Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity Essay

Education and experience in the secular set-up or the what we call here as Athens wisdom believes differently from the biblical standpoint in whatever aspect of life. Psychology in general, though embraces somewhat a neutral position according to some proponents, is not able to do justice to a balanced view of human behavior and most if not all of the individual’s activities. Indeed, Author Dr. Entwistle (2004) argues about the general tendency to dichotomize or what he said as â€Å"to buy into the dichotomy between the ‘sacred’ and the ‘secular’ which is what seeing Jerusalem and Athens as â€Å"mutually exclusive categories. † From the outset I would like to say my piece regarding the point where Dr. Entwistle is coming from without sounding arrogant in the same vein. He has mentioned a lot about presupposition while at the same time sounds like he doesn’t anything about presuppositions. When he separated â€Å"Jerusalem† and the â€Å"Church† in his book, I immediately detected his lack of background in the realm of biblical theology. At the heart of Christianity or the Church that Dr. Entwistle is referring to, there is no such dichotomy. The Church in every dimension of it (or Christianity as we aptly put it) does not do any separation unless what Christ has separated. Meaning, our premise or presupposition starts with the fact that the Church and Christian spirituality or faith if one would put it simply, stands on the Judaeo-Christian context not a choice between â€Å"Jerusalem† or â€Å"Church. † The fundamental difference lies in the great divide between Christianity and Athens or secular wisdom. It is only between the secular wisdom and biblical knowledge does the Bible place a dichotomy. Let me state what led me to this view: it is because, theologically speaking, biblical authors explicitly wrote in their letters from the Old to the New Testament Scriptures that God has His own laws and statutes through which life in general must be regulated. The same knowledge explicitly and implicitly runs through the fabric of the whole Scripture (Old & New), which means that the presuppositions of all of the Biblical authors, all fall into one primary presupposition: that there is one God, and that this One God has revealed Himself through His laws and statutes. Without the laws of God, man alone, with all of his learning, if they are all apart from the revelation of God, is mere natural or secular. This is the reason that every man ought to know these laws or statutes or biblical principles and only then can he apply these into all aspects of his secular life. This could have been what Dr. Entwistle intended to mean. One cannot come from the opposite side as what Dr. Entwistle had done instead as he hinged the argument from secular to the theological; though he tried to get his ideas from the likes of great men like Dr. A. W. Tozer and others. All those people’s arguments come from biblical presupposition: they have thorough knowledge of the Scriptures that they applied to various realms of life which in turn caused them to spur their readers to do the same. Trying to oppose the standpoint of apologist Tertullian, Dr. Entwistle seemingly misunderstands all of their positions, thus complicating what could have been an uncomplicated and unified stream of thought. The main contributing factors that led me to this viewpoint are my personal study of the Bible, and some works (massive) of Biblical scholars. The following discussion of renewing the mind then is a by-product of my own presupposition derived from the influence of these Biblical Scholars which include contemporary theologians like Dr. Vincent Cheung, Dr. Philip Johnson, and the father of Presuppositional apologetics Cornelius Van Til, to name a few. This thorough discussion of counsel of the wicked (representing secular or Athens wisdom) and the discriminative counsel which embraces all of Judaeo- Christian principles (as all contained in the Bible) captures best the essence of faith-spirituality molded from this basic presupposition. The dichotomy is between what the Bible says all throughout as the Wicked or ungodly counsel versus that of Godly wisdom. Dr. Entwistle unintentionally pursued a trichotomous delineation of Judeao-Christian theological thinking from secular. This is not proper. Discussion Christians know that a big portion of God’s work in their lives is concentrated on renewal of the mind. Our born again experience signaled the beginning of a new life for us rather than, as have been used by many figuratively, the end of our life’s quest for truth. It is the start of an individual’s real life in that it is the time when a person experiences the quickening work of God through His Spirit (Ephesians 2:1-7). Let’s think for a while our past life as portrayed to us in the Bible: 1. ) We were once dead spiritually – in trespasses and sins; 2. ) We once walked (lived our lives) according to the course of this world; 3. ) We once lived our lives (knowingly or unknowingly) controlled by Satan; 4. ) We once behaved in a way that in everything we do, we only fulfill our desires and what – in our minds – looked good and pleasant. Now, knowing that we are naturally (without the saving power of God) unresponsive to God and fully responsive to the things that are not of God, we recognize our great need to be renewed or our minds oriented to the things of God – things that really matter to Him and in this life (Romans 12:1-2). I. Discriminative Counsel. 