descend into the utter ***** that that one did. However as Burnsy said this could be an interesting discussion, so I thought I'd rephrase and add to the question and see what you all think.
With social networking there seem to be four viewpoints on this topic according to various newspaper articles, news reports, magazines and general conversations.
1) It is destroying the way in which we communicate and leading to a lack of positive social interaction, along with an increase in fake or extremely brief conversations. (Basically it thought to have an over-all negative value)
2) It has redefined the way in which we communicate, allowing for faster communication to friends, family and aquaintances especially those a significant distance from home. (Basically positive)
3) It's a phase that people are going through, much as it has been on various sites for the past few years, going from the majority using myspace to bebo then facebook and twitter. (Basically it is neither positive nor negative but will disappear at some stage, probably to be replaced with something else - I feel that you can say that it is positive or negative as well as a phase)
4) What is social networking? Why would I do that? I haven't done it and still seem to have a fun and enjoyable 'network' of real friends. (basically for those who don't do it or haven't heard of it)
In the last few years this has boomed massively with the introduction of things like twitter and the big interest in facebook. People are now blogging their entire lives in status updates or tweets, eradicating the need to actively check up on each other. But is this a step forward or backward, or are we just dancing? I like what Grissle did with that sentence.
(I liked that paragraph whether or not part of his homework)
I don't think a poll is necessary but a disscussion on whether or not you think social networking fits these categories and why you think what you think would be a useful input in a reply.
I'll go first:
I think that social networking goes through phases, people enjoy it for a while then forget to update their status etc for a while and then all of a sudden stop using it. I think there will be some other way for people to communicate quickly and often pointlessly dreamt up in the near future. However I can see a positive side to using facebook etc, as being a student most of my friends are students and don't have house phones, if I want to ask them something but don't necessarily need an immediate answer I'll just send them a facebook message and they can get back to me. It's helpful at home where my phone reception is awful and it can be more efficient and quicker than trying to send a text. I don't see the point of twitter, facebook does all it does and more, apart from the followers bit, but then why would I want x number of people knowing what I'm doing all the time?
Also here are a few quotes from my Facebook news page (mine's in french so it's called news, umm I think it's home or something):
"....give in or give up?" - what? this means someone has to ask you what your on about and I think is a bit attention seekerish.
" Is very very bored.. And where has the sun gone?" - so what and it's behind the clouds.
"Right i have argued with myself and i'ved decided to keep the coat.....whats that smell?" - again, pointless, why would anyone particularly want to know that, and smells are, I assume, difficult to digitalise so no one online is going to know, are they?
"did some epic drunk dialling last night!! Apologies to all who fell victim...it was a long night!" - at least this will explain to a few people who got random calls from the person why they did, and they got an apology too.
Those are just some examples of what goes on facebook, apart from the drunk calls one I don't like staus updates that aren't directed at anyone in particular, fair enough if you say, "Anyone want to play some golf tonight?" But "I'm bored, going to wash my kitten" isn't very exciting. It should be used for conversations with people, and mainly to organise things imo.
So up to you lot now. (think I did ok remaking and hopefully saving that thread)
With social networking there seem to be four viewpoints on this topic according to various newspaper articles, news reports, magazines and general conversations.
1) It is destroying the way in which we communicate and leading to a lack of positive social interaction, along with an increase in fake or extremely brief conversations. (Basically it thought to have an over-all negative value)
2) It has redefined the way in which we communicate, allowing for faster communication to friends, family and aquaintances especially those a significant distance from home. (Basically positive)
3) It's a phase that people are going through, much as it has been on various sites for the past few years, going from the majority using myspace to bebo then facebook and twitter. (Basically it is neither positive nor negative but will disappear at some stage, probably to be replaced with something else - I feel that you can say that it is positive or negative as well as a phase)
4) What is social networking? Why would I do that? I haven't done it and still seem to have a fun and enjoyable 'network' of real friends. (basically for those who don't do it or haven't heard of it)
In the last few years this has boomed massively with the introduction of things like twitter and the big interest in facebook. People are now blogging their entire lives in status updates or tweets, eradicating the need to actively check up on each other. But is this a step forward or backward, or are we just dancing? I like what Grissle did with that sentence.
(I liked that paragraph whether or not part of his homework)
I don't think a poll is necessary but a disscussion on whether or not you think social networking fits these categories and why you think what you think would be a useful input in a reply.
I'll go first:
I think that social networking goes through phases, people enjoy it for a while then forget to update their status etc for a while and then all of a sudden stop using it. I think there will be some other way for people to communicate quickly and often pointlessly dreamt up in the near future. However I can see a positive side to using facebook etc, as being a student most of my friends are students and don't have house phones, if I want to ask them something but don't necessarily need an immediate answer I'll just send them a facebook message and they can get back to me. It's helpful at home where my phone reception is awful and it can be more efficient and quicker than trying to send a text. I don't see the point of twitter, facebook does all it does and more, apart from the followers bit, but then why would I want x number of people knowing what I'm doing all the time?
Also here are a few quotes from my Facebook news page (mine's in french so it's called news, umm I think it's home or something):
"....give in or give up?" - what? this means someone has to ask you what your on about and I think is a bit attention seekerish.
" Is very very bored.. And where has the sun gone?" - so what and it's behind the clouds.
"Right i have argued with myself and i'ved decided to keep the coat.....whats that smell?" - again, pointless, why would anyone particularly want to know that, and smells are, I assume, difficult to digitalise so no one online is going to know, are they?
"did some epic drunk dialling last night!! Apologies to all who fell victim...it was a long night!" - at least this will explain to a few people who got random calls from the person why they did, and they got an apology too.
Those are just some examples of what goes on facebook, apart from the drunk calls one I don't like staus updates that aren't directed at anyone in particular, fair enough if you say, "Anyone want to play some golf tonight?" But "I'm bored, going to wash my kitten" isn't very exciting. It should be used for conversations with people, and mainly to organise things imo.
So up to you lot now. (think I did ok remaking and hopefully saving that thread)