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　　Social networking on the Internet

　　We owe much to the development and expansion of the Internet. It has enabled one of the main technological and cultural revolutions in recent history: the emergence of social media. Over the last 10 years, online social media have grown extremely fast and become central to the lives of hundreds of millions of people. Social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Pinterest, Instagram, and Google Plus allow us to communicate with family, friends, and people that we would have never had the chance to meet regularly. Some social media such as LinkedIn and Meetup are becoming important tools for our work and business networking. However, although many people spent considerable part of their lives interacting with social media, others refuse to engage with online social networking. Let's dissect some of the benefits and dangers of social networking.

　　The pros of social networking

　　Social networks allow us to keep in touch with people that we meet at different points in our lives and reconnect with old friends that we may have not seen in years for various reasons. Online social media help bridge previously insurmountable physical distances. Before Facebook, it was difficult to follow what your friends were doing. You could write emails, and before that letters, but the sense of proximity that people get by reading comments and things friends share and seeing their pictures on the social media is something never achieved before. Instant messaging services, such as Whatsapp, and conference call software, such as Skype, add to this new feeling of proximity with people that may be leaving thousands of miles away.

　　Social networks offer their users the capacity to get almost immediate access to information about things happening elsewhere. When something important happens in the world people often find out almost immediately through social media. Just by spending five minutes on your Twitter, Facebook or Reddit feed you can learn about global social, cultural and economic events and trends.They even allow to shame the politicians and other people that have done or said something unethical or wrong.

　　These platforms also allow for global interaction with people from different backgrounds. Before social media, interacting with people from distant places was almost exclusively the privilege of those who could afford travelling. Now through social networking sites we often engage in discussions and can establish friendships with people very different from us. Some social media even facilitate people meeting face-to-face. For instance, networks such as Couchsurfing allow you to live for some time with people you might have otherwise never met. Likewise some social networks specialized in dating help people meeting others and often establish long term relationships.

　　Thanks to the social networks some people and small companies can gain visibility for their products and creations without having to invest much in advertising. Social networks can also very effective ways to find a job, a business partner or an employee.

　　Finally, social platforms, such as netivist, help to promote public participation and civic engagement. People have new means to express their views and defend causes they find worth fighting for. Protest movements around the world, such as the Arab Spring, the Occupy Movement and the European Indignados employed social media for the mobilization and organization of protesters. At the same time, the use of social media, such as Twitter or Reddit, by Obama during his campaign for the White House is a good example of how politicians and citizens can interact more directly to the benefit of political participation and democratic processes.

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