1. ) Biblical/Godly Counsel – Its Necessity. There is a trend being proliferated in the area of guidance or direction in one’s life. The premise, if looked at the surface, seems to be sound and Biblical. It is somehow taken from the Bible. They are from the book of Proverbs. â€Å"Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety. † – Proverbs 11:14. â€Å"Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established. †Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Proverbs 15:22. These verses, however, when balanced with other portions of the Scripture, do not say that believers should heed suggestions from others without discrimination. Let’s take for example Psalms 1:1-6. â€Å"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, or sin- ners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. † – It says here that the â€Å"blessed man† is he whose delight is in â€Å"the law of the Lord. † – He meditates on it â€Å"day and night† (v. 2). What the Bible calls as â€Å"blessed† are not those who just swallow every information or trends who happen to be around. The blessed man’s â€Å"delight† is in the law of the Lord, and his pleasure to God’s law/word is made evident in his â€Å"meditating† on it â€Å"day and night. † â€Å"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. † – Psalms 1:1-2. On the other hand, this is also a warning. A warning to those who are not careful and would let down their guard with regards to their upholding the habit of meditating or checking everything with the teachings of the Scriptures. When someone starts to entertain the seemingly harmless conventional â€Å"advices† of the world without allowing the Bible (God’s Word) to filter those opinions/suggestions, the lurking danger sets in and the undiscerning is on his way to the wrong direction for he has already given thought to â€Å"ungodly counsel. † He entertained and has given a benefit of the doubt to counsel other than God’s counsel. This is a classic case of God’s word versus Satan’s lies. The enemy succeeded in tempting the first couple – Adam and Eve. â€Å"Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, â€Å"Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. † – Genesis 2:15-17. Going back to our immediate text in Psalms 1:1, let’s try to divide its wordings in three divisions and see what does it say? It says: â€Å"Blessed is the man who does not (1) walk in the counsel of the wicked (2) stand in the way of sinners (3) sit in the seat of mockers. These three expressions are actually three stages of wickedness, or three steps towards spiritual deterioration. They illustrate the progressive stages of wickedness into which one who strays from God enters. According to the Word of God, this is what will happen to people who stray from the sound teachings of the Scriptures – they will go from bad to worse. And note that, with each stage, the ungodly (anybody who ventures on this path is called â€Å"ungodly†) becomes more resolute and his hostility against the counsel of the inspired scriptures and righteousness intensifies (Cheung, 2007).

Reducing the Military essays

Reducing the Military essays With the end of the Cold War Americas armed forces are too large and expensive to maintain while in an era of peace. The roles of the military has changed, and the United States has come to the conclusion that military might no longer means having the larger force. Politicians have initiated the closure of bases, the reduced production by defense contractors, the decrease in military and civilian personnel. The actions taken to reduce the military has left dwindling numbers, and this must be changed to ensure that the U.S. military continues to be a mighty super power. The idea of a smaller military was not even considered during the Cold War, but today the treat to America is at a all-time low. This has sparked politicians to restructure the forces and reduce the spending needed to maintain those forces. These reductions are based on the budget spending what is not cost effective to the U.S. and the public. The cost cutting needs to be done, without too large of an effect on the employed personnel, whether military or civilian (ORourke, 2). Though the reductions in the forces still needs to be made, careful monitoring of the amounts of The reductions in personnel have gone past the recommended limit set Congress, and have created a greater need for personnel. If a conflict were to happen to day, the U.S. could only send four heavy divisions, compared to the seven sent during the Gulf War. This greatly decreases Americas ability to thwart an attack from several different countries at one time. This idea of sustaining several conflicts at one time has been a major Because the U.S. is the last great superpower, it is a very large target, and when involvement is needed to aid others the forces are diminished the ability to be an effective deterrent. Analysts have seen an increased demand for the continued policing actions that ...

