Social Networking Sites

There are many diverse kinds of popular social networking sites, however, two of the more popular ones and that also offer apps are Facebook and Twitter. But to get a better understanding between the different functionality among them, I’ve decided to contrast and compare these two against two other popular social networking sites, such as LinkedIn and Tumblr. All four offer different options and also cater to different users. But what they all do have in common is the ease of use, functionality, connectedness and they offer apps which mean users can access them through any electronic device, such as smartphones, tablets and now smartwatches and from any location around the world. Moreover, the central element which also makes them popular is that all of them are free (However, LinkedIn does offer a paid upgrade option) but this is only because they are all supported by some form of paid advertisements. It’s also important to point out that when accessing social networking sites through a laptop web browser or smartphone app, the experience can be different because of screen size, speed and page layout and they both offer different capabilities and options with apps being more flexible and versatile for users on the go. Nevertheless, I have decided to compare the four social networking sites through my laptop web browser instead of the smartphone apps for this experiment.

Facebook:

It’s been a while since I was on Facebook and it has changed a bite from when I was last on the social networking site, it’s also been updated and seems less cluttered. Yet, Facebook still allows users to connect with friends and family or anyone by simply sending and accepting friend’s request and as users, we have control on who can see our page and the information we upload, unless we change our share setting to allow selected individuals or everyone to view our content. Additionally, the news feed page shows what everyone on your friend's list has posted or even posts from group members that we join. Furthermore, we can also share and repost what others have published on our own feed, where our other friends can see it and further share it. Likewise, Facebook gives users our own personal homepage with our timeline posts, about section, friends list, photos and where everything that we have posted, commented and liked are listed like a blog post and where anyone who is interested in seeing what we have been doing can easily search our personal page since its all listed in chronological order. You also get notifications about special events, statues changes and whose birthday it is, you can even send friend's birthday wishes and you can also tag friends in photos. Moreover, there’s a chat option known as messenger so that we can either send email messages or have an immediate chat conversation in real-time with friends. Furthermore, Facebook live lets users record and live stream videos on what they are doing at that particular moment (in experimenting I accidentally pressed the option and started freaking out, but luckily, I declined access to my webcam, and nothing got uploaded to Facebook in real-time). After going through the Facebook page and playing around with the different options and functions, I noticed that Facebook offers much more than posting, uploading photos, GIFs or video sharing, but they also have a marketplace, fundraiser page, different interest groups and much more. Overall Facebook offers more versatility and functionality than most other social networking sites.

Twitter:

On the other hand, Twitter is a microblog which is great for short and simple uploads in real-time. Also, the use of the hashtag symbol makes it easy for tweets to get noticed by the right people, such as classmates finding each other’s Twitter assignments by adding the hashtag symbol followed by the class number (#3810Net2) or you can add the @ symbol and a person’s name or Twitter account name if the tweet is directed to a particular individual or company. Additionally, I find that Twitter is better for getting up to date news information and I rather like it compared to Facebooks because of its straightforward, and clean interface where I can quickly find information fast such as breaking news and even current event articles which don’t get as easily lost in the way it does on Facebook where I have to first sift through all my friend's posts who might upload long messages or I have to get past the multiple photos and videos posted by one person. Also, on Twitter most media outlets tweet links to the article they have tweeted about which can then be further found on their websites in regards to the information, and I like that because I can quickly skim the tweet to see if I am interested in reading more or just skimming it or ignoring it completely. Still, I find that there are a few similarities between Facebook and Twitter, such as both have home pages where everyone who I follow post-show up like a blog and in chronological order, I can also like a tweet (but with less expressive emojis, since Twitter currently only offers one, the heart), both can be used as sounding boards or to express and air grievances and Twitter offers retweets so if I like something from someone else’s page, I can share it on my own page too, just like Facebook. Both also offer personal pages that hold all the posts or tweets I have liked, what I’ve uploaded and messages I’ve replied to or sent. Additionally, with both, I can also upload images, video clips and GIF. Plus, within both social networking sites most celebrates, organizations, media companies have a Facebook and Twitter account. However, Twitter doesn’t offer a real-time chat messenger type service nor many of the other perks that Facebook does offer users aside from just posting. To me, Facebook is more for connecting with family and friends and sharing my adventures and Twitter is more for assembling news articles and information into bit size pieces.

