Social Networking Over the Decades
Social networking is a relatively new buzzword. I say “relatively” because it’s been around long enough to generate a list as long as my arm of books on the subject. I’ve read ten books on the last month on the subject to broaden my perspective for the course I’m teaching in January about it and I’ve got another stack at my elbow. Many of them give perspectives I wouldn’t otherwise have had, but plenty elicit what I can only consider a DUH! response.
Believe it or not, Social Networking Isn’t New
I didn’t come across the expression “Social Networking” until about three years ago. But I’ve been doing it online for closer to fourteen years. It didn’t start with business or making professional contacts in mind at all. I had upgraded from an Apple IIe1 to a PC and was given an old 14.4 modem as a gift. I’d heard of online banking and that was my primary motivation for getting online at all.
Now, I’m a science fiction geek, so when I discovered there were message boards for fandoms, I got really excited and dove right on in to a couple. That’s where my own social networking got started. I made a friend who had several fandom and interest overlaps with me. He owned an ISP back in the day. Through our conversations, it became clear to me that the Internet was going to be a very important tool in the years to come. So, I set about to learn. It started with simple HTML, but swiftly expanded to many other webdev technologies, ‘cause, well, I’m a geek.
Social Networking Boosts Your Career
Through this friend, I met some other people and wound up starting a webdev business with them. One of my partners became a very skilled graphic artist, another found he had a serious talent for sales and promotion and we all learned a lot from our business.
Thing is, at the core, I like writing and teaching best. I learned HTML primarily to create a website about how to draft sewing patterns! This was before easy blogging software was out there. I used those skills to create a website dedicated to a social cause, and was pretty much proto-blogging on it. Through that site, I met quite literally hundreds of people – all of whom had their own separate skills and interests.
These online friendships mean that we have our own mutual Baker Street Irregulars of go to for information. If need to know something about video editing, I have a friend in Portland, OR who is a filmmaker. If I need to know something about historical costuming, I have a friend in New Hampshire who can either answer my question or knows the person who does. If I need to know about astronomy, the Marine Corps or fencing, I have a friend in Maryland who can give me the straight dope on all three. If someone needs a clever solution to a tricky problem in a Microsoft application or how to promote a website, someone in my network will probably send them to me.
Notice that I have not once mentioned Facebook, Twitter or any of a dozen social networking websites available. The contacts I speak of were formed while many of the designers of these sites were still in school. This isn’t to denigrate Facebook et al. Quite the contrary. I use sites specifically designed for social networking every single day of my life, and this entry uses blogging software to publish it. I’m all for anything easy to use that speeds communication and connection, and some great tools are available.
Just don’t confuse the tool with the work! Online social networking has been around since ARPANET. The network is just bigger now.
1Hey, in 1996, all I really needed was something to manage text and keep track of my checkbook. Don’t laugh too hard. Most people these days own far more computer than they actually need or really use.
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