Sophie Germain - Pioneer Woman in Mathematics

Sophie Germain - Pioneer Woman in Mathematics Sophie Germaine dedicated herself early to becoming a mathematician, despite family obstacles and lack of precedent. The French Academy of Sciences awarded her a prize for a paper on the patterns produced by vibration. This work was foundational to the applied mathematics used in construction of skyscrapers today, and was important at the time to the new field of mathematical physics, especially to the study of acoustics and elasticity. Known for:First woman not related to a member by marriage to attend Academie des Sciences meetingsFirst woman invited to attend sessions at the Institut de FranceDates: April 1, 1776 - June 27, 1831Occupation: mathematician, number theorist, mathematical physicistAlso Known as: Marie-Sophie Germain, Sophia Germain, Sophie Germaine About Sophie Germain Sophie Germains father was Ambroise-Francois Germain, a wealthy middle class silk merchant and a French politician who served in the Estates Gà ©nà ©ral and later in the Constituent Assembly. He later became a director of the Bank of France. Her mother was Marie-Madeleine Gruguelu, and her sisters, one older and one younger, were named Marie-Madeleine and Angelique-Ambroise. She was known simply as Sophie to avoid confusion with all the Maries in the household. When Sophie Germain was 13, her parents kept her isolated from the turmoil of the French Revolution by keeping her in the house. She fought boredom by reading from her fathers extensive library. She may also have had private tutors during this time. Discovering Mathematics A story told of those years is that Sophie Germain read the story of Archimedes of Syracuse who was reading geometry as he was killed- and she decided to commit her life to a subject that could so absorb ones attention. After discovering geometry, Sophie Germain taught herself mathematics, and also Latin and Greek so that she could read the classical mathematics texts. Her parents opposed her study and tried to stop it, so she studied at night. They took away candles and forbid nighttime fires, even taking her clothes away, all so that she could not read at night. Her response: she smuggled candles, she wrapped herself in her bedclothes. She still found ways to study. Finally the family gave in to her mathematical study. University Study In the eighteenth century in France, a woman was not normally accepted in universities. But the École Polytechnique, where exciting research on mathematics was happening, allowed Sophie Germain to borrow the lecture notes of the universitys professors. She followed a common practice of sending comments to professors, sometimes including original notes on mathematics problems as well. But unlike male students, she used a pseudonym, M. le Blanc- hiding behind a male pseudonym as many women have done to have their ideas taken seriously. Mathematician Beginning this way, Sophie Germain corresponded with many mathematicians and M. le Blanc began to have an impact in turn on them. Two of these mathematicians stand out: Joseph-Louis Lagrange, who soon discovered that le Blanc was a woman and continued the correspondence anyway, and Carl Friedrich Gauss of Germany, who eventually also discovered that hed been exchanging ideas with a woman for three years. Before 1808 Germain mainly worked in number theory. Then she became interested in Chladni figures, patterns produced by vibration. She anonymously entered a paper on the problem into a contest sponsored by the French Academy of Sciences in 1811, and it was the only such paper submitted. The judges found errors, extended the deadline, and she was finally awarded the prize on January 8, 1816. She did not attend the ceremony, though, for fear of the scandal that might result. This work was foundational to the applied mathematics used in construction of skyscrapers today, and was important at the time to the new field of mathematical physics, especially to the study of acoustics and elasticity. In her work on number theory, Sophie Germain made partial progress on a proof of Fermats Last Theorem. For prime exponents less than 100, she showed there could be no solutions relatively prime to the exponent. Acceptance Accepted now into the community of scientists, Sophie Germain was allowed to attend sessions at the Institut de France, the first woman with this privilege. She continued her solo work and her correspondence until she died in 1831 of breast cancer. Carl Friedrich Gauss had lobbied to have an honorary doctorate awarded to Sophie Germain by Gà ¶ttingen University, but she died before it could be awarded. Legacy A school in Paris- LÉcole Sophie Germain- and a street- la rue Germain- honor her memory in Paris today. Certain prime numbers are called Sophie Germain primes. Print Bibliography Bucciarelli, Louis L., and Nancy Dworsky. Sophie Germain: An Essay in the History of the Theory of Elasticity. 1980.Dalmà ©dico, Amy D. Sophie Germain, Scientific American 265: 116-122. 1991.Laubenbacher, Reinhard and David Pengelley. Mathematical Expeditions: Chronicles by the Explorers. 1998.Sophie Germains story is told as part of the story of Fermats Last Theorem, one of five major themes in this volumeOsen, Lynn M. Women in Mathematics. 1975.Perl, Teri, and Analee Nunan. Women and Numbers: Lives of Women Mathematicians Plus Discovery Activities. 1993.

