summery 7

Summary

In her article “Facebook: Challenges and Opportunities for Business Communication Students,” Christina Decarie, a professor of business communication, discusses the benefits and drawbacks of social networking. She argues that, if used correctly, online social networking can confer a major advantage to students who are looking to promote themselves favorably to a large number of people. Decarie mentions that the most popular social networking site is Facebook, which hosts a diverse set of users (approximately 400 million) of all ages and backgrounds, from all over the world. Decarie warns that although the new user must learn proper literacy and self-presentation skills before reaping the site’s full benefits, Facebook nonetheless presents endless networking opportunities by essentially eliminating geographical barriers. Thus, Decarie asserts it would be advantageous to learn and utilize effective communication skills to promote oneself effectively and to enhance one’s network. Decarie suggests that students make the most out of social networking by building relationships (both personal and business-related), and by using those relationships to create new opportunities. However, Decarie also notes that one must always take care, as even the smallest “blunder” has the potential to ruin a long-lasting relationship, or jeopardize a business prospect. According to Decarie, because Facebook is so popular in the young adult community and so well situated to help individuals build networks, college students are now seeing the benefits of learning effective business communication skills more than ever before. Decarie urges teachers to show their students effective self-promotion strategies that can be used in online social networking sites such as Facebook.

REFERENCES

Decarie, C. (2010). Facebook: Challenges and opportunities for business communication students. Business Communication Quarterly, 73, 449-452.