Positive Affects of Social Networking-Editorial

We live in a modern society. Communication has made the rest of the world very small. The internet takes us all over the world and we can “talk” to people anywhere. An added blessing to the internet is the fact that families can keep in touch with each other.

Social Networking is a relatively new term in the English language. Thanks to the internet we can “MySpace”, “Facebook”, “Bebo”, and “Twitter”. We can get “LinkedIn” or “Tagged” but only if you sign on to these websites.

When “MySpace” came out I wasn’t really that interested. The website consisted of mostly teenagers posting sayings and pictures on their webpage. But when “Facebook” was born it took my daughter several months to talk me into signing on. Once I got on, I was hooked. I found many of my high school friends and caught up on their lives, children, husbands and careers. I also found many friends I knew when I lived in different parts of the country over the years. The best thing about being a part of social networking websites is that I can click on my children’s personal page and check out what they are doing. I see my grandchildren’s pictures and messages and I catch up on where my children are traveling. It is a blessing.

There are also websites for high school and college classmates where you can find all of those wonderful friends you graduated with and you wrote in their yearbooks that you would never forget….ever!! It’s amazing how fast time flies.

Then you have networking websites, which focus on all kinds of hobbies and careers such as dancing, gardening, crafts, quilting, cooking, books, music, motherhood, even non-profit organizations, so you can keep up with the latest. Every shared interest has an online networking system where you can find other people interested in the same ideals and activities as you.

No longer do you have to scout around your community looking for someone with common interests, especially if they are not well known like model train building. As Wikipedia reports these social networking websites are beginning to tap into the power for what they call “social good.” “Such models provide a means for connecting otherwise fragmented industries and small organizations without the resources to reach a broader audience with interested users.”

Of course it doesn’t take the place of real people but it is a good way to connect to others and eventually meet real people with whom you have a connection. So if you have children living far away or interests in something obscure, social networking online is the place for you.