Well all,
Thought I would jot down some thoughts on my views of social networking.
MySpace — Now MySpace didn’t start out all that bad. However eventually it just got to big. Then people started to find out that grown men were impersonating girls and all this other very very bad stuff. Also music bands and musicians now use the site as a free marketing site. All in all a site that really no self-respecting Christian should go too.
Facebook — FaceBook started out as a site where you had to have a .edu email address in order to get approved to be a member. Its another social-networking site however it doesn’t give the user as much freedom as MySpace so it hasn’t gotten as trashy as MySpace yet. However that is not to say that right now there is not some very bad people on it. However the biggest problem with facebook right now is that it is a HUGE time-waster. People just spend hours searching and trying to catch up with old friends. Just a ridiculous waste of time. And the funny thing is most people don’t even realize it.
Twitter — Twitter is a funny beast. Twitter is still in its infancy compared to MySpace or FaceBook. However it to has been known to be a time-waster. People sending “tweets”(what a twitter status update is) to there friends about where they are, what they had for dinner, what movie they just saw. Ridiculous.
LinkedIn — LinkedIn is like a professional FaceBook. Its a social-networking site for business professionals. It lets you create basically an online resume and also develop “contacts” with past and present coworkers, employers, friends, and business associates. LinkedIn IS the business social-networking site.
Personal Blog — My personal blog(cmuench.com) is more of a pet project than anything. I know pretty much nobody reads it. Yet on the other hand I like to write whats going through my head sometimes. And a blog is the most natural place for me to let it out.
Now for my point of view on all this. To be honest with ya’ll. I have an Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn account. Now before you all cry hypocrite let me explain.
Facebook is simply a easy way for me to catch up QUICKLY with old friends and current friends. No more waiting for friends to pop on IM or wait for them to email me. I can quickly post on there wall and see how they are doing. Also the built-in chat is great because there is so many chat services nowadays(AIM, MSN, yahoo, gtalk, jabber) its so much easier to have one(FaceBook).
Now as for my twitter account. I’m still on the fence about twitter. I will not send stupid little updates to people because I know they value their time and I know I value mine. However on the other hand I like the fact that I can get SMS text’s when people I’m following post an update to their account. And I trust those people to not post stupid things but post major or inciteful status updates.
As for LinkedIn. This is my professional site. Its the one that people see when they do a search on Google. (Facebook and Twitter you have to be my friend in order to read my stuff). However with LinkedIn any joe schmoe can look at my past work experience and download my resume. Also nowadays its all about the business-networking aspect of the game.
In closing… Social-Networking sites can be both good and bad. Twitter can be used as a mass evangelism tool and praise tool. However MySpace can be used for unspeakable acts. However it is all in a balance. The whole internet is a balance.
MySpace and Facebook and Twitter should all be banned from a business or churches network. If your staff or students want to access that stuff they should be doing it from home. Not on a business or church network.
Parents… Kids are alot smarter than you think they are. Make sure to know their usernames and passwords. To there email accounts and to there facebook, twitter accounts. Control internet access.
http://www.opendns.com USE IT!!. You simply have to put in your home ip address, change your router and you have free content filtering.