This was my MIS assignment. Had to write an article. Anything related to Information system. Mine panjang gile!!! Have fun reading... :P
Yes, that’s it there... the whole title could probably explain it well... the effects social networking has on us.
I have to admit, I am a social networking addict... should probably call myself a ‘social-networking-aholic’ and signed myself up for a SNA Anonymous group (imagine that...me in the middle of a group of people: Hi, my name is Nadeeya and I’m a social-networking-aholic. :P). I have been using social networking sites ever since my Diploma years, which comes to about 6 years of social networking experience. From Friendster to BlogSpot to Fotopages to MySpace and now on to the most talked about Facebook. A couple of days ago, I got myself into Twitter... so I’ll be tweeting soon, like a bunch of chirpy happy birds! I spend up to 7 hours a day on days where I feel like staying at home. I sometimes check my sites through my phone and even when I travel on a holiday. It is THAT extreme, though I am lucky to be able to balance the real world and the virtual world. But what about others and what affect it has on them? Let us look through experiences of myself and people around me and how we should handle social networking sites to our own advantage. 
As we know, there are lot of consequences of social networking to us, either on a positive or negative impact. It could give us our 15 minutes of fame one day and it could even give us the worst case scenario that could destroy us within a minute. It is all in the eye (or mind) of the beholder and how we manage ourselves in using these social networking sites.
I found both ends to the impact of social networking. On the positive side, it is a great way to catch up with my friends and families... sometimes re-connecting with friends from primary school or kindergarten to some extent. (Even to childhood sweethearts, as my friend recently discovered... not good when you’re married by that time and the ex comes out from nowhere) My mom recently got in touch with family members she lost contact with for years and they decided to make a special page to reconnect with the whole ‘Kuala Kangsar’ family clan from generations to generations, even pulling me into the picture, which is good because in some ways we finally get to learn our family background and get to know who’s who and what not.
Planning events have not been easier with the applications social networking sites have. We could invite people to weddings, birthdays, alumni events, almost anything! And there’s buttons for us to click on which lets us RSVP on the events, which makes the task of the event planning much easier than before, since before the invention of these sites, we’d have to go through snail mail which takes days to send, and weeks to get replies back to. And the great thing is that it’s free! You do not need to spend 30-60 cents per invitation card like you used to. Though some people still like to go traditional, especially in important occasions such as weddings, since it involves a lot of err... elder people.
And talk about being so occupied with work and studies that you don’t have the time to catch up with friends and family. By having a social networking site, we could get an update on our loved ones (or enemies) at the click of a mouse. At least we know what’s happening to those around us, at the comfort of our office or home without even needing to call each and everyone for updates.
HOWEVER (I just had to emphasize on this. Ngee~) there are consequences to social networking as we know it.
A recent article by http://amandaa87.wordpress.com mentioned that social networking is not bad at all, because the reality now, is that people are becoming much more smarter in handling their own page (or their own cyber life, in other words). People are becoming more aware of the predators lurking around the web, let it be sexual predators, hackers or so forth and most are also aware that the government, as we know it are watching our every step we take online, let it be our transactions, what we post on our page, our pictures... almost anything and everything to be at that.
Yes, it some context, I do have to agree with what amandaa87 has to say: that we human beings are becoming smarter in handling the web then we were before. But it sometimes takes a few hurdles down the hill for us to finally realize what we’ve done wrong. I remember having a friend whose ex-boyfriends new girlfriend hired a hacker to hack down her Facebook and actually use it to destroy my friend’s image. Luckily my friend was smart enough to report it to the Facebook management, and the hacking stopped. I also had a friend who found out her husband was cheating on her when she saw a picture of her husband and another woman from a friends’ friends-friend (plus minus), and they ended up getting a divorce soon after.
On a contrary, for me personally, I made friends with total strangers over social networking sites, which some people think I was insane in doing, but in the end these strangers are now whom I call my best friends. We got to know each other, meet up in a group, got to know our other friends and families and soon become close till this day. Though I did come across those not-so-nice people whom wanted things that are out of the question, however I did manage to shove them and block them away from my site.
I even had friends who had a big family fight because of some pictures that were posted on the social networking site, that apparently almost each member of the family had... and it caused them not to talk to each other for over 4 months now, up to this day. I almost had the same problem when I invited some friends over for a dinner at my house, and because it was a ‘small’ gathering, I invited only those specific to that group and didn’t invite the rest. Though I did not post the pictures of those gatherings on my profile, my other friends who were there, did, and tagged my profile to those pictures. Within a few days, I had quite some damage control to deal with in explaining why I didn’t invite everyone for the gathering and why it was a small occasion comprising of a small number of people. It’s exhausting really... but that is the price you have to pay.
Take another issue that balances between good and bad of social networking. Imagine this situation: You often see this person’s picture that you don’t know in your friend’s page. You only know that person’s name and how that person looks like, vice versa to that person at your picture. Then one day as you are walking around the Mall, someone comes up to you and says “Assallamualaikum... you Nadeeya kan? (You’re Nadeeya, right?) and you’ll be like “Oh heyyy Amat, right?... you’re Intan’s friend, right??” If things go right, you’d make yourself a new friend. If things go wrong... you’d probably have a personal stalker, especially if he/she knows so much about you, vice versa you are that persons stalker and now too much about that person without even knowing that person personally.
Social networking sites can’t always be called ‘social sites’ because at some extremes, it does not even enhance our social capabilities. This is the case whereby we have people whom refuse to go out of the house because they are stuck on the sites and refuse human contacts, most probably because they’d rather not move from their couch or they have an ‘online game tournament’ to attend to. Some even spend hours and hours a day on the computer that they fail to connect with the real world, and this sometimes prove negativity when it affects your relationship with your family as well as your ‘real’ friends.
As I mentioned earlier, it is all in the eyes (or mind) of the beholder. If you know how to handle
your sites well, and use it in a proper way, rather than a destructive way. Everything will be fine. So to be on the safe side, set your privacy settings at a maximum on your social networking page, so that those that can view you are only your friends and add and approve friends of those that are really your friends, and not some kind of stranger unless you get to know that stranger online on a good start and only meet that person face to face after a few months and bringing a group of friends along with you.
I agree that social networking sites leads to uncomfortable situations, but if you know how to balance your real life and your cyber life or virtual life, then you will be fine. Never let social networking control your life. It will destroy you in the long run, whether you want it or not. Yes, there are lots of good things that come out of it, but there are also the bad things. Balance yourself and social networking sites will actually prove to be good for you to some extent or bad... if you still don’t or refuse to know how to work your way up on the ethics of using social networking sites. It all depends on YOU.
Putri Nadeeya Zahari
2009228552
princessdee2.blogspot.com <--- for the whole class to see!!! Ignore the personal stuff, sometimes i just get carried away...
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