Archiving Social Networking

Is 20/20 Vision Really Clearer in Hindsight?

Over the last few class periods, it is apparent that the power of social media is far reaching, and though we've been raised, even grown with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, I do not think we realize the power of social media. In researching what is archived on these sites, I came across this article called "The Inevitability of Archiving Social Networking Data." At first I was almost offended at the title of the article. It makes me nervous to know that there is a plethora of personal information about all of us on the web, and with the power of the search engine continuing to grow, searching for individuals has become easier and easier. I did not think that I would agree with social network archiving, but after reading the author's perspective, Nathaniel Borenstein, I feel somewhat on the fence as to what researchers should be able to archive.

Flashback to 1985, Borenstein is a member of a team at Carnegie Mellon University. The worldwide web and internet are foreign concepts to many. E-mail has just been introduced, and Borenstein states that many were skeptical of the concept in general. Borenstein, however, was very optimistic and urged CMU to archive the e-mails transpired across campus. He was met with resistance and had no way to store the data he sought to collect. Everyone asked him, "who would want to look at old e-mails?" Thirty years later, e-mail archiving is huge and required by law in some cases. Borenstein makes an interesting point saying what's the difference between e-mail archiving in 1985 and social network archiving in 2013?

Though Borenstein states that many social network posts may seem unimportant, over time social media has the power to indicate responsiveness to social and societal events as well as customer responses to products in the business sector. There is the same resistance today that there was in the 1980s against e-mail archiving, and I must say, for the most part I agree. I can not imagine that I will feel the same way about situations in ten years that I do now and so on, let alone want that information as indicator as to how I felt. However, Borenstein makes a good point that with today's technology, ability to store information, and the progression of data mining, social network archiving is not only acceptable, it's crucial. With Borenstein's hindsight into the e-mail epidemic of the 1980s, should we truly begin archiving social media?

Article:

http://www.xconomy.com/detroit/2013/03/27/the-inevitability-of-archiving-social-networking-data/