Social Networking on Facebook Essay Example for Free

Social Networking on Facebook EssaySocial Networking on Facebook Arlene Pascual MIS Facebook (FB) is one of the latest trends in social networking (Facebook. com). Facebook (FB) is one of the most popular social networking sites among college students. FB started out as a site designed for and available to students at Harvard University to help them get acquaint with other students living in the dorms. But, it is now a public site. FB has become the number one choice of communication with college students, ranking higher than phone and email. FB attracts many students beca uptake it provides a place where students can rush space of their own to express themselves and communicate freely with peers. This site provides an easy way for students to build their social networks, lay out the world who they argon, make new friends and keep up with old friends. Facebook is not just a tool for all college students anymore. In September 2006, FB went public. Before then, only pile with an . edu email address could access the site. Now anyone with a valid email can become a registered user of the popular social networking site.In addition, Computer Mediated Communication is communication that pop offs via computer technology. CMC includes participating in chat room discussions, instant messaging, email, virtual teams, virtual communities, and voice activated messaging. CMC is to a fault an excellent way to participate in social networking. Social networking is an important part of everyday life that assists people in planning and cultivating business, social contacts, and person-to-person relationships. CMC is often preferred over face to face communication because it is convenient, easy, fast and highly effective in many situations.Newspapers, news magazines, and television news have highlighted the dangers of Facebook and other social networking sites much(prenominal) as MySpace, such as online predators, dangers of revealing personal information on profiles, and the posting of obscene or illegal activities. save the positive aspects of social networking on the internet make these sites so appealing to millions of users. Given the widespread of FB use among college students, the main goal of this study is to explore how students are social networking on Facebook.The following research questions are as follows 1 How are students setting up their Facebook accounts? 2 How much time are students using up on Facebook? 3 How are students using Facebook? and 4 What kinds of negative experiences have students encountered on Facebook? Despite the negative press surrounding social networking sites, this study revealed that students are using Facebook for positive and appropriate networking. Everyone at their university can view their profiles, which allows more connections and interactions.Students also reported that their profiles were accurate representations of themselves. Since students tend to allow everyone to see their profile informati on, obese lies about themselves can be obvious. However, some students reported that their profiles only somewhat accurately represent them. Students may think that they are able to stretch the trueness about certain areas of their lives. Although data were not gathered about what parts of students profiles are less accurate than others, this paper guessed that misrepresentations are most resemblingly to occur in the About Me section.In this section, students write about anything they like, from their favorite things to how they view themselves. In many ways, the about me section is similar to a personal ad whereby students attempt to portray themselves in the most positive light possible. In addition, most students are not much concerned about privacy and they relieve new friends request who they dont know because that is the reason they join FB to meet new friends. Majority of the respondents spent about 10 minutes a day.The most common uses of FB were sending messages to frien ds and viewing photos. Students want to keep in touch and get to know others better. On the other hand, one clear conclusion of this study is that students do not use FB for overt romantic relationship development. Students do not want their dating attempts to be public. Students also did not use FB to advertise academic or social events or to recruit for their organizations. Overall, negative experiences on FB were relatively few and far between given the frequency and kind of student use.In case of stalker issue, although FB is now open to the public, the default (and loosest) privacy setting enables student profiles to be viewed only by people at their own universities. Therefore, students must confirm that others outside their universities are their friends before people can view their profiles. These kinds of privacy safeguards might aid in holding away stalkers. Concepts from two theoretical frameworks appear to be useful applications for explaining social networking on Fac ebook. First, Uncertainty ReductionTheory (URT) posits that people do not like uncertainty in initial encounters and therefore attempt to reduce that uncertainty through verbal and nonverbal communication in these initial face-to-face meetings. Students on FB definitely attempted to reduce uncertainty with strangers (e. g. other students in their classes, residence halls, sororities, and clubs) through direct messaging on FB and through indirect means such as observing others profiles on FB (networks, pictures, and wall posts). Relational Maintenance (RM) provides insight into the strategies that established relational partners use to maintain their relationships.RM can help enhance an live relationship, repair a conflictual one, or maintain a relationship at its current level of engagement and satisfaction. Relational maintenance was prevalent on Facebook. move messages, updating profiles, and uploading pictures helped students feel connected with friends from high school and col lege. The RM strategies of positivity, self-disclosure, and assurances were all easily accomplished through FB and students perceived FB to be maintaining their relationships in important ways. FB can also foster closeness among users by sharing pictures that make events more personal and immediate.