Impact of Social Networking Sites

Introduction and Member-ship based Sites (by Natasha Samuel)

A number of social networking sites dominate the cyber world, facilitating hordes of people with
similar interests and passion to stay connected. While there are a number of websites that allow
people of a specific interest to get hooked onto their site, there are also a number of websites that
bring people of diverse interest together. Most of these networking websites cater to the need of
people with similar interests by allowing them to form a community or group and further their
common interest or passion.

They also have become a very good source of information. With our friends that are updating their
statuses every now and then, we can be informed of what is currently happening before even
hearing it from the news. Information can spread really fast with these social networking sites. It
will be very helpful for people who are in a community or in an organization. If they all join in
these sites, they can all be immediately informed without having to mail the members one by one. It
has really changed our way of informing people these days. Not only that it is free, it is also very
easy.
Apart from the information we can share to the site, we can also share a lot of things like pictures,
links, videos, and many others. If you want to join a social networking website for business
requirements, you can opt for the ones with general interest, like Facebook, which can help you
with your advertising campaigns.It is a very open world where everyone is free of sharing anything.
The present-day generation has introduced many changes and impacts through technology. These
are what build up in our everyday lives. It can be good or bad in some ways, but we can never deny
that their changes have really been a part of our society.
Social networking can be defined as an online network, wherein a number of people remain
connected by bonds of friendship, kinship, professional relationship, or some kind of common
interest. Similar to joining a party or a library, joining social networking websites can also be a
great fun. Apart from being a sheer fun element, the social websites also play an important role in
giving your career a significant boost.
So go ahead and join a social networking website. You will get to know a completely different, yet
exciting, domain of the cyber world with such membership in the social networking websites.

Membership based sites

These connections or relationships online might seem unreal because the question that arises is-
how can we form a relationship with the absence of a face-to-face interaction? These are bonds that
exist primarily in a mental realm, a space that is not created solely in the imagination of one
individual but requires two or more minds—a “meeting of the minds”—to make possible, to
“activate.” These bonds are sociomental. But they are no less real for being located in a mental
realm. They are the manifestation of an absolutely genuine and often deeply felt sense that despite
physical separation, closeness among people, and nearness, exists; that while the physical distance
separating people may be great, the social distance between them may be very small indeed.
Connecting with people across distances has rather become a common and much needed
part of our lives. Half our life depends upon these “connections” that we make with people. More so
with the advent of technology staying in touch with people across borders has become much easier.
According to John Caughey, each of us makes several hundred connections—some weak, some
strong—with others whom we have never met and may never meet. Social connections that are
formed when people are frequently separated from one another have quite a lot in common with
those that form when people are always separated from one another. Technologies of
communication and transportation have played a large part in the discovery and development of
interpersonal commonalities across space and time. They have permitted people to “see” and know
of—and thus potentially feel connected to—many more people than in pre-modern times.
Three basic things are required to accomplish the formation of sociomental connections: a mediator
(often technological) to facilitate communication and connectedness among physically separated
people, individuals whose minds are similar enough to permit the creation of a connection, and a
“space” in which the connection can be said to “take root” and “grow.”
As we do so, our mind becomes structured in ways similar to some other, but not all other, people.
It is in groups and communities that our minds become structured in a manner similar to others.
Tracing the process by which this occurs, then, is critical to the understanding of sociomental
connectedness, for it is the similarity of mind that two or more individuals may come to share—
their similarly structured minds—that “paves the way” for social connections to be formed. When
minds are structured similarly—at least in some way—they can conceive of phenomena in an
analogous fashion, create an inter-subjectively understood reality, and utilize categories and mental
models similarly enough that their interpretations of the world and of their relationship are
consonant. They can feel that they understand one another and feel as though they are like-minded.
They can mentally approach various phenomena from a common perspective and thus be brought
experientially together, even from different spatial and temporal vantage points
Communities of the mind yield networks of sociomental connections and bonds that are
mental rather than physical (mental networks) but are quite real and do indeed provide a sense of
structure, identity, purpose, and belonging for their members. They are, in a word, more communal
than one might think.
As we become mentally oriented toward others and forge commonalities with them, then,
sociomental connections are formed. With some people, however, our connection is more profound
than with others. We may feel that we are “tuning into” them particularly well. Even though we do
not meet them face-to-face, we want to call our connections with them true social bonds. With these
people, we resonate. All these explanations clearly show us how social awareness sites are bringing
together large numbers of people and not only giving them a chance to voice their opinions but to
do so, on a large scale where their voices will be heard by all the other like-minded people.
There are hundreds of thousands of members in the ‘save the tiger’
campaign and another thousand members in campaigns like ‘Save the girl
child’ and ‘Teach the girl child’.
‘The Jaago Re’ campaign was launched by Tata tea and Janagraha, in
September 2008. This was launched to start a voter registration drive in
colleges and corporate in 35 cities across the country and to register 4 million
votes. Jaago Re has an active social media presence with 15,000 members on
Facebook and 13,000 members on Orkut. Another such campaign was The Lead
India, Bleed India campaign which was launched in the search for a new youth
political leader. This also caught on a large number of followers online.
On such sites people feel that they understand one another and feel as though
they are like minded and can therefore share and experience the same feelings
even through a medium like the internet.

