Thing 16: Social Networking MYSPACE

My thoughts on Social Networking:

• Great way to connect with old friends and keep in touch with family
• Love the ability to share news (status updates) and pictures (photo albums)
• No cost communication
  
  I think, when used appropriately, Social Networking is a great Web 2.0 tool. Users just need to remember that there are safety and privacy issues to consider when creating profiles and putting information on the web. Learn you privacy options--consider allowing only friends to see your information. Think about the effects of your postings--once you post something, it's out there. Is it something you would want your grandmother to see/hear/read?
  
  The article "No Place to Play: Current Employee Privacy Rights in Social Networking Sites" discusses the connection between work and personal use of social networking sites. Businesses and workplaces using workers' social networking profiles for hiring and discipline is new territory. There are questions about whether viewing a person's personal social network profile violates privacy laws. Several businesses do look at these profiles before hiring and may check out user activity and use it against the employee (Genova, 2009). I think it is in the best interest of the Social Network user to consider the effects that each post and update may have on their job. I know that at the beginning of the school year our principal stresses that while it is not against school policy to have a social networking account, teachers need to consider who can view their accounts, what they post on the accounts, and of course not "friend-ing" students.

As far as MYSPACE goes, I was a devoted user in high school. It has great features (basic profile, ability to upload pictures/movies, connect with friends, and at the time I liked that you could change the background and colors on your page), and has even been updated since I last used it. One of the things I consider when choosing which site to use is what site the people I want to connect with are on; once I started college, the trend seemed to move towards FACEBOOK (something I still use now).

Genova, G. L. (2009). NO PLACE TO PLAY: CURRENT EMPLOYEE PRIVACY RIGHTS IN SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES. Business Communication Quarterly, 72(1), 97-101. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.