Discussin question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Discussin question - Essay Example The CMS understood that realizing some of these complications might not be avoidable because many patients suffer from illnesses and injuries that the physician could have prevented if the hospital or the physician could have taken suitable precautions. As part of reimbursement rules for â€Å"never events,† Inpatient facilities have focused to enhance the quality of care patients attains during their course or stay in the hospital. For instance, they have focused on decreasing hospital-acquired conditions such as fractures, severe bedsores and certain infections, and preventable medical mistakes such as conducting surgery on the unintended part of the body that should not take place. Inpatient facilities have been forced to fully evaluate and assess a patient once admitted in their facility and record the existence of all conditions that may need care, if the condition developed before admission to the hospital, it is not a never event. Further, they have to establish a law that identifies and reacts to conditions that belong to never events. This is how inpatient facilities have changed the way they handle their patients in order to get reimbursements from the

Case consruction studies for civil engineering Essay

Case consruction studies for civil engineering - Essay Example Twenty-four others were injured, including 11 first responders eight remained hospitalized, officials said. (FOXNEWS Monday, March 17, 2008). This was just another heart wrecking and most unwelcome accident that happened in the construction industry. In an era of highly advanced science and technology as of now, we expect that deaths caused due to accidents at work sites, should be the least ever but survey reports and statistics show an increase directly proportional to the advancement in science and technology applied in the construction and civil engineering sector worldwide. Statistics from the UK Health and Safety Executive show that on average one or two people are killed every week as a result of construction work. Occupational ill-health, which can accumulate over time, accounts for further loss of life. What is health and safety In simple terms, health and safety is about identifying risks and eliminating or controlling them to prevent accidents and occupational ill-health. Even though it's inevitable that no job is free from any occupational hazards, measures can adopted to minimize the risks by eliminating or controlling the factors that give rise to unnecessary ones. What are the risks Statistics show that people falling from heights and objects falling from heights and strik... onal health problems arise from chemical hazards, such as liquid, dusts, gasses and fumes, or physical hazards such as cold, heat, noise, vibration, ionizing radiation, compressed air, lasers and manual handling. Why are good health and safety processes important Accidents and ill-health have both a human cost and a financial cost. Lost time and materials, higher insurance premiums, compensation claims and possibly legal costs are the most obvious potential impacts. There are also indirect costs in terms of potential damage to reputation which can make it harder for a company to attract business or new employees or for a project to obtain funding. Good health and safety processes demonstrate respect for people whether they are employees, clients or local communities hosting a construction project. Long-term health effects are usually slower to be realized but the costs and long-term implications can be far more significant than accidents and should not be underestimated. Construction has one of the highest rates of accidents and incidences of ill-health of all employment sectors. High risk activities, poor training and inadequate safeguards all contribute. It need not be this way. There are measures that can be taken to minimize the risks. Constructing a health and safety policy and program: This is a simple but effective strategic framework: 1. POLICY 2. ORGANISING 3. PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION 4. MEASURING PERFORMANCE 5. REVIEWING PERFORMANCE Policy Every organization needs to draw up a statement of policy on how it will manage health and safety, including how responsibilities will be allocated. The policy should take into account the nature of the construction activities involved and the size of the organization. Organizing An adequately resourced and

Report about the museum printing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Report about the museum printing - Essay Example This painting exhibits exception for its realism and sensitive handling of the subjects. The painting is remarkable because it conveys the message of the low class occupied by the rural Africans. The workers are represented by as graceful and majestic figures (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 89). The message of feeling sympathy and respect for the peasants is vividly exhibited in this painting. The art is a sculpture designed and constructed by the Tamil sculptors of the Chola dynasty. The sculptor measures 76.20 by 57.15 by 17.78 cm. The designers completed the sculpture to reflect the Siva as the lord of yoga. The sculpture represents the Indian civilization. The physical appearance resonates with the message of the sculptors that Siva is Supreme Being that represents the source of the cosmic dance. In addition, the sculpture’s representation of the source of dance is evident on the upper right hand of Siva, which holds a drum (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 97). The drum represents a primeval sound at the creation of the earth. The artwork is a painting, which is among the first paintings to be acquired by the Los Angeles County Museum of art. The painting measures 102.07 by 106.83 cm. This painting is best known and it has been often reproduced in the American painting industry. The painting was designed and constructed by George Bellows in 1913. The painting conveys a message of hard work of the homemakers among the low class urbanites (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 114). The blend of various colours ranging from red to orange conveys all aspects of life and integration in early city life. In conclusion, the artworks discussed in this essay successfully convey the intended message to the audience. The Cotton Pickers painting conveys the message of rural African American lifestyle, the Shiva as the Lord of Dance conveys the message of supremacy and source of dance

