Social Networking

Social networking has many uses, it is not only to be thought of as being "social" just because the word is in it. Social networking can be used for recreational, business and corporate needs. Examples of social networks would be Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even blogs. People can use these social networks for recreational purposes to increase their social circle, keep in touch with friends or family that they do not live close to. Another use for an individual would be to share their thoughts by posting them to websites like Facebook or Twitter, and getting replies from many others depending on the privacy settings being used. For business use, social networks can be used for advertising purposes.
Small business can use social networking websites to cut back on their advertising costs because most of these social networking websites are free and will let you create a page for free. Big businesses can also use social networking to not only cut back on their advertising costs, but to also expand on their advertising. They can pay for ad's on some of these websites, and at the same time they can give special promo's to people on these websites which will increase their business.
On the corporate end, it's great for job recruiting due to websites like LinkedIn. For example, Frank Langfitt's article in NPR, Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting, discusses the perks of using LinkedIn for these recruiting purposes. It is mentioned how LinkedIn is a network of 8 million professionals that are all over the world, and Shally Steckerl mentions how he can scout a group of candidates in just half an hour because of LinkedIn.
The "dark side" of social networking is that it changes how people socialize in general. For example, when we traditionally think of socializing, we think of face to face interactions with someone opposed to just talking to each other through a computer or cellphone screen. Stephen J. Dubner of Freakonomics interviews many people in his article, Is MySpace Good For Society? A Freakonomics Quorum. Some of these individuals say that social networking websites were positive on society, while some give negatives. One of these individuals, Judith Donath, gives both the good, the bad, and the ugly. She mentions how the good of social networking technologies is that it allows a larger circle of friends. However, the bad is that it changes how you define a friend because there aren't that many face to face interactions, and the ugly is that it can lead to bullying and emotional stress.
I think these technologies will eventually lead to becoming fully virtual, for example I think Virtual Reality technologies will become implemented and lead to full-sized holograms, so individuals can socialize with their friends without leaving their homes.