SOCIAL NETWORKING
Introduction
Recent explosion in online social networking sites such as MySpace, Face-book, Bebo and others
has attracted considerable interest from the academy, policymakers, parents and young people
themselves, the repeated claim being that something new is taking place.
A social network service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on
building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, e.g.,
who share interests and/or activities. A social network service essentially
consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links,
and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web
based and provide means for users to interact over the internet, such as e-mail
and instant messaging. Although online community services are sometimes
considered as a social network service. In a broader sense, social network
service usually means an individual-centered service whereas online
community services are group-centered. Social networking sites allow users to
share ideas, activities, events, and interests within their individual networks.
social networking sites enable communication among ever-widening circles of
contacts, inviting convergence among the hitherto separate activities of email,
messaging, website creation, diaries, photo albums and music or video
uploading and downloading.
From the user’s viewpoint, more than ever before, using media means creating
as well as receiving, with user control extending far beyond selecting ready-
made, mass produced content. The very language of social relationships is
being reframed; today, people construct their ‘profile’, make it ‘public’ or
‘private’, they ‘comment’ or ‘message’ their ‘top friends’ on their ‘wall’, they
‘block’ or ‘add’ people to their network and so forth. It seems that for many,
creating and networking online content is becoming an integral means of
managing one’s identity, lifestyle and social relations. In the UK, MySpace is by
far the most popular social network, with 6.5 million unique visitors in May
2007, followed by 4 million for Bebo and 3.2 million for Face-book. US figures
are far higher, with 38.4 million unique visitors to MySpace in May 2006 .Young
people are in the vanguard of social networking practices: 31 percent of
MySpace users are under 18 years, as are 54 percent of Bebo users in the USA;
6.6 million unique users aged 12–17 visited MySpace in August 2006 across
Europe, and 32 percent of online 16–24-year-olds use social networking sites at
least monthly. Optimistic accounts stress new opportunities for self-expression,
sociability, community engagement, creativity and new literacies.
This does not mean that face-to-face communication is being displaced.
Indeed, while social networking is displacing other forms of online
communication to some degree (email, chat-rooms, website creation), it
incorporates others (instant messaging, blogging, music downloading) and
remediates yet more (most notably, face-to-face and telephone
communication) consequently, the simple distinction between offline and
online no longer captures the complex practices associated with online
technologies as they become thoroughly. Taking risky opportunities in youthful
content creation embedded in the routines of everyday life. These insights
centre on emerging social practices with online social networking. Less is
known about the specific contribution of social networking sites in shaping
these practices, if any. To understand the relation between the two, the notion
of mediation – social and technological – permits us to avoid a technologically
deterministic account while acknowledging the shaping role of technology and
social practices.
Issues with social networking
a) PRIVACY:
On large social networking services, there have been growing concerns
about users giving out too much personal information and the threat of
 sexual predators. Users of these services also need to be aware of data theft
or viruses. Giving too much personal information in the hands of large
corporations or governmental bodies, allowing a profile to be produced on
an individual's behavior on which decisions, detrimental to an individual,
may be taken. Furthermore, there is an issue over the control of data—
information that was altered or removed by the user may in fact be retained
and/or passed to 3rd parties. This danger was highlighted when the
controversial social networking site.

- Access to information
Many social networking services, such as Face book, provide the user with a
choice of who can view their profile. This prevents unauthorized user(s) from
accessing their information. By making their profile private, teens can select
who may see their page, allowing only people added as "friends" to view their
profile and preventing unwanted parents from viewing it. Teens are constantly
trying to create a structural barrier between their private life and their parents.