Social Networking In Businesses

Social Networking In Businesses Gaining the trust and friendships of your customers is crucial in the business world today. But how do you get your new or growing businesss name out there and trusted by your customers? Social Networking may be able to help with that. These organizations can help you develop the trust that ultimately creates influence among your customers(Safko 21). There are however some people who dont know what social networking for businesses is, social networking occurs when a group of like-minded people interact online to share interests or concerns, collaborate, give and seek advice, and offer one another assistance or support(Lindsell-Roberts 4). From photo sharing to just keeping up with contacts, social networking is starting to show up in businesses everywhere. Is it really helping, or are these large and small businesses just jumping on the bandwagon? There is a vast amount of different companies and organizations that connect billions of people every day such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Fast Pitch!, and Twitter. All of these organizations offer almost the same service but they all vary in many ways. These aforementioned forms of social media/networks arent the only kinds that are usual in businesses. There are a million ways a professional can get their business into a social network, and known to the social media. Some of the major well known social networks are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Fast Pitch!. First I am going to talk about these well known and commonly used services and how they help and some of the ways you can use them. Every day millions of people log into Facebook to connect with millions of other people, all these people talk to each other, if you have one hundred connections on Facebook, and each of those connections has one hundred connections, youll be two links away from ten thousand connections. If each of those ten thousand connections has 100 connections, youll be three links away from one million connections (Lindsell-Roberts 1). Users over the age of 30 are starting to use Facebook, many of these users speak their political beliefs and speak freely to other users with the same beliefs. That being said, these users are highly valuable when using a Facebook profile for your business because these people can all see what the other person has to share on their profile. They can offer advertisement of your business through just word of mouth to over millions of people in a single day. Businesses can also utilize Facebook to advertise, for example, with the election going on for the next presi dent the candidates are advertising their campaign in posts and blogs to win over votes of the users they attract with these advertisements. You can also use Facebook to target consumers specific to a certain geographic location. Another social network businesses can utilize is called Fast Pitch!. This company is more specific to the business realm and offer more particular tools for professionals in businesses, Fast Pitch! makes it easier for the professionals to network using a profile displaying what they do, what they sell, and what makes their company unique (Safko 451-452). Fast Pitch! gives companies the ability to share ideas and collaborate through virtual trade shows. They do this by using live video chats or two way video calls using Skype or Voip. Fast Pitch! also gives you the ability to publish content such as press releases, news, videos, and podcasts. Fast Pitch! also has a system that automatically targets the audience the user is trying to reach ensuring that their posts are viewed by the target audience (Safko 52). Along with that feature there is tool that allows the user to gauge the success of their business using statistics of their business. Fast Pitch! is mainly for professionals in b usinesses as a marketing technique. Fast Pitch! can also be for those seeking employment. Fast Pitch! doesnt keep inactive profiles around, they delete the profiles that arent being used so there is only active profiles making searches and collaboration and just the entire network run a lot smoother. LinkedIn is another online network that businesses can utilize to gain the trust of consumers and other businesses to expand growth. This network uses a technique called degrees, connections are rated in degrees, meaning direct connections are first degree connections, users listed as connections on that users profile are second degree connections and so forth (Safko 458). There are also features on LinkedIn where users can ask questions and get answers from other users and businesses. In addition to answering those questions they can also offer resolutions and recommendations. On one account a linked in user made a profit of one hundred thousand dollars annually while spending only seven thousand annually searching through LinkedIn. Another popular form of social media is blogging, and this includes micro-blogging. Blogging is all about what you feel like you want to say. It can be from voicing your