SOCIAL NETWORKING

“The things you share are things that make you look good, things which you

are happy to tie into your identity.”

• WHAT IS SOCIAL NETWORKING?

A social networking service is a platform to build social networks or social relations among people who, for example, share interests, activities, backgrounds, or real-life connections. A social network service consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services.

The main types of social networking services are those that contain category places (such as former school year or classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages), and a recommendation system linked to trust.

Popular methods now combine many of these, with American-based services such as Facebook, Google+, tumblr and Twitter widely used worldwide; Nexopia in Canada;

Badoo, Bebo, VKontakte, Delphi (online service) (also called Delphi Forums), Draugiem.lv (mostly in Latvia), Hi5, Hyves (mostly in The Netherlands), iWiW(mostly in Hungary), Nasza-Klasa, Soup (mostly in Poland), Glocals in Switzerland, Skyrock, The Sphere, StudiVZ (mostly in Germany), Tagged, Tuenti (mostly in Spain), and XING in parts of Europe; Hi5 and Orkut in South America and Central America; Mxit in Africa; and Cyworld, Mixi, Orkut, renren, weibo and Wretch in Asia and the Pacific Islands.

PROS

Check, share, comment, like, tweet, view, update, re-tweet, follow, blog, post, delete, upload. How often have we heard that each of these has been instrumental in stirring change? From one Facebook post that led to a protest in Tahrir square leading to the revolution in Egypt to the Occupy wall Street Movement, started by a mere blog post. From the 'Pink shorts Campaign' to the slut walk or the 'Besharmi Morcha' at a national level; from the 2011 earthquake catastrophe in Japan, where social media played a significant role in connecting victims to their families to Kenyans who used similar online tools to garner support for the famine stricken natives. From the zero tolerance campaign against eve-teasing to the meter jam campaign launched to protest the unreasonable fares charged by auto rickshaw drivers, at the local level. Time and again Facebook, Twitter, You Tube the like have proved their eminence in galvanizing support for change.

The Massive support that the anti corruption movement has been getting through these networking sites itself is a tell tale proof that these sites have been instrumental in providing a highly effective platform to the contemporary youth. On several issues they have acted as potential pressure groups. May it be wikileaks of Assanze at international level or sites like Hastakshap.com, Awazdo or their likes in India; crucial and critical issues of our times, may they be related to defense, to Diaspora, to communalism , criminalization of politics, slide in morals, foreign investment, women empowerment…….virtually everything is getting reflected with a rather deep concern in what we call the New Media.

However, in the present scenario there has been a

confinement in the scope of social networking sites to what may be called an adolescents obsession to see the relevance of his existence as directly proportional to the number of “likes” and the “haaawt” comments he gets on his photoshop-enhanced profile picture and live with people constantly competing for the coveted title of the king/queen of the virtual world. But that is not all these networking sites in the form of their enhanced format called new media or social media have to offer. the popular myth that blunting the edge of action and real interaction the sites in question have been cornering us to a virtual world also does not hold much of water. Virtual world as such has always been an integral part of human life.

Our faith, our convictions, the value we stand for are all but the integral constituents of the virtual world. Let us travel back in the corridor of history to the days of the uprising of the 1857. Loaves of bread and lotus flowers succeeded in creating a community round the virtual reality, just a euphoric idea of independence from the foreign rule. Greased cartridges for the Enfield Rifles, no one knows whether it was a myth or reality, but they did create round a virtual concept, a strong community that was committed enough to do or die. What the wandering mendicants and disgruntled Sepoys did at that time is being done by the networking sites in our times.

Take the case of BT Brinjal. The Govt had to defer its decision last year due to the intense networking and the consequent demonstrations on roads organized by the Green Peace. Gays for that matter who happened to be an ostracized community till recently could articulate their viewpoint through social sites and are now a force to reckon with. Posco and Niyamgiri issues in far off Orissa could become the talk of the town a couple of years ago because of the massive networking initiated by the activism of CSE.

The rapid transition that took place in the take of the contemporary youth over these years has best been represented though the networking sites. Their concerns, aspirations, dreams, non conformism so on and so of do have been given wings by this medium. They have more colourful dreams which of course have been woven with a rather more steadfast a devotion and dedication. Freed from the shackles of narrow jingoism and the hypocrisy of the middle class morality they with their fingers on the touchpad are bound to rule the roost by way of conditioning as per their own dictates the political, economical, educational, and the social milieu in the new world order.

CONS

In the contemporary times, social networking can be very well called a virtual world itself. We can quote the case of T lobsungrampa to emphasize the fact that how hollow and sans all foundations the virtual world, the world of make beliefs happens to be. The community of those taking immense interest in the mysticism of Tibet, the very community that Lobsungrampa built over the year from behind the screen sagged and collapsed within a fraction of a second.

Crediting the social networking sites with the ability to create sustainable groups is a big fallacy. The Principles of social organization and change tell us that a potential cause must be there to bind the people to transform them to a meaningful community. It is here that the inherent weakness of the social networking sites is revealed. It is such a volatile medium, so snappy a stuff, that just with a click you can echo through out the world what ever is there in your mind. No labour, no deliberations, no commitment, just no seriousness is involved in it. You all must have received a hundred versions of tricolor on Independence Day; or a save mother earth type visuals on the world environment day.

