Blog Social Networking

Social networking has brought people around the world closer. It allows people to communicate much more easily, closing gaps between people. Family from different continents can communicate more easily. It is also more quick and efficient. A person can reach someone instantly by posting a comment or sending a message and as soon as the person sees the message they can respond as well with as much speed. This is a major improvement from typical snail mail which would require a wait time for a message to be sent and then to get an answer as well. One can send as much or as little as possible and easily receive as well. Social networking allows for interaction with a wide audience as well to further elaborate on families being able to communicate no matter how geographically distanced they are. This can also go for celebrities and businesses. Businesses can interact with fans/consumers much more easily through social networking. The people can be heard much more easily and efficiently as opposed to having to make surveys, write letters, etc. Businesses can post any updates on job openings, new locations, new services, giveaways, deals, and so on. It allows them to interact with consumers and the community.
There is a dark side to social networking however. One thing that is controversial in social networking is privacy. As mentioned in the Chicago Tribune article about the Zuckerberg family photo, it is possible for information/content that you may want to be private, to not exactly be so private due to privacy settings. They are not always straightforward and can be tough to navigate. They may also not guarantee privacy. So, sometimes it is up to the user of a site to know what to put and what not to put on social media because there are loopholes and such that can allow something that you want to be private, to actually become public and it is a very tough situation to face since as mentioned before, legally there are things such as loopholes or other things within the social network sites that protect them from legal action. From one of the older articles read for a previous blog about blogging and the downsides to it, cyberbullying was mentioned. This is also something that can be present in social networks as well. There is something that is a double edged sword when it comes to social networking which was sort of mentioned before. In the blog, "Is MySpace Good for Society? A Freakonomics Quorum" it was mentioned that studies were done which found that despite undergraduate students participating in Facebook, having friended many people whom they may not even know, they have high social capital due to this. It seems terrible to be "friends" with people you vaguely or don't even know at all but it is done for attaining information such as for jobs, school, etc. but also just to gain different perspectives as well which is valuable as well in many aspects.
I think that as seen already with how businesses are trying to adapt to social media, it will grow. Now people are even being hired to manage social media accounts of businesses to help maintain their image or keep consumers/the community updated on their ventures. I do not know exactly what else can happen with businesses and social media but I feel that the use of it will definitely grow in the future since it is efficient.

Blogs V. Wikis

     Blogs and wikis are both mediums for sharing information. Blogs are created from one person or source and then branch off into conversation-like comments/posts. The person who made the blog is able to edit or delete anything off of their post. It is more individual since the content is monitored by one person. It can also be more informal or casual at times meaning that the content may be so much more flexible whereas personal feelings can even be discussed. As mentioned in the New York Times article, "Stung by the Perfect Sting", places on the internet such as blogs allow for bashing, cyberbullying, and disrespect since there isn't so much monitoring and the focus of the blogger and the audience is more subjective as opposed to objective.

     Wikis are more likely to be monitored by more people but at the same time it can be edited by multiple people as well. Usually wikis are meant to be more informational/educational. When in need of information some would like to go to a wiki to find it. The problem is that as spoken about in the New York Times article, "An Internal Wiki That's Not Classified", it is likely to come across "disinformation or vandalism". It is so easy for one to put up the information they think they know or don't know that it can very lead to having misleading information.

     They are similar because they are easy to utilize and they allow people to share information with others. There aren't really any requirements or credentials to create a blog or a wiki. They both have the purpose of sharing information but they both have their cons to them which can interfere with their purpose. Blogs can be used to collaborate by having, say a manager start a blog. He can post something for his employees to respond to(meetings, ideas, assignments, etc.) Blogs allow a better interaction between the blogger and the audience and it's close to having a conversation. A wiki can maybe be used similarly like a blog where certain opinions can be shared and those that are similar or overlapping can be grouped together. All of it would fall under a topic of discussion as opposed to it being strictly facts put in front of you, but it might not be convenient.

First post. Intro

My name is Jorge Hernandez, a full time Marketing student at Brooklyn College. I am Treasurer of the E-Sports Association at Brooklyn College. I like hip hop, wrestling, exercise, basketball, and video games.