opinion to support your beliefs all the way to updating information. Blogs are read by millions of people each day and are shared with just about everybody they know depending on how relevant they think that blog is to how they feel and if it is something they feel should be shared with their community. Micro-blogging is almost the same as blogging but it is shortened to fewer than 200 characters. Micro-blogs are popular due to the fact that they are short and to the point, giving readers a full understanding in a small easy to read text. Twitter is a popular micro-blog. Twitter gives users the ability to follow other users they feel have the same connection in beliefs or just have the same general liking of certain subjects. With twitter users are able to share their current activity or state of mind with friends an d strangers (Safko 538). Twitter is majorly helpful to businesses and has been given the title word of mouth engine by Chris Winfield. Twitter is capable of updating users about the people they are following through the website, RSS feeds, mobile texts messages, or email. Twitter can also work with other social networking cites, updating users through Facebook. Twitter gives businesses a way to receive feedback about their products or services through a market with no fees. Twitter is for everyone, including entrepreneurs to fortune 500 companies. Twitter is a huge network with simple commands that keep everyone using it connected in some sort of way. When a user sees a post, he or she can share that post by reposting it on their own profile, allowing every one of their followers to see it and repost it themselves. One key example of use of twitter is when NASA found water ice on mars with the Phoenix Mars Lander; they used twitter to share the news of this new found discovery. Another account of the use of twitter in business was in February of 2010. A man by the name of Chris Hughes launched his own canvas bag company called Artifact Bag Co: In 2010, after a year of quietly following Michael Williams style bog, A Continuous Lean, Hughes spotted a tweet about of set of chairs that the blogger thought looked cool but were overpriced. Turns out, Hughes had won those exact chairs on eBay, and he commented on the post. Then he crossed his fingers, hoping Williams would take a few seconds to click through to the Artifacts website. Within an hour, Williams pivotal tweet came: This waxed canvas lunch bag is nice-looking (with a link to the item). Soon the fashion press came calling, and after the tote was featured in A Continuous Leans holiday buying guide, Hughes found himself with a more than 400-unit backlog that took six months to whittle down, even with the help of contract workers (Wang 54) This is just another small example of how quickly one tweet can help expand your business exponentially. Chris Hughes states that social media can be easily abused and only properly works if you use thought capital. Though capital includes presenting the product or services to the public in an appealing manner. This is basically how you would present the product in an online storefront, or E-commerce. Other non-traditional services one may look at for the growth of their business through social media include Ning, and online gaming. Ning is another social network but it differs from your typical idea of social network that already has a large network pre-established that you join, Ning gives the user the opportunity to design their own network on the internet and allows other users to join your private social network. Users can make their own profile for different networks, allowing a user to have a profile on more than one network all linked together. Ning allows the user to customize their own network to their specific needs, As the Ning web site puts it, the Ning platform is the software equivalent of Home Depot. Unlike other services that offer a one-size-fits all offering, your social network on Ning runs on a programmable platform (Safko 464). This ultimately gives the user full control of their personal social network. So as far as how Ning can be used, it all depends on ho w you want to implement it into your business. Anyone can use Ning and create their own social networks, such as musicians, to give fans updates and tour dates and post contests. Online gaming is a very unique and original way to reach consumers and advertise your product or services. Some may not see the potential of advertising through online gaming: Many people tend to view online video games as an activity with no business value- a waste of time in which only teenagers participate. However when you have fifty thousand to eight million people in the same place with the same interests in a trusted network, a business opportunity exists(Safko 321) If you take a look at new video games that are coming out, they advertise their new products in this particular field because their main consumers are already using their platform, or consol. Video game developers are not the only ones who can and do advertise in an online gaming environment, Barack Obama had his campaign for presidency advertised on Xbox Live, a popular online gaming network. He bought his advertising to be placed in a popular game called Burnout Paradise. With social networking your business depends on the people that you dont have a relationship established yet, meaning that the people you know the least are the people that are helping your business grow by sharing what they know about to other people they know and expanding your business growth. Yes these relationships with people you know the least can be established by the consumers and the strong relationships you have with other people, but these people already have an established connection with your business and therefore are not contributing to growth of social