Social Networking

Social networking sites have a lot more uses than simply keeping up with somebody you haven't seen in 10 years. As mentioned in the NY Times article, "How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks' Power", these sites can build campaigns for the politicians that are smart enough to use them. During the 2008 presidential elections, Barrack Obama was everywhere on Facebook. There were hundreds of groups dedicated to promoting him. Companies love social networking sites for several reason, the biggest one being the fact that it's the easiest way to reach millions of people. Anyone that uses Facebook or MySpace knows this because there are ads on every side of these sites. On Facebook, you can now become a fan of Coca-Cola, which sends a notification to all of your friends that you have become their fan. In other words, you just promoted the brand for absolutely no cost to them. Companies are also creating their own social networking sites such as the case with Nissan in "Why Is Nissan Mimicking MySpace?" This is a cheap and efficient way to build moral in the company and help bring ideas from everybody to the table. Another way companies use these sites is to check up on their potential and current employees. Everybody has heard of a story of how someone didn't get the job they wanted because the recruiter saw a picture on their profile of them smoking marijuana or someone getting fired because they called in sick and then their boss went on their profile and saw pictures from last night's crazy party. This would probably the dark side of these sites. Another dark side, is there are a lot of sexual abuse on these sites. MySpace is notorious for having people pose as somebody else by creating fake profiles and hitting on 15 year olds. I think social networking sites still have a lot of untapped potential for the future. I think a great way they can evolve is by combining themselves with retailers or auctioning sites, bringing a new way of shopping and promoting products to consumers.