Now please cross your heart and tell me, how many of you did really get moved by that. At the most you must have clicked a like, tagged it to your friend or at the most have written “Bharat Mata ki jai” at the comments box. It may be a good medium to post your latest clicks, to coin a bizarre status to impress your girl friend or boy friend to tweet something high sounding to a fictitious fan following and then calling it a day. But for building a sustainable community?…..

Coming to the Anna Hazare circus; in that very spree the social networking sites were replete with all sorts of insinuations and approbations for corruption and its perpetrators i.e. the cult of Kalmadies. But come 2012 and all disappeared like the morning mist. Scaffoldings erected in the virtual world can not have a better destiny. One Tehrir square or Jasmine revolution is not good enough to be generalized. In the case of Egypt it was the mounting discontentment and not the blog that triggered the revolution. No blogs were ever written or tweet did ever follow the show down at Thinnamen and the French Revolution did never wait for Marie Antoinette to make her infamous remark- eat cakes when you don’t have the bread.

Let us have a quick analysis of social networking v/s notworking. The political institutions in the world over have never been so threatened and so corrupt as they are now. In our country itself the democratic convictions were never ever rendered so stale- what the Social Net working sites could do? The world has been passing through the worst phase of recession and the banking industry in a country like UK is likely to collapse. As for education the young minds are turning skeptical about its very purpose and of course in our country it has been instrumental but in rallying a force of literate drones.

And finally the social milieu- in our country where the number of active consumers in social media is just 7 to 8 crores its first widespread use has been made in spreading what is now being called Social media Terrorism – around25000 inhabitants of north east were forced to run amuck. We have already seen its parallel in Vancouver football match and the tweeter terrorism in Mexico.

THE PRIVACY PARADOX

• The 2006 suicide of Megan Meier sparked outrage in the media and was widely attributed to the malicious use of social networking tools:

• "Her suicide was attributed to cyber bullying through the social networking website MySpace. The account, purportedly belonging to a 16-year-old male named "Josh Evans," was created and monitored by the mother of a friend of Meier, whom a police report identified as Lori Janine Drew. A federal grand jury indicted Lori Drew May 15th 2008 on three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain information to inflict emotional distress, and one count of criminal conspiracy”

• Facebook photos land Eden Prairie kids in trouble. Eden Prairie High School administrators have reprimanded more

than 100 students and suspended some from sports and other extracurricular activities after obtaining Facebook photos of students partying, several students said Tuesday. Danny O'Leary, a senior who plays lacrosse, said his dean displayed four Facebook photos of O'Leary holding drinks and told him he was in "a bit of trouble." One photo shows him holding a can of Coors beer, another a shot of rum, he said. In yet another, O'Leary is pictured holding his friend's 40-ounce container of beer. Eden Prairie senior Rachael Kalaidis said she wouldn't be surprised if she's called to the dean's office this week because she is probably pictured in some Facebook party photos posted on her friends' pages. At least 20 of her friends already have had to report to their deans regarding such photos. Students throughout the school are talking about getting stung by the Facebook photos, but the administration has not made any public announcements about it or sent out any information, Kalaidis said.

When analyzing the role of any media in our society, several questions arise. For instance, whether the specific media is helpful to us as individuals, whether the media can be used to enhance or intrude into our relationships with others, and whether or not the media can be integrated into our daily lives successfully. As our world becomes more and more technology friendly the internet has transformed into a place that nearly everyone goes to get away. We now take a look at social networking from 5 different perspectives and the questions which are bound to be posed in each case.

• From a Utilitarian PerspectiveThe recent hacking of Petaluma High School student MySpace accounts and the posting of threatening messages highlight some possible harms of social networking. MySpace, FaceBook, and other sites have been the scene of cyberbullying and online predation. But the same technology allows people to connect with others they might never have met and form meaningful relationships. How do we balance these harms and benefits, reducing the one and increasing the possibility of the other?

• From a Rights PerspectiveDo social networkers have a right to privacy? More and more users of Facebook and MySpace are finding that prospective employers are perusing their sites, despite the fact that they may conceive of their online presence as personal space. Also, what is a private person’s right to control the images and information about them available on line? David Weisbrot, president of the Australia Law Reform Commission, which has been investigating online privacy, comments, “Laws designed to protect privacy in the outside world struggle to cope with the issues raised by online communities. For example, online publication of photo-graphs, which may be sensitive and revealing, raises new challenges in relation to consent.”

• From a Fairness PerspectiveSome people believe social networking sites offer the ultimate in egalitarianism. When we interact with others online, we have no real way of knowing whether they are white or black, male or female, fat or thin, young or old. Will this disembodied quality of the online world lead to greater fairness, or will we lose the ability to engage concretely with others, and therefore truly overcome differences?

• From a Common Good PerspectivePope Paul IV described the common good as “the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfillment.” Certainly, many people turn to social networking sites to connect with social groups that share their interests and values. What would the common good look like in this context? Does fulfillment have the same meaning online as it does in the “real world?”

• From a Virtue PerspectiveMany of the interpersonal virtues we value evolved in the context of face-to-face communication. Honesty, openness, and patience, for example, are honed in the negotiations we must manage when we meet people in person. What impact will digital media have on these virtues? What, for example, would honesty mean in the context of a world where people are represented by avatars? Will other virtues emerge as more important in social networking, where we can be constantly connected to a large reservoir of others and can shut off communications easily when we are bored or encounter difficulties?

PREPARED BY:-• Ravi Kumar • Manish• Kamal• Nishchal Sharma• Akash• Kabang