Social Networking
Social Networking
Social Networking
Volume: 3 | Issue: 3 | Mar-Apr 2019 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 - 6470
Social Networking
Matthew N. O. Sadiku1, Adedamola A. Omotoso2, Sarhan M. Musa1
1Professor, 2Student
1,2Roy G. Perry College of Engineering, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View
@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID - IJTSRD21657 | Volume – 3 | Issue – 3 | Mar-Apr 2019 Page: 126
International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
LinkedIn: This is a professional network that provides a viewpoints. New opportunities for global finance are
platform for professionals to participate in networking created through the use of virtual currency in social
with each other. By setting up an account on Linkedln networks. Social networks allow consumers to share
one can link with professional individuals of similar their personal experience which help early adopters
interests. Linkedln remains the most popular social make informed purchase decision and reduce the risk of
networking site for organizations to recruit new buying a new product.
employees. Healthcare: Social media enables different types of
MySpace: This social networking site bases its existence social connectivity among different stakeholders such as
on advertisers who are paying for page views. It has a lot doctors, patients, and caregivers. Social networking is an
that users could do. There are MySpace sites in United effective tool for teaching and learning for doctors and
Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia. nurses as SNS is used to provide new information from
These are just a few of the social networking options research and assist in providing quality care to their
available on the Internet today. Others include patients. Virtually all aspects of healthcare can be
Instagram, China-based Renren, Friendster, Vox. Bebo, inherently affected by these technologies. Examples of
LiveJournal, and flickr. The impact of these modern health-related social networking sites include
social networks on social, health, political, and economic healthchapter, Inspire, DailyStrength, ToolsToLife, Health
arenas has far surpassed the expectations of many. Care 2.0, LiveStrong, Everydayhealth, revolutionhealth,
Many experts see the future of social networking MyCancerPlace, Planet Cancer, No Surrender, Prostate
applications in smaller, tailored, or specialized private Cancer Infolink, Psych Central, sobercircle, diabetic
systems [2]. connect, and DailyPlate [7].
Politics: Social networking seems to be impacting
APPLICATIONS political life and political movements across the globe. It
Social networking applications have become important has influenced voting and induced social changes,
services that provide Internet-based platforms for their unrest, uprisings and revolutions all over the world.
users to interact socially. Common applications involve Social networking will make government to be more
computer-mediated social interaction, education, business, accountable and enable citizens to exercise freedom of
finance, healthcare, politics, religion, and crowdsourcing. speech [8]. It also helps to engage people in the
Social Interaction: Social networking sites facilitate democratic process and to get the younger generations
computer-mediated social interaction and make it involved in politics. For example, Barack Obama
possible to connect people who share interests and successfully incorporated social media in his campaign
activities across political, economic, and geographic in 2008, engaging people, empowering volunteers, and
borders. They provide a modern form of entertainment. vastly increasing donors. Obama because the first US
People use them to meet new friends, find old friends, president to fully understand the power of social media.
locate people with similar interests, and staying in touch
with old acquaintances. They also provide an online CHALLENGES AND ISSUES
environment for people to communicate and exchange As social media attempt to fulfill cognitive, affective,
personal information for dating purposes. Some job personal, and social needs, it is in turn affecting everyday
seekers use social networks in their job search life, including relationships, family, marriage, school, church,
increasing their chances of receiving job offers and and entertainment. Like any other technology, the
finding gainful employment [3]. problematic use of social networking media and its adverse
Education: Social networks are impacting the way consequences have become prevalent. Although a minimum
students and educators engage in learning. They are age is required for joining SNSs, many children/students
now used for learning, educator professional misrepresent their real ages and join. These students learn
development, and content sharing. Scientific about safety and privacy issues in a haphazard way and
communities use social media to exchange knowledge. suffer from training deficiency [9].
