TWIT, TWIT, TWIT!!!

WEEK 12.

Social Networking and Online Community.

The Gist.

this week focuses on social networking sites, the types of sites, the advantages of having an account and the pitfalls of owning one. besides that, there's information on online identity, privacy concerns and, the possibilty of using social networking sites for business. i'm also happy to see 2 wonderful presentations, one of which pointed out an interesting point that i've always been interested to know.

So What Else.

it is quite interesting to note that mark zuckerberg of facebook.com is only a year older than me. what is so amazing is that he is worth to a tune of US$300million, while i'm not sure if i'm worth a MacDonald's Happy Meal. anyways, it is thanks (or no thanks) to people like him that the globe has a gazillion social networking sites like facebook, twitter, myspace and yes, even friendster. perhaps it is human's unerring desire to want to have a sense of belonging within his culture or society. there are people who want to find their long-lost friends but are unable to do so. some need to kill time playing FREE (yes we love free stuff) games. some have an addiction to camwhoring (taking pictures, just that it's going overboard) and have an urge to share. most just want to communicate. mind you, it is different from the post on communicating on the internet. this is where social networking sites come into the fore. they're the answer to everything that i've just wrote.

Why Should We Care?

what we should look out is the perils of too much social networking. identities online can be fake. worse still, is when such identities are use to harm. one such case is the video on where a boy commited suicide because he was constantly taunted online. it is these cyberbullies that we need to take note, and those who seek to scam others of their money, identity, or perhaps lead to something worse like date rape. otherwise, social networking sites are fine overall, as it can make one more sociable, especially people who are more shy reported more confident after using such sites to aid their social skills.

"there's more than meets the eye"

(of social networking sites)