- Potential for misuse-Fake profiles

The relative freedom afforded by social networking services has caused
concern regarding the potential of its misuse by individual patrons. The event
incited global concern regarding the use of social networking services for
bullying purposes
- Addiction
There is an element of addictiveness in these sites and the youth are indeed
getting endeared more and more into this addiction. The most appealing thing
among these sites is that they provide a platform for the individuals to express
their views, gives them the freedom of choice and expression... from anti-war
campaigns to global warming issues, from Harry potter fan clubs to Osama bin
Laden hate clubs... there is everything for everyone to share and speak about.
b) Identity development
In relation to social networking, such identity development seemed to be
expressed in terms of decisions regarding the style or choice of site. Young people
select a more or less complex representation of themselves linked to a more or less
wide network of others.

PROS AND CONS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES:

Positive
1- Interpersonal relationships – researchers often claim that the internet has
a positive influence on personal relationships because it lowers the
communication barriers in space and time.
2- It increased efficiency and speed of transactions, thus saving time for
other activities including face- face interactions.
3- It offers opportunities to maintain geographically diverse networks and
facilitates social interaction due to absence of physical cues and
simplified communication.
 4- These networking sites play the role of resource mobilization. The
resources here, being the users. For e.g.: In Egypt the posting of a video
by an anti-Mubarak activist telling people about the anti-Mubarak rally
led to the mobilizing of people and the ouster of the dictator. In the same
way, many social causes mobilize support through these sites.
Negative
1- Internet relations are virtual hence not sufficiently rich and strong- online
relationships are less substantial and less sustaining as virtual ties are
weaker, superficial and with easily broken bonds.
2- Online communications also serve purposes different to those of offline
communication- the internet is used more for functional purposes and
leisure activities which tend to more task oriented and impersonal.
3- The internet can facilitate isolation of individuals because the time spent
online may reduce face-face social contacts.
4- Creating identity and social relations online is not only time-intensive,
and on occasion risky, but also it can be difficult to manage.
In sum, the empirical evidence does not support any simple conclusion.
The reason for inconclusiveness on the impact of social networking can
be found in different designs and methods.

BLOGS (by Kile Dsouza)

Introduction

Blogs are frequently modified webpages containing dated entries listed in reverse
chronological sequence. In the past several years, Blogs have gone from relative obscurity
to immense popularity.The impacts of Blogs throughout the world has been on an increase
and are popular because they enable easy, more flexible and interactive than previous print
or digital publication formats and inexpensive self-publication of content for a potentially
vast audience on the world wide web.Series of external events over the past few years that
have inspired blogging activity like terrorist acts, war, political campaigns and natural
disasters. Blogging about these events has attracted the attention of the mainstream news
media, contributing to the popularization and adoption of this new mode of computer-
mediated communication.

By the end of the first quarter of 2004, this estimate said that the number of blogs had risen
to 31.6 million, most of which were personal journals. According to blog-tracking services ,
the number of active blogs around the in April 2004 was between 1.5 and 2 million.
Numerous aspects of creative online activity have thus been unveiled, focusing on self-
expression, use of rhetorical strategies, socialization and display of alternative content.

Unlike diaries, which are frequently written to express secrets or private thoughts of the
individual for the individual, blogs are written to be read.Traditional diary format as unlike
written diaries wherein the privacy of which is cautiously guarded by their authors, blogs
are open for all to browse.Several blogs are authored for the explicit purpose of perusal by
friends, family members and the occasional accidental browser. Therefore, they present an
interesting paradoxical combination of private and public information that challenges our
conventional understanding of the private and public sphere and motivates the individual to
project personal experiences, usually considered private, to a mass audience. Blogs allow
the private domain to become public and privatize a portion of the public sphere.

Positives
Researchers often claim that the internet has a positive influence on personal relationships
because it lowers the communication barriers in space and time. It thereby increases the
efficiency and speed of transactions, thus saving time for other activities including face-to-
face interactions

1. Blogging has evolved as an alternative form of journalism.Blogs provide the

opportunity for amateur journalism and personalized publishing.

2. Instead of visiting dozens of news sites, a good topical blog offers a service to
readers by monitoring the web for the latest unique facets of the stories can do that
for the reader. Blogs give readers the impression that they are getting unmediated raw
information and provide not only the news of the event but also instantaneous written
commentary on it.It leads to activism.

3. Blogs allow for feedback from readers in the form of comment functions available at
many blogs. Even readers who will not leave an opinion (the vast majority) get the
sense of being part of an event by reading the live discourse of others.

4. Traditional media outlets cannot keep up with the original reporting and man-on-the-
street commentary which was found in blogs .Most of the major news sites are
inaccessible, but news and pictures are reaching us through e-mail, webcams and the
blog community. Bloggers have also shown that they can ignite the traditional
media’s interest in a topic.Similarly, blogs have shone a light onto stories missed by
the traditional media.

