Today I’m recovering from a particularly busy holiday weekend, so I thought I’d start the week off by posing a few questions about the social networking phenomenon, inspired by the chart above.

1.    What do you see as the advantages/disadvantages of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook? 

2.    What role do these sites play in your day-to-day life?

Although I’ve written in the past about my disdain for those annoying Facebook quizzes, I’ve found social media to be incredibly advantageous overall. 

On a personal level, I’ve enjoyed reconnecting with old friends and seeing pictures of their vacations, their weddings, and their kids. Sometimes what begins as a quick “hello” on Facebook evolves into a serious correspondence about important and meaningful things later on.

On a professional level, I’ve seen firsthand the benefits of plugging the blog via a Facebook status or Tweet every now and then. For writers especially, social media is an important tool in building platform, which can make or break a career.

Overall, the format of social networking sites seems to reflect the fact that we live in a sound-bite society. But sometimes what starts as a sound-bite can lead to a decent conversation.

What do you think?

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