14 DAY TRIAL // A new report from the National IT User Center suggests that having a 'social life' on Facebook can actually pay off.
Facebook is a social network that captivated hundreds of million users worldwide but there are a few skeptics left here and there, who believe that all this – the flat comments, superficial contacts and banal status updates, is nonsense and a plain waste of time.
This new report, made by Håkan Selg, a doctoral candidate at the Department of Information Technology, Uppsala University, says that this kind of networking is much more useful than some might think, and also predicts that the new social media will end up creating more individual entrepreneurs.
There are many Facebook users that collect 'friends' and the media started criticizing this superficial kind of relationships.
What Selg actually says in his report, is that these contacts are actually very useful networks.
“The portrait, comments, and updates provide constant reminders of the existence of ‘friends,’ Selg explains.
“The content is not all that important, but the effect is that we perceive our Facebook friends as closer than other acquaintances who are not on Facebook.”
We must also not forget that all communication channels have been invaded by media, private companies and public authorities, and this was the case for cell phones, Internet and e-mail.
Social media, on the other hand, has developed mainly in the private sphere, giving the advantage to the individual with contact nets and user experience, targeted by the companies and authorities.
Social networks' users can get job tips, advice on all sort of problems, new contact for business people and even establish their own activities.
Håkan Selg says that “a realistic effect of social media is that many costs of running operations will decline in the long run.
“This will probably enable more people to start their own businesses in the future, thus successively altering working life.”
Selg is the leader of the project and main author of the study, and also an industrial doctoral candidate at the Department of Information Technology, Uppsala University and the National IT User Center.