5. The blogs on the Internet act as a revitalizer of social relations.They help to form
bonds, relations and groups of 'like-minded' people over the internet.Extensive
studies of blogs have demonstrated their ability to create online networks social
contact.

6. Internet communication transcends geographic boundaries and normally that is a

good thing.Many at times, blogs help in mobilising the netizens and masses for a
common cause against certain social, political and economic issues.Many countries
 have banned blogs and other social networking sites in the fear that these blogs may
lead to discussion based realisation and may cause unrest or revolt.
Negative

1. Many writers believe that virtual relationships are not sufficiently rich and strong but
weaker, superficial and with easily broken bonds and the richness of computer-
mediated communication (CMC).They believe that online relationships are less
substantial and less sustaining..

2. Social contacts may also be reduced because the internet makes it unnecessary to
leave home for tasks such as shopping or banking.In addition, with the internet
people work harder than ever since technology is creating ways to do more work at
home.

3. There are diff. Kinds of Blogs-Some instigate Violence, Hatred, Anti-nation

Instigation etc.These kinds of blogs are anti-social and many blogs form counter-
cultures.

4. Internet usage especially contributes to the fact that internet users rely more on
friends than on kin or neighbours, that their network members are on average more
geographically distant, less important to them, they have known them for less time,
and their role is less specialized in the sense that they provide more types of social
support.

5. The internet is simply used more often by those people who already communicate
with their alters on a more regular basis. This confirms past research indicating that
the receipt of support happens synergistically both online and offline

6. The internet is particularly used for communication with network members by

frequent internet users and those who have used the internet for a longer period of
time. This is also consistent with studies showing that internet users who have been
online longer and/or use the internet more frequently represent the most active users
and engage in most kinds of online activities

Marriage Matrimony Sites (by Kile Dsouza)

“I want a man who’s kind and understanding. Is that too much to ask of a millionaire?”

Zsa Zsa Gabor

Gone are the days when the family priest who would research for the ideal match for the
family by drawing on his vast community network resources. Then it was an era of
matrimonial classified columns which were advertised in the newspapers describing the
bride or the groom. With the advent of internet the trend of finding a dream mate has
underwent a complete makeover. Nowadays the Saying holds true "Marriages are made in
heaven" a heaven called the Internet.

Matrimonial sites offer an edge over the conventional methods of finding your soul mate.
Firstly, matrimonial sites offer convenience; they allow people to search for their soul mate
with a click of a button that too in their own sweet time. Profiles describe their persona,
partner preferences, interests contact details etc . It also allows the seeking individuals to
search for their ideal partner with a search option. Matrimonial websites cater to people
from a variety of caste & religious backgrounds and usually offer these services at a very
low cost. Matrimonial profiles are like a mirror image of a person as they also project what
your thoughts, aspirations are and what qualities are you looking for in your dream mate.

In recent times, marriage trends in India have undergone tremendous change. It varies from
arranged to love marriage, arranged-love to love-arranged, inter caste to inter-religion,
court-marriage and sometime living together. Nowadays, global techno-culture persists in
India and social networking becomes a routine practice on various societal issues, including
matrimony services.

• In early centuries, some educated and respected peoples of the society used to take up
matchmaking as a profession, called as 'kulacharya'.They had special command on
establishing the marriage relation and they received a great deal of social prestige.
They used to maintain written records of family histories in detail and catered
marriage related information consulting those record books but now this job has been
taken up by diff. Matrimonial portals.

• Marriage bureaus equipped with professional consultants, counselors, legal advisors,

agents, etc are set-up. Marriage bureaus always hunt for new members to make their
business and seldom unreliably cater the information.

• Registered members can post their profiles and search desired matches freely and
instantly, but one has to make the payment to enable value added services viz. initiate
meaningful contacts, blog-entry, SMS alert, online chat, etc. Information transfer
through this mode is instantaneous but quite expensive, often harassing too. Still it is
gaining popularity with the increasing use of internet in our country. It has been
criticized as 'profit making portals.'

On-Line Dating Sites

“I date this girl for two years – and then the nagging starts: “I wanna know your name . . .”

Mike Binder

Nowadays, one of the most exciting social, as well as romantic, sites to visit is cyberspace.
At any moment, millions of people across the globe are surfing that space, socializing with
each other or having romantic affairs. On-line dating can be of 2 types: 1) Dating without
knowing the identity 2) Dating by knowing the identity.

