note pinned to a wall
Online social networks like Facebook and related sites such as Pinterest and Spotify are providing platforms for people to connect and share, be it visual, musical, or intellectual. These platforms are dependent on existing social networks - personalities and communities - ultimately working to shape and evolve them. This season, Twitter and Facebook broadcasts Jeremy Lin. Last season, Twitter and Facebook broadcasts uprising in Egypt. We update, we comment, we like, we share.
My question is not focused on whether online social networking is valuable (it is), but rather on the question of paying for it. Presumably, it's free, but nothing ever is, and if I think too much about it, I realize that Pandora knows what I want to hear, Facebook knows who I want to 'stalk' and Blogger can read my every word, analyze, dissect it, and throw it back to me in an instant. Even if they are just algorithms, they are quiet and faceless, and someone is paying for them.
I recently read an article about a new start-up called Nextdoor. It's a social networking site based on building geographically local communities by connecting neighbors with one another to share information, trade materials, organize community events, etc. Tag line: 'the private social network for your neighborhood.' It's been compared to both Facebook and Craigslist. This comparison inspired my question - does it matter who pays for social networking? Is it okay to trade personal privacy for social networking tools?
Nextdoor sounds like a brilliant idea to facilitate community building, but who will pay for it? If the point of the network is to support and benefit local communities, how can it be funded and operated in a way that doesn't betray? While respecting independent personalities and communities as independent, private entities? I think it might depend on who is investing monetarily in these social networks - which companies - local or corporate. Or perhaps, the users themselves. I don't know, just questions.
Dear Stephanie, Jesus told His deciple, one can not love both God and Mamon(Money). As you can see, they have been adversaries since man's fall. Mom.
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