My social media experience

January 13, 2024

Fabrice Tshiyoyi Banyingela

Professor Amber Oldenburg (BYU-Idaho)

FHGEN120 - Internet and Computer Skills

13 January 2024

My social media experience.

Social media is a popular free platform for virtual communication and expression of thoughts. It requires an electronic device and stable data communication. There are thousands of social media applications, each with its advantages and disadvantages. This paper explores two popular social media platforms, comparing their similarities and differences, and deciding on the preferred one.

Six Degrees was established in 1997 and is the first recognizable social media platform, allowing users to upload profiles and form friends. But in 2004, MySpace, became the first social media site to reach a million monthly active users, marking the beginning of social media as we know it today. Nowadays, we have hundreds of social media with more than millions of users each. Among the exhaustive list of them, we find ourselves in a situation to decide which social media suits our needs? I have found Facebook and LinkedIn to be more friendly and respond to my needs.

My first chosen social media which is Facebook was created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and is the world's largest social network, offering easy online connections for family and friends, now accessible to anyone over 13 with a valid email address. Facebook accounts are now an essential online presence, allowing users to access various services across the web using a single Facebook account. Facebook enables messaging, status updates, and sharing content like photos and links with friends and family. Unlike email or instant messaging, content on Facebook is more public and visible to many people. While privacy tools exist, Facebook's design is more open and social than traditional communication tools.

LinkedIn on the other side is a popular social network focused on professional networking, aiming to build a network of contacts to advance your career, unlike other platforms like Facebook and Twitter. LinkedIn allows users to build their network by adding contacts, joining groups, and receiving skill endorsements, recommendations, and job opportunities. These tools keep users updated on industry news and professional interests. LinkedIn is a powerful job search tool that allows users to filter job openings by company and experience level. It also features an Easy Apply option, making it a useful career tool for making first impressions, communicating with colleagues, and its recruiting tools are effectively integrated, well-marketed, and sold, making them powerful and highly effective.

Facebook and LinkedIn are often considered to be the same type of network. Both platforms allow users to allocate any desired amount towards an ad campaign. Both tools allow users to upload images, post updates, private messages, add friends, share links connect with people, send connection requests, follow their posts in a similar manner, and can be a source of fake news and misinformation.

The difference between the two mentioned platforms can be summarized as follows, Facebook offers various features for users, including the Wall, Photos, Status, Pokes, Gifts, and Messaging. Other features include tagging, chatting, blogging, video uploading, games, and classified posting. A "lite" version is available for users with slow internet connections, and many phones now offer access through web browsers or applications. LinkedIn is a professional networking platform that allows users to invite and add business connections to their contact list, find jobs, and screen potential candidates. It also allows job seekers to search company profiles and statistics and offers features like LinkedIn Answers and LinkedIn Groups. In February 2008, a mobile version was launched in six languages, and additional features were added in mid-2008, including sponsored advertising, global social networking, and applications like Amazon Reading List, WordPress, and TypePad for members to display their blog postings.

Facebook and LinkedIn are popular social networking sites, with Facebook profiles for connecting with friends and family, and LinkedIn for professional networking. Because of my professional networking, I prefer LinkedIn because it is a valuable tool for establishing an employer brand, conducting business-to-business advertising, networking with colleagues, and sharing company announcements.