Introduction

My name is Elizabeth Williams and I am majoring in Marketing and minoring in Communications. I believe communication plays a vital role in our lives today. Technology today is beyond anything anyone ever thought it could be. It has surpassed imagination and keeps evolving with each day that goes by. We now have social networking sites that allow us to not only express ourselves but have the ability to stay in constant contact with anyone around the world at anytime. Social networking has also created jobs. "Facebook" helps promote and advertise for businesses while allowing people to create accounts and network, create friendships or even find that special someone. "Twitter" another social networking site lets one express themselves using 140 words per status keeping it short and clean. Twitter also helps promote and advertise businesses but is more celebrity based allowing people to follow there idols and have instant connection with the stars. But with every plus there is a minus that follows. Sites like Facebook,Twitter, and Myspace open the door to cyber bullying. Inappropriate statements can spread within a matter of minutes. These sites makes it easy to slander anybody's name.
 Also what people do not realize is that at times when we create these accounts we are sharing with theses companies personal information, we are blindly giving up our privacy which can put us in danger. Facebook strongly urges its users to add there cellphone number and carrier to their page, but what people fail to notice is that with just supplying Facebook with your phone number they have access to all your contacts in your phone. What are these companies doing with all our information and why do they feel like they have to profile us? I appreciate technology very much but at the same time I am careful with what I share on the internet,on the phone, even on emails. Cell phone company's record every phone conversation and save every text sent. That bothers me but I do enjoy texting and talking on the phone and it seems that we have to give up our privacy to have access to these great advances to technology.
Technology has also made a lot op people lose their jobs. More people are switching to e-books and in couple of years future generations will not be given the opportunity to actually hold a book and turn the pages. On the other hand a lot of trees will be saved. So I see the good and bad and I am eager to learn more  about this mass communication era that has the world thirsting for more. All in all Information is flowing freely and rapidly we now have the ability to find out anything at anytime anywhere.