Evolution of Social Networking

A community evolves when a group of people with a common interest come together. Today, communities can form in many different ways. Fred Turner discusses how a community was established by sharing their interests on paper (Whole Earth Catalog), and then moved their group on-line (WELL). This on-line group created our ideas of social networks. “In its pages, the Catalog both depicted the products of an emerging counterculture and linked the scattered members of that culture to another. In that sense, it became a ‘network forum’. That is, it offered a venue in which members of multiple geographically dispersed groups could communicate with one another and in doing so come to see themselves as members of a social network” (489). I believe that this was one of the key points in the reading because it describes the effects of changing a type of communication from paper to on-line. On-line allows people to have access to information at a quicker and easier pace. Consequently, the distribution of people’s ideas travels globally and at a faster rate.

Nowadays, social networking is discussed on a daily basis in classrooms, occupations, clubs, etc. So, what is the big talk about? Social networking has become huge because it now affords people the opportunity to stay connected for job opportunities, such as keeping in contact with people from all over and having easy access to resumes and occupation interests. Clubs can now use social networking to get their ideas/cause out to everyone at a faster/higher rate and also keep in contact with people worldwide comparing ideas and communicating with people with common interests. Classrooms discuss social networking to help inform people how this change from paper to on-line has affected our society. Teachers help students become aware of their possibilities through social networking.

As I was reading the article, a type of social networking that came to mind was Flickr. Flickr is an online photo management and sharing website that helps connect people with similar interests all over the world. Flickr creates an on-line social networking system by having different groups of various topics, and people posting pictures that show their idea of that particular topic. People are also allowed to comment in this group. For example, there is a group that is labeled purses. In this group people can upload their photos that portray what a purse is to them. While some people have fancy purses, others have a shopping bag as their purse. We can see the variety of purses and discuss what it means to them. There is also a beach party category. Here, some people post actual individuals dancing on the sand, while other people take pictures of different objects that resemble a beach party to them. Flickr helps create this community where people are able to share their ideas to a mass amount of people. People who have similar interests can now stay connected and discuss their ideas to a community at a fast rate.

Is the change from paper magazines to on-line social networking a good thing? I believe so. The main impact on society is that people can now create different types of community, meaning that they now have easier access to a bigger and more diverse community which allows for greater availability to an insurmountable amount of knowledge on topics recognized, but also the less understood. Now, it is easy to be involved in various communities. You do not have to limit yourself to belong to just one community. Today’s technology allows people to not only receive their information at a faster rate, but their community now can be globally which creates more ideas and more people informed. The knowledge to be shared is limitless.