LinkedIn:

Unlike Facebook that I think is great for connecting with friends and family or Twitter which I also think is perfect for getting up to date news and information. LinkedIn, I find is the grown-up or professional social networking site which allows me to connect with work colleagues (past and present), with my employer and other professionals in my field or other industries. The dashboard page is filled with all my employment and career information just like a resume where you add work experience and education, but you can also enhance this page with earned licenses, certifications acquired skills and even take different skills tests to prove your knowledge on the topic and moreover, you can get endorsements from other professionals who know us best, we can further add interest and accomplishments and customize the page in a way that reflects our professional career interest and also add a short and brief summary about ourselves or just our job title. LinkedIn is more detailed and thorough then a regular resume and if you want to show off your writing talents you can also write and upload original articles (I have done it where I’ve written an article that I have also uploaded). LinkedIn isn’t a place where you would post family pictures, but its main focus is on business-related information and topics and you would mostly follow coworkers, leaders of industries, professionals, specialists and other companies of interest. You can also post if you are seeking a new job or search for jobs by company or industry and it’s an easy way for career headhunters to find and contact you with new job opportunities (though I’ve seen other social networking sites also offering these kinds of job searching and career options tools). Furthermore, you can also connect with alma mater, college professors and former classmates. But what I don’t like are the telemarketers who at times seem to flood the inbox with some program or service they are trying to sell, but users also have control over adjusting their privacy settings and reporting abuse. Yet, just like Facebook and Twitter, you can add pictures, videos and write posts and also send invitations to connect with other professionals indifferent fields or industries and they can also request to follow you in retuned which ultimately helps build and create new business connections and networking opportunities. Moreover, on LinkedIn, you can let others know that you have looked at their front page or change the setting and remain anonymous. LinkedIn, just like Twitter also offers hashtags for finding information easily and also similar to Facebook they offer group discussions and messaging, but LinkedIn doesn’t offer a real-time chat option. Furthermore, with LinkedIn, you can also send milestone congratulations and birthday wishes to your contacts, the same as Facebook. Likewise, the home page is set up the same as both Facebook and Twitter, where you can see what your contacts are posting and also whoever you follow and you can either like, comment or share on their post. You can also follow business-related news sites who post business and economic articles and read professional writer’s blog posts about topics they are familiar with, which I think is great when you are interested in focusing on only business-related content. To me LinkedIn is for networking, career promoting and building professional connections and eliminates all the other kinds of distractions and you won’t find games like candy crush here either. At times the interface can also seem a bit clutter and overwhelming when you are looking through someone’s dashboard page that has a lot of information.

Tumblr:

Unlike Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, I think Tumblr is a great blog platform for creative individuals who want to express themselves through art, photography, videos or writing and other creative expressive means (even though as of lately Tumblr has been taking some heat for censorship issues and practices). When I first set up my account I was asked about my interest and given multiple options to choose from and afterward, they generated customized blog post that were relevant to my likes and interest and I didn’t have to fish around to find posts or bloggers that I would be interested in following nor did I get blog recommendations I wasn’t looking to see. As I scrawled through the Tumblr page I created, I did like the dashboard layout which I found to be uncluttered, uncomplicated and it was simple to follow other bloggers and their posts, and it was even easy to create my own blog posts. Tumblr has many functionality and choices such as hashtags, chat options to connect with other bloggers in real-time, you can also upload or create just quotes, insert links easily and add audio files, GIFs, animations and more. Tumblr also offers blogs that are trending and has a navigation button that gives further recommendations so that you can increase the number of pages and bloggers you follow, but this can also get overwhelming when following so many bloggers and pages. I know that there are other creative platforms such as Pinterest, Behance and even DeviantArt that might offer better alternatives and options as creative outlets and even better-known blog sites such as the one we are using for class (Blogger), but I find Tumblr entertaining and it's decent for amateurs and novice blog users like myself because it offers the same familiar utilities as the other popular social networking sites such as liking a post, reblogging, sharing, writing and adding blog post directly onto the dashboard and sending or receiving messages, however, it also goes beyond that because you can also add notes and save your writings that you can post at a later time. Furthermore, on Tumblr, you also find bloggers who make recommendations or sell their crafts and other services and items. However, I will continue exploring Tumblr further as I do like what it offers in that its flexible.

Honestly, in the past, I subscribed to many different social networking sites because they were both free and my family and friends were on them. However, because they were becoming overwhelming with too many notifications alerts (though I could have changed the notification setting but didn’t because of fear of missing out (FOMO)) they were also becoming more and more of a distraction, and time-wasters (especially when it came to watching videos and playing games). Social networking sites were consuming most of my attention, where I’d spend long periods of time checking updates and absorbed in what others were posting and I wasn’t focusing on things that were important such as actually meeting people offline. Plus, with all the fake news floating around on some of the more popular social networking sites such as Facebook, it left a bad taste. So, I had decided, I had enough and deleted them all in a social networking detox (except for LinkedIn which I don’t check often but do use the link on my resume). And to tell you the truth after deleting them I don’t regret it since I wasn’t actually missing out on anything and I had been able to instead start enjoying other fun activities, appreciate the people around me and focus more on school. Nevertheless, I am aware that my future professional path will require that I access social networking sites often for work, however, I will have to find and develop a healthy balance between being consumed by social networking sites for work and living my best personal self by disconnecting during my free time. Yet, in moderation social networking sites do offer many benefits which I have learned from our class readings, so I will start reintroducing some of them back into my life again but on a limited basis.