In this week's readings of PR 2.0, Chapter 8 really caught my attention. The chapter discusses the concept of social networking - as the chapter's titled " Social Networking: A Revolution Has Begun." When I first started reading this chapter, I thought the content seemed pretty repetitive and self explanatory. Companies need to use social media to build relationships, social media can help your brand, etc. etc. etc.... all of the stuff that I feel like everyone in this class already know.
But as I kept reading, something else in this chapter really caught my attention. Although the first social networking site, Classmates.com, was launched in 1995, the science of social network analysis has been around since the 1930s. A science that focused on certain factors of social networks such as influence, trust, centrality, and network density. At first, this didn't make sense to me at all. How could there be a science for measuring social networks over 60 years before the first social network existed? But then I really thought about it. Back when the Internet didn't exist, people got their information through their social circles, those were their social networks. In fact, we still do that today but just in an electronic form. Instead of hearing about news from our neighbors and family through verbal conversations, we hear about news from our neighbors, family and friends through Facebook or Twitter. Our Facebook and Twitter profiles ARE our social circles. This realization definitely impressed me and terrified me at the same time, are our lives defined by our virtual realities? When do those two aspects separate?...do they ever?
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