Campus News Blog: Getting the Most Out of Social-networking Sites

Posted by Gwen Sullivan

How much is too much?

For many of us, social networking sites are part of our daily routine. Checking in with friends and uploading photos is all in a days work for the average college student, but how do we know when we are spending too much time on Facebook or Twitter?

According to “Making Social-networking service work for you,” written by Cindy Krischer Goodman, depending on how these sites play a role in your life is how the should be used.

It is important to figure out what you goal is for these sites. If it is to stay connected with friends and family around the country, then limiting yourself to allotted amounts of time after homework and other obligations are taken care of is probably a good idea.

If Facebooking is your guilty pleasure, there are ways to motor your time! By using Leechblock, a Mozilla Firefox plug-in, you can set time limits for yourself and block websites on certain computers.

But for students and employees that use social networking as a means of broadcasting or making connections with future employers, then signing on through out the day isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Students who use social networking sites to stay on top on current events and exchange knowledge with other students in their fields of interest are building relationships and taking advantage of what these sites have to offer.

If those who want more than Facebook and Twitter, blogger Alyssa Gregory suggests 20 other social-networking sites to use to get connected to the business world.