Offline Social Networks: Developing Relationships Beyond the Digital World - Essay Sample

Introduction

Offline social networks can be described as the aspect of developing social networks in the real world and not on the internet. Examples of offline social networks include the relationship between students, colleagues at work and family. These relationships are not governed by the online social media platforms, unlike the relationships that are developed on social online social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Online social networks have taken control of the digital world and resulted in the revolution of the interaction between people. Online social networks facilitate brief information between sustainable users. On the other hand, offline social networks require physical interactions. Even though online social networks are essential in facilitating connection and communication despite the geographical difference, some negative influences are not found when using offline social networks. Therefore, although offline social networking has been pushed out of the picture by online social networks, the former is still an essential aspect of society.

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While online social networks are great for providing a connection between people despite their geographical locations, offline social networks are essential for delivering real and long-lasting relationships between friends. The online social network enables an individual to meet new people and make new friends. However, a person may have a list of over a thousand friends on social media but very few friends in the real world. An offline social network enables an individual to divide their friends into categories such as friends from school, work colleagues and even friends who are in another area. Through this relationship may be limited to a given geographic location; the bond from these relationships are durable and long-lasting. Some of these relationships are duplicated on online social networks. For instance, when college friends meet, they may post the photos online to show other friends who were unable to attend. Arnaboldi, Passarella, Conti, & Dunbar explain that:

"In particular, the use of OSNs (Online Social Networks) does not improve our social capacity, and the number of social relationships which we actively maintain online is comparable to those defined by the social brain hypothesis (SBH) in the offline world" (Arnaboldi, Passarella, Conti, & Dunbar, 100).

While online social platforms provide an opportunity for people to express themselves and talk about their interests, they also make the majority of the users self-centered and attention-seeking as they perceive their posts to be more critical. Even though such people exist in the real world, offline social platforms do not provide room for such characteristics as people interact and share essential information that will interest the other members while at the same time does not portray them as selfish or attention-seeking.

Social media provides rich customer experiences (Akram & Kumar, 350). As part of the online social network, social media took the marketing sector by a storm. Despite the success of online social platforms in creating awareness of the products, it is clear that even the marketing context requires offline social networks. The users despite the dominance of online social networks do not view more than 50% of online advertisement impressions. This outcome is due to the tracking technology counts a second appearance of half a banner as viewed thus making it difficult to measure the effect of online advertisements on the viewers (Guest par. 2). Furthermore, the Event Marketing 2018 report identifies that 95% of marketers concur that live events facilitate the attendees with an opportunity to interact and form a connection with products as compared to online advertisements (Quek par. 3).

Online social networks permit excessive sharing of data that may be dangerous to the user (Akram & Kumar, 352). The online social networks have eroded the concept of privacy as the users are engaged in a platform that is not treated with high regard as offline social networks. Information that is meant to be private is often made public in the online platforms to the extent that people are comfortable with airing out their personal information without prodding or coercion. Unlike online social networks, offline social networks require high levels of respect and privacy. Furthermore, people are not comfortable with sharing their personal information while having a face-to-face meeting with their peers. Individuals prefer to maintain a high level of self-respect when interacting with others in an offline social setting. However, the same individuals might not care what they post online as they are aware they do not have to interact with the majority of their 'friends,' and they are posting only to attract attention to themselves.

Conclusion

In conclusion, online social networks have numerous benefits to society such as providing a connection between people, the ability to express ideas freely as well as facilitating the marketing of brands. However, despite the popularity of online social networks, a significant aspect of online platforms rely on the offline connections that individuals form with others. Thus, both online and offline social networks are highly beneficial but very complementary. Offline relationships facilitate information that is then posted on online connection and despite the misuse of online platforms both systems are good.

Works Cited

Akram, W., and R. Kumar. "A Study on Positive and Negative Effects of Social Media on Society." International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering, vol. 5, no. 10, 2017, pp. 351-354, doi:10.26438/ijcse/v5i10.351354.

Arnaboldi, V., et al. Online Social Networks: Human Cognitive Constraints in Facebook and Twitter Personal Graphs. Elsevier, 2015.

Guest, J. S. "How to Use Offline Media to Drive Social Media Engagement." 29 July 2016, www.adweek.com/digital/john-stevens-guest-post-offline-media/.

Quek, J. "25 Ingenious Offline Marketing Examples." 17 May 2018, blog.bizzabo.com/offline-marketing-examples.