As the Internet has become a more mainstream aspect of everyday life it has flourished as a way to communicate. Social networks have become a popular choice for people looking to connect online with their friends and family.  Additionally, people use social networks to connect to communities that share their interests and to even use these communities to deepen their knowledge and understand of the subject in question.  From a professional or even educational perspective, social networks present many unique opportunities for more “self-guided” learning experiences.

Despite all the positives surrounding the communication aspects, we still know very little of what drives an individual to so actively participate in social networking the way we see today. It is common for the motivation to be professional, as networking is both convenient and wide-reaching on the internet. However, aside from professional uses, there is a great deal of discussion coming forward about the addictive aspects of many social networking sites. Many social networking sites are designed specifically to keep the user coming back and staying, whether it is good for their health or not. There is also the matter of individuals frequently having both a professional and personal online presence. While professional presences are often very curated, personal ones are usually more “free form”. This is fine until the two identities converge or intersect, and depending on the content in the personal sphere it may cause issues in one’s professional life.

With any public activity, one could argue there is a degree of risk, however, the risks associated with maintaining an online presence are frequently undervalued. This is primarily due to the permanence of the internet. While you may make some poor choices in “real life”, it is much less likely for those choices to resurface in 10 years than it is for them to resurface on the internet.

There is also the matter of an online presence being much further reaching than a physical one. This can be really beneficial, as discussed earlier with finding those who share your interests or even being more informed on global matters. However, one also has to consider privacy. That online presence that can easily make you knew friends, can also put your personal information into the hands of those who will use it for ill. An easy comparative frame of reference for a regular person having an internet presence and a “physical” social presence is the difference between introducing yourself at a small house party and standing up on a stage at a huge concert. They may be doing and saying the same information, you have much less of an idea of who hears it and what they may do with that information. While I personally have very little, if any, professional presence in the social networks I use I can still draw the comparison between more “free form” personal use and that which is a bit more curated. I first began using Facebook when I was 13, only four years after it became available for public use. As a result, a lot of the older content that I posted is, well, that which one would expect a 13-year-old to post. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it certainly is not what I would post now. A more current social network I use is Instagram, which I got in 2015. I have always been very particular about what I post there, mostly due to the visual aesthetic and as a result, it is very curated.

References

  • Boyd, Danah. “Networked Privacy”. Surveillance & Society, vol 10, no. 3/4, 2012, pp. 348-350. Queen’s University Library, doi:10.24908/ss.v10i3/4.4529.
  • “Eric Stoller – What Is Digital Identity?”. Youtube.Com, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0RryRbJza0.
  • Rajagopal, Kamakshi et al. “Understanding Personal Learning Networks: Their Structure, Content And The Networking Skills Needed To Optimally Use Them”. First Monday, vol 17, no. 1, 2012. University Of Illinois Libraries, doi:10.5210/fm.v17i1.3559.
  • “What Is A Personal Learning Network (PLN)?”. Futurelearn, 2021, https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/learning-network-age/0/steps/24644.