The evolution of social networking

           From MySpace to Facebook and Twitter to Tumblr, social networking has shaped the way people interact with not only one another, but with the media itself. The New York Times, Rolling Stone, the Buffalo News and even our own university have Twitter accounts and Facebook pages.

 
            Social networking sites have revolutionized the way information is spread. It feeds into the American demand for instant gratification and alerts people to new facts and details literally every minute of every day.

 
            Michael Stefanone, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at UB, said that social networking sprang from this natural human need for information and interaction.

 
            'People all share the need to connect and interact with others. That's what makes us human,' Stefanone said. 'If you examine the evolution of the Internet, it seems natural that people would develop social networking tools.'

 
            Take the incident in Lockwood on Feb. 16: students received more updates from Twitter and Facebook statuses than from university e-mails.

 
            'If you followed the Lockwood 'gunman' incident, Twitter, along with the hub, was by far the quickest place to learn what was going on,' said Chris Martin, a junior informatics major.

 
            Martin appreciates Twitter and Facebook for the quick uptake on big news stories, especially in mysterious situations like the one in Lockwood, where people are craving answers to many questions.

 
            'I don't post to Twitter that often, but for up-to-the-minute news on things that media outlets are slow to pick up on, it's awesome,' Martin said.

 
            However, there's a negative aspect to this. The Spectrum came under fire from the university for allegedly posting rumors on its Twitter account during the Lockwood incident. These 'rumors' snowballed and were repeated and reported by other local media outlets, creating a big cyber ball of confusion.

 
            Though he likes the news aspect of social networking sites, Martin said he mostly uses them to keep in touch with friends and family despite his busy college schedule, and believes this is what social networking sites should be used for.

 
            'I use Facebook primarily to procrastinate – it's a huge time sink. [I also use it] to keep in touch with friends that I wouldn't see otherwise,' Martin said.

 
            Stefanone feels that social networking sites, though they are used for news, are meant to serve their namesake: networking. Stefanone points out that in sharing personal information on these sites, possible connections for relationships and jobs can arise.

 
            'Social networking sites allow us to essentially broadcast personal information – like we're our own celebrities,' Stefanone said. 'This is consistent with the celebrity culture we live in now. But don't forget – only a small fraction of your Facebook network are actually friends of yours.'

 
            According to Stefanone, the main purpose of social networking sites is simple: to make money.

 
            'The biggest beneficiaries of sites like Facebook are marketing and advertising companies. Don't be fooled for a second – everything you do on Facebook is data that is sold to others,' Stefanone said. 'The bottom line is that sites like Facebook exist to make money. Every time you answer a 20-question quiz, or enter information about your favorite bands or movies – all of these things are actually data points about your interests and preferences in life.'

 
            Facebook and Twitter are a dream for advertising researchers who are looking to reach a target audience.

 
            'Ten years ago, people had to pay for rich data like that. Now, young people enthusiastically make it publicly available. Those data points are sold so that other companies can target advertising at you,' Stefanone said.

 
            Still, Stefanone agrees that social networking sites are new media. These sites bring information to the masses the way newspapers used to. They are the present and the future of monopolizing news media.

 
            'There has been a shift [in our roles in the news],' Stefanone said. 'We've moved from content consumers to content producers. Yes, it may be fun producing and sharing content – often intimate, personal content. I often wonder what the costs are, though.'

 
            Despite not always being a trustworthy method for news, Stefanone feels that because it's instantaneous, social networking is here to stay.

 
            '[Social networking] never left,' Stefanone said. 'People have been networking since the dawn of civilization. The only difference now is Facebook is mediating our relationships.'

 
 

 
E-mail: news@ubspectrum.com