Why social media is more than just fun

Welcome (back),

First of all, I am sorry that it took me so long to post this second blog. Because of several circumstances I just couldn’t find the time to start writing earlier, but from now on I will make sure that I place a blog post more frequently.  Secondly, I have decided to change the overall subject of my blog a little bit. It will still be about the content of my education, but I will focus on Social Media. Most of you probably see social media as a fun way to stay in contact with your friends, meet new friends, or share all your interesting and also uninteresting thoughts and pursuits with everyone who likes to know. Off course this is true, but when you look at social media through the eyes of a researcher, it suddenly becomes so much more than that. Over the last years many research on social media is done and the number of studies concerning this subject is still growing.  This also means that there is always something to write and think about. For instance, have you ever thought about the impact of your behavior on social network communities on your identity and reputation? Different parts of your profile page can contribute to your social identity( the way people see you): the information you place about yourself, your pictures, messages from others, your friends etc.  Off course, it is obvious that placing a drunk picture on you profile isn’t the smartest thing to do, but even posting a picture of your child as your own profile photo can influence the way people think about you. Peoples ‘online’ reputation become more and more important now a days. For example,  the number of employers that screen candidates online, and even reject candidates based on information they obtained online, is growing.

Another well discussed subject in social media, is the way people form relationships online. Does this depend on your personality or the way you interact with others in ‘real’ life? There are many different theories in this area, all well-founded but also contradictory to each other. In addition to this, there are also people who believe that social media network sites are not suitable at all for friendship maintenance. Originally, these network sites were not even developed for social purposes, but for business use. In addition to social network sites, there are also other forms of social media worth discussing, for example online games. 

Now you have a better view on the kind of subjects I would like to discuss the following weeks, I hope that you've become more interested in social media. If you already want to read more basic information about it, you can check the following site: www.social-media.nl. It provides more information about what social media is and which categories of social media can be distinguished. Have fun with it!