Researchers and librarians use social networks
frequently to maintain professional relationships and Studies have shown that the use of social networks among
share ideas. Social media can become research and students, particularly in Africa, constitutes distractions
learning networks. Social networking media such as because students tend to spend a good deal of time on the
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are widely used at networks. In the past, some regarded social networking as a
many universities with each university having at least a distraction and offered no educational benefit for students in
page on a site [4]. Privacy, real friendship, time- junior or high school. So blocking these social networks was
consumption, and miscommunication are challenges considered a form of protection for students against wasting
facing education through the social networking. On the time, addiction, sexual predators, cyberbullying, and privacy
other hand, flexibility, repeatability, convenience, and theft. Others feel that the schools that block social
accessibility are the key benefits [5]. networking services are preventing students from learning
Business: Social networking between businesses is the skills the youths need in navigating the digital world with
another great application. It can be an effective confidence and therefore regard blocking social networking
promotional tool for businesses, entrepreneurs, actors, sites as counterproductive.
musicians, or artists. Companies use social networking
sites in five major ways: to create brand awareness, as Some have contended that social networking is an
an online reputation management tool, for recruiting, to impoverished version of conventional face-to-face social
learn about new technologies and competitors, and to interactions, and it produces negative outcomes such as
intercept potential prospects [6]. Social networking sites loneliness and depression for users who use the technology
help businesses to advertise their products, recognize heavily. Social networking services have been used for
consumer’s needs, and gather opinions on diverse bullying purposes and child pornography. Since there are no
@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID - IJTSRD21657 | Volume – 3 | Issue – 3 | Mar-Apr 2019 Page: 127
International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
limitations as to what individuals can potentially post online, Computer Science and Information Technology Journal
people can post offensive remarks or pictures. (WCSIT), vol. 2, no. 1, 2012, pp. 18-21.
Privacy on social networking sites is an important issue. For
[6] “Social networking service,” Wikipedia, the free
example, third parties often use information (such as
encyclopedia
personal information and profile) posted on social networks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_serv
for a variety of purposes. Privacy may involve whether or
ice
not companies should have the right to look at employees'
social network profiles. Privacy concerns differ between [7] J. E. Chung, “Benefits of social networking in online
users according to their gender and personality. Some social support groups,” Doctoral Dissertation,
studies have indicated that women often have more privacy University of Southern California, August 2010.
concerns than men.
[8] A. M. Attia et al., “Commentary: the impact of social
networking tools on political change in Egypt’s
Another dark side of SSN is that they are becoming
‘Revolution 2.0’,” Electronic Commerce Research and
increasingly popular tools for methods of ending
Applications, vol. 10, 2011, pp. 369–374.
relationships and friendships. We must ensure that SSN does
not continue to be bastardized by bad influences that prey [9] S. Weeden, B. Cooke, and M. McVey, “Underage children
on the vulnerable. and social networking,” Journal of Research on
Technology in Education, vol. 45, no. 3, 2013, pp. 249-
Culture plays a major role on how people interact on SNS 262.
because it defines norms and rules on what is accepted and
[10] P. Mahajan, “Use of social networking in a linguistically
what is not accepted. Culture can limit the people to whom a
and culturally rich India,” The International
person can interact if they want to withhold their identity.
Information & Library Review, vol. 41, 2009, pp. 129-
For example, a global culture has emerged in India as a result
136.
of the SNS; the technological changes have not only changed
the quality of life but also the social architect of society [10]. [11] M. Pticek, V. Podobnik, and G. Jezic, “Beyond the
Internet of things: the social networking of machines,”
CONCLUSION International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks,
Social networking has changed the way people 2016.
communicate, share information, and interact socially. It
allows individuals to connect and socialize with others,
regardless of location. As the popularity of social networking
increases, new applications for the technology are often
being observed. A new trend is the social internetworking of
machines. The ultimate goal in this evolution is creating the
Internet of Things (IoT) and social networks among
machines [11].
REFERENCES
[1] G. Merchant, “Unravelling the social network: theory
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[2] M. L. Rethlefsen, “Social Networking,” Medical
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[3] G. V. Hoye, E. A. J. van Hooft, and F. Lievens,
“Networking as a job search behaviour: a social
network perspective,” Journal of Occupational and
Organizational Psychology, vol. 82, 2009, pp. 661–682.
Figure 1 A map of some popular social networking sites [1].
[4] E. Nini, “Private open source social networking media
for education,” Proceedings of the Fifth International
Conference on e-Learning, 2015, pp. 220-224.
[5] A. J. Y. Zaidieh, “The use of social networking in
education: challenges and opportunities,” World of
@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID - IJTSRD21657 | Volume – 3 | Issue – 3 | Mar-Apr 2019 Page: 128