capital. Scott Goodson, author of Uprising states that the old way of marketing- Pitching a product to the largest possible audience through mass media- is dying. He argues that the best way to reach people is to look for topics and causes around which they are already gathering and align ones brand with those topics(Stanford Social Innovation Review 15). The way I feel about Goodsons idea is, yes it helps, but you hav e to use social media to gather this information of topics and ideas that consumers look at. Secondly in order for a business to get these topics and ideas of a new brand know to the general public, they must make their new product well known and have an honest established connection between the product/services and the consumer. This day in age, social may be the fastest way to establish a connection with those consumers that you know the least through the consumers you already have an established connection with. Social networking can exponentially help any business, large or small. Word of mouth through any sort of followers on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or any online blog will get your business known to millions of people in different geographical locations. Online social networking is not the only way to get your business in a social network though; traditional conferences and trade shows are still just as effective. Trade shows and conferences arent the only place you can advertise your business through word of mouth. Other places may include restaurants, a get together like a cocktail party, you can pretty much get your business into a social network through word of mouth just about anywhere you are likely to meet people. All it takes is just a little friendly talking, then those people start talking to other people whom talk to other people they know which can drastically increase business and revenue. Not only can social networking get your business name out to those customers that normally would be hard to reach out to, but it can also help someone seeking employment in businesses or help a business find applicants. Some years ago, but including today, job hunters would pour through the classified ads in the newspapers, especially on Sunday mornings, hoping to catch a glimpse of something for which they might remotely qualify (Lindsell-Roberts 43). In todays society the task of seeking employment is not as daunting, you can just do a Google search for something in your field of expertise and you will find a never ending list of businesses seeking applicants and new hires. These businesses use social networks to list openings and positions available to reach out to those who wouldnt normally have known about their business otherwise. Social networking may not be for every business as far as marketing though, many times social networking may not show any signs of helping your business. These tactics dont replace the traditional face to face kind of business, although reaching out to new customers is always good, and a lot of the time social networks are the best way to reach those outside of your geographic location. But how do those people know what kind of business you offer? This tactic involves a lot of dedication to your website or online profile including update, events, sales, offers, and customer service. With social networking your business depends on the people that you dont have a relationship established with yet, meaning that the people you know the least are the people that are helping your business grow by sharing what they know about your business, to other people they know, expanding your business growth. The relationship you have with already established consumers doesnt really help expand your social capital, these connections dont really take your business name further out to those you havent reached yet. Scott Goodson, author of Uprising states that the old way of marketing- Pitching a product to the largest possible audience through mass media- is dying. He argues that the best way to reach people is to look for topics and causes around which they are already gathering and align ones brand with those topics(Manzo 15). The way I feel about Goodsons idea is, yes it helps, but you have to use social media to gather this information of topics and ideas that consumers look at . Secondly in order for a business to get these topics and ideas of a new brand know to the general public, they must make their new product well known and have an honest established connection between the product/services and the consumer. This day in age, social may be the fastest way to establish a connection with those consumers that you know the least through the consumers you already have an established connection with. I believe social networking in businesses has already been in use, but online social networking has majorly played a key role in expanding current businesses and helping small beginner businesses start out. The social media plays a big role in consumers opinions in todays society. Most consumers read reviews that other consumers post in all of these social networks and base their opinion of these businesses off of the majority of what other consumers say about that business. That being said social networks have absolutely helped the growth and take off of many businesses. At the same time it also depends on what kind of business operation you run. Customer support is a key necessity in businesses using social networks. If you dont maintain a good rapport with your consumers then your business can build a bad reputation over a social network which can cause terrible business. For those businesses with good a rapport then this technique would be a good investment to help increase reven ue. So in conclusion social networks have helped businesses grow and establish connections between consumers and other businesses.