Cyberspace is a psychological and social domain. When people are asked why they engaged
in on-line dating and sexual relationships online, the most common reason given is that they
have specific fantasies and desires that are not being fulfilled in their offline relationships.

The major features responsible for the great romantic seductiveness of cyberspace are
imagination, interactivity, availability, and anonymity.

Positives

A significant advantage of cyberspace is that it is different: it provides desirable situations

over and above those found in offline circumstances.

Cyberspace allows each person more breathing space.

Greater anonymity and reduced vulnerability

Online relationships typically have fewer practical implications than have offline
relationships; hence, participants in these relationships are less vulnerable. Indeed, in
offline relationships, people tend not to reveal much intimate information until they feel
safe. In cyberspace, people are ready to disclose more intimate information since they
assume that anonymity and spatial distance reduce the risk of harmful consequences.

Lack of “gating features”

The greater tendencies toward self-disclosure in cyberspace can also be explained by a lack
of the usual “gating features” – easily discernible features such as unattractive external
appearance, stereotypic characteristics, visible shyness, or social anxiety – which might be
an obstacle to the establishment of any close relationship. Sites are available for all shapes
and sizes who are interested in dating.
Greater ease in finding similar others

People who share similar backgrounds, attitudes, and interests are more likely to establish
romantic relationships and to remain together. Finding similar others is not easy in offline
circumstances
where the availability of such people is limited to your local arena. Finding others similar to
oneself in cyberspace is much easier as they are more available and one is able to detect
such similarity, as well as other desirable characteristics, more rapidly than in offline
circumstances.

Negatives

It has been claimed that these affairs show no regard for actual friends, that they are selfish,
involve lust, rampant imagination, and immorality, and online imagination that they lack
any sincere or affectionate attitudes toward others. Although these claims may be true in
some online relationships, it is certainly not necessarily so.

• Not Knowing the opposite user who can be Rapist, Pedophiles, Sociopaths, Drug
 dealers etc.

• Unsupervised and easy accessibility-too much intimacy and may go too far.

• A Mumbai teenager Adnan Patrawala, son of a businessman was trapped on Orkut

and later he was murdered. Adnan’s Orkut profile says, I love mobiles, friends, my
mother, fast driving, humorous, good looking, wanna become a pilot etc. Two or
three weeks back he came in contact with Angel, a profile created by someone by
utilizing the name of a girl. Scrapbooks of Adnan and Angel revealed that they were
continuously talking to each other. According to scrapbooks, Angel was continuously
insisting Adnan to meet her, but Adnan wanted Angel’s photograph first, which was
never sent by her. In reply Angel said " Don’s worry? m quite & gud looking, u
wanna meet me??? Lez mette up na! wot say?" Finally on Saturday Adnan replied
that he wanted to meet her, which became the cause of his death.

Impact

Change from traditional match makers to new age matrimony managers.

Individual choice compared to that of family pressures.

Integration of family choice and the individual choice.

The factors have increased. Eg:Not only caste but likes, dislikes, pictures, on-line chats etc.

Has brought society together even further cuting across geographical borders. Eg: Boy from
India, Girl in USA.

Negative:

Most profiles too made up and cases of ppl being duped.

Community based sites have increased which sectionalizes the choice of mate.(good and
bad)

Success rate not that good and many cases ppl get depressed.

Final Conclusion

The internet has a relatively limited impact on social relationships.In 2005 there are
currently over 1 billion internet users (‘Population Explosion’, 2005) and in developed
countries the internet is already being used by most of the adult population. As a
consequence, the discussion of whether the internet improves or harms social participation
is common and highly relevant.
The internet offers opportunities to maintain geographically diverse networks and facilitates
social interaction due to the absence of physical cues and simplified communication. Thus
internet users may build new links and communities of interest and emotion far beyond the
limits of their local environment

In addition, the internet may change existing social networks, since people use it to maintain
contact with existing community members, either by adding the internet to other contacts or
by completely shifting their communication to the internet.

All of these suggest that the social relationships of internet users may become richer in the
sense of having larger networks than those of the general population.They are also richer
with respect to the frequency and time dedicated to social contacts

To summarize, there are no simple, one-sided interpretations as regards the internet’s impact
on social relationships. On the one hand, the internet is a modern device fostering newer,
more diverse and also less intense contacts. On the other hand, it also fosters
communication with people who are already communicated with through other
communication means and have stronger ties. that internet use does not bring radical
changes to the structure and characteristics of social relationships. However, it seems that in
these early stages of the process of adopting the internet ‘deprived’ groups are the greatest
